Politics
Joe Biden Wants To Reform the Criminal Justice System He Helped Create
The presidential candidate deserves praise for retreating from his tough-on-crime stance. But let's not forget that his policies contributed to mass incarceration and the police misconduct that people are protesting today.
Tom Cotton Wants to Double Down on the Authoritarianism That Sparked Riots
Police brutality brought Americans into the streets. What would military force do?
It Wasn't Tear Gas. It Was a Gaseous Substance That Causes Tears.
Plus: Protest updates, COVID-19 upates, a surge in gun sales, and more...
Nativist Congressman Steve King Loses Republican Primary
Good riddance to the racist, anti-immigrant congressman from Iowa.
Joe Biden Basically Admits Libertarians Were Right All Along: Cops Shouldn't Have Military Gear
Biden voted for the 1997 bill that created the Pentagon's 1033 program, which allows surplus military gear to be passed along to local cops. It took 23 years, but he finally changed his opinion.
Violent Protests in 1968 Helped Elect Richard Nixon. Will Today's Protests Help Trump?
Princeton's Omar Wasow talks about the complicated effects of civil rights demonstrations, police brutality, and racial fears on public policy.
The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of the 'Outside Agitator' Story
The perpetual scapegoat for unrest
In Future Crises, Let People Make Their Own Decisions
Top-down, one-size-fits-few mandates are recipes for conflict.
Freedom for Me, Rule of Law for Thee
The right's response to the coronavirus lockdowns brings out a longstanding American paradox.
How Edward Snowden Revealed the 'Dark Mirror' of the Surveillance State
Barton Gellman's new book is a riveting account of exposing NSA excesses to the light of the day.
A Libertarian Candidate Enters the Presidential Race
Jo Jorgensen is running for the White House.
How Coronavirus Is Like Venereal Disease, and Other Bad Analogies
The Reason Roundtable grapples with virus-swapping, policy-bungling, and Libertarian politics.
Federal Judge: Florida Can't Block Voting Rights Because of Inability To Pay Court Fines
A law passed by Florida Republicans to limit a constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to felony offenders violates the 14th and 24th Amendments, the judge ruled.
Libertarian Party Picks Spike Cohen as Its Vice-Presidential Candidate
Cohen, who had been linked with parodist Vermin Supreme, identifies as an anarchist.
Jo Jorgensen Wins Libertarian Party Presidential Nomination
The Clemson psychology lecturer and 1996 Libertarian vice presidential candidate got 51 percent on the fourth ballot.
We Watched the Libertarian Party Vice Presidential Debate So You Didn't Have To
Larry Sharpe, Spike Cohen, and Ken Armstrong strategize about how to sell liberty during a pandemic.
Libertarian Party Presidential Debate Offers Choice Between All Liberty Now or Moving the Ball of Liberty Down the Field
Libertarians will decide this weekend if a message that "nothing matters more...than living in a free society" will resonate in 2020.
A Huge Blow to Hongkongers' Freedoms
New legislation proposed in Beijing signals the likely end of the "one country, two systems" policy that has allowed Hong Kong to flourish.
Joe Biden's 'Bold' Thinking Shredded Civil Liberties and Destroyed Lives
On crime, drugs, immigration, and foreign policy, his 44-year policy record is a cautionary tale of bipartisanship in response to perceived crises.
That Time the Libertarian Party Debated the Private Ownership of Nuclear Weapons
Friday A/V Club: Great moments from the C-SPAN archive
Why Does Trump Want To Stop People From Voting by Mail?
And why does he think he has the power to do that?
'The Welfare-Warfare State is Anti-American': L.P. Presidential Hopeful Jacob Hornberger
The longtime activist believes in open immigration, free trade, ending the drug war, and bringing all troops back home immediately.
Libertarian Presidential Contender Jo Jorgensen Wants To Combine Principle With Palatable Persuasion
She sees government COVID-19 restrictions as "the biggest assault on our liberties in our lifetime."
Sanders Delegates Banned From Bashing Biden on Social Media
Plus: "Obscene" cartoonist gets probation, U.S. teen births plummet, a reopening win in Ohio, and more...
Trump's Threat to Withhold Federal Funds from States that Expand Voting By Mail Highlights Growing Menace to Federalism and Separation of Powers
A president who can attach his own new conditions to federal grants to states could use that power to undermine state autonomy on many issues - especially now that federal spending has been massively expanded during the coronavirus crisis.
L.P. Presidential Candidate Jacob Hornberger Wants 'To Live in a Free Society'
The longtime activist is the front-runner for the L.P. presidential nomination and has a special message to young people.
It's Official: Money Printer Go Brrr
The Reason Roundtable discusses Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's 60 Minutes admission, as well as the Libertarian Party presidential race post-Justin Amash
Don't Believe the Hype About Georgia's Dramatic Drop in COVID-19 Cases
Plus: Justin Amash's quick reversal, Ronan Farrow's flaws, and more...
Vermin Supreme Says This Time, He's Serious
"The political duopoly electioneering of the presidential system has indeed risen to the level of a joke."
Two Billionaires Demonstrate the Limits of Money in Elections
No amount of money can buy victory for candidates who fail to persuade voters.
Justin Amash Drops Out of Presidential Race
A week before the Libertarian Party begins voting, its most high-profile candidate steps aside.
Justin Amash's Confusing and Contradictory Immigration Record
His mixed immigration record might be good for a Republican, but it's not exactly impressive for a Libertarian.
No, Jared Kushner Did Not Suggest That Trump Might Unilaterally Delay the Presidential Election
There is a difference between reporting facts that make the president uncomfortable and manufacturing facts to fit a preconceived view of him.
The Libertarian Party Critique of Justin Amash
Competitors, skeptical delegates, and podcasters attack the congressman for being an incrementalist Deep State enabler rather than a principled radical.
Have We Crossed the Threshold of Doom?
The Reason Roundtable discusses eternal New Deals, multi-trillion-dollar mistakes, and sobbing face-first in the parking lot of life. Happy Monday!
Libertarian Party To Choose Its Presidential Ticket in Virtual Vote Over Memorial Day Weekend
Followed by an in-person convention for other business in Orlando in July
HBO Host Bill Maher Thinks Third Party Candidates Can't Win. Justin Amash Says He's Wrong.
"I think you'll find that I'm the normal guy, the regular guy," Amash told HBO's Real Time host. "These other two guys are the buffoons."
We Don't Need a Psychiatric Diagnosis To Assess the President's Obvious Faults
No amount of psychoanalyzing can disguise the grim choice facing voters this fall.
Suffrage
From our modern vantage point, it's easy to scorn some decisions that suffrage movement leaders made. Suffrage adds context.
Justice Department Moves To Dismiss Charges Against Michael Flynn
Feds now say the national security advisor's lie wasn’t “material” and they cannot prove it.
Joe Biden Leads Democrats Back to the Norm of Ignoring Inconvenient #MeToo Accusations
Remember Bill Clinton?
Justin Amash: 'I'm Promising to Be a President Who Will Reduce My Power'
The candidate for the Libertarian presidential nomination talks with the Fifth Column podcast about coronavirus, constitutionalism, open-carry protests in Michigan, and how his own House Freedom Caucus was corrupted.
If We Judged Joe Biden Under the Title IX Standards He Championed for Accused Student Rapists, He Would Be Guilty
The former vice president pushed Title IX reforms that took a believe-victims approach and harmed due process.
Well, at Least He's My Accused Sexual Assaulter!
Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and double standards, as discussed on the Reason Roundtable podcast.
