How Hippies Saved the Fourth Amendment
The Nixon administration did everything it could to curb antiwar activism. Then the courts said it had gone too far.
Features
Federal Prison Guards Confessed to Rape and Got Away With It
"I knew they were scumbags," a former Bureau of Prisons officer tells Reason.
Africa's Planned Cities Need Unplanning
Nigeria's shantytowns are more functional than its centrally planned gated communities.
The Town Without Zoning
Can Caroline, New York, resist the imposition of its first-ever zoning code?
Be Like Pixar, Not NASA
Artificial intelligence poses the most risk when it is embedded in a centralized, tightly coupled organization. But it can facilitate decentralization too.
'Private Tyranny' Is Less Private Than You Think
Sohrab Ahmari inadvertently gives even more reasons to reduce the power of the state.
When Trade War Threatens Real War
Biden is blurring the lines between economic policy and military action.
Inside an Abusive Anti-Porn Camp for Teens
Is sending kids into the wilderness really the best way to keep them off Pornhub?
After 50 Years, the DEA Is Still Losing the War on Drugs
For five decades, the agency has destroyed countless lives while targeting Americans for personal choices and peaceful transactions.
Adam Smith Said Colonists Should Join the British Union. Was He Serious?
Reading between the lines of The Wealth of Nations
Gadgets and Gizmos That Inspired Adam Smith
Smith appreciated the beauty and allure of intricate systems.
Butchers, Brewers, and Bakers Still Thrive in Urban Marketplaces
Adam Smith recognized that man has a natural "propensity to truck, barter, and exchange."
Adam Smith Understood That We Need Each Other
The thinker's views of human sympathy, beneficence, justice, and the division of labor still resonate.
Adam Smith's Quiet Christianity
The Scottish thinker's famous friendship with David Hume demonstrates his liberalism, not his atheism.
Liberalism Isn't Rule by Elites
But Patrick Deneen’s “common-good conservatism” almost certainly would be.
Comic: The Revised Adam Smith
The ghost of the so-called father of economics chastises those who would use his words for their own misbegotten ends.
Adam Smith Wasn't a Progressive
Stop quoting him out of context on taxation, education, and monopoly.
The Left-Right Spectrum Is Mostly Meaningless
The political landscape doesn’t fit on a simple map.
Will 2024 Bring the Return of the Neocons?
The GOP nominee can forge a humbler path on foreign policy—or turn back to failed neoconservatism.
Storks Don't Take Orders From the State
Falling birthrates, pro-natalist policies, and the limits of population control
Debate: The E.U. Was a Mistake
Are the plausible alternatives to continental governance any better?
How an Ill-Informed Internet Mob Ruined a UVA Student's Life
Morgan Bettinger was accused on social media of telling protesters they would make good "speed bumps." It was more than a year before investigations cleared her.
Debate: To Preserve Individual Liberty, Government Must Affirmatively Intervene in the Culture War
What happens when anti-liberty zealots get the same powers?
Debate: Despite the Welfare State, the U.S. Should Open Its Borders
Can Americans afford to welcome the huddled masses?
Debate: Democracy Is the Worst Form of Government Except for All the Others
What is the relationship between liberty and democracy?
Debate: Mentally Ill Homeless People Must Be Locked Up for Public Safety
Have we forgotten the era of mass institutionalization?
Debate: Cats Are More Libertarian Than Dogs
Do felines contribute more to human liberty?
Debate: It's Time for a National Divorce
Are political breakups really as American as apple pie?
Debate: Bitcoin Is the Future of Free Exchange
Where am I supposed to spend my cryptocurrency?
Debate: The U.S. Should Increase Funding for the Defense of Ukraine
Does Ukraine face an existential risk? Does it matter?
Introducing Reason's 2023 Debate Issue
Where libertarians debate democracy, open borders, cats and dogs, and more
Debate: Artificial Intelligence Should Be Regulated
Is an A.I. "foom" even possible?
The Zoning Theory of Everything
Land use policies explain the battles over everything from the Great Recession to abortion to Donald Trump.
The Drug Exception to the Second Amendment
Conservatives have been slow to recognize the threat that drug prohibition poses to gun rights and other civil liberties.
The Luddites' Veto
Beware of activists touting "responsible research and innovation." The sensible-sounding slogan masks a reactionary agenda.
Speak Loudly and Carry a Big Bat: Ron DeSantis Is on Deck
Does he want to limit government, or is he just out to win at all costs?
How a Public Housing Project Became an Unplanned Neighborhood
A favela in southern Brazil shows the upside of an "invasive" urban form—and offers lessons for U.S. housing policy.
Across the Globe, Government Health Care Systems Are Failing Us
By restricting private health care choices, the NHS and other beloved single-payer systems were doomed from the start.
Examining America's War in Iraq After 20 Years
It was a blunder. Worse than that, it was a crime.
The U.S. Probation System Has Become a Quagmire
What was originally intended as an alternative to incarceration has become a system for mass state control.
How the CDC Became the Speech Police
Secret internal Facebook emails reveal the feds' campaign to pressure social media companies into banning COVID "misinformation."
Kamala Harris Is a Flop
The underwhelming vice presidency of an unpopular former prosecutor has created a succession problem for the Democrats.
A Modern History of 'Groomer' Politics
The social changes that paved the way for gay and trans acceptance have made pedophile acceptance less likely, not more.
Don't Underestimate Clarence Thomas
Justice Thomas' footprints are all over the Court's recently concluded term.
Absolute Immunity Puts Prosecutors Above the Law
By giving powerful law enforcement officials absolute immunity from civil liability, the Supreme Court leaves their victims with no recourse.
