Is Libertarian Nihilism Partly to Blame for Washington Getting Worse and Worse?: Podcast

Reason Podcast tackles tax reform, Trump's Roy Moore endorsement, the Flynn flip, and more.

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Is Libertarian Nihilism Partly to Blame for Washington Getting Worse and Worse?: Podcast

Nick Gillespie has already leveraged the Reason Podcast into a webathon pitch (speaking of which, DONATE TO REASON TODAY!), but I just want to point out that you'll be hard-pressed to find another free source of news commentary that produces such phrases as "performative morality" and "moronic stumblebunnies"…

On today's episode, Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and Matt Welch discuss tax reform, President Donald Trump's endorsement of Roy Moore, Bush/Gore whataboutism, the dangers of becoming a low-trust society, escalating political nihilism, and whether libertarians have contributed to the aforementioned problems with burn-it-all-down rhetoric.

Audio production by Ian Keyser.

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Comments

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

It's funny for the statists to claim that libertarians are to blame for anything, given that they usually argue that nobody listens to us.

[ace_m82]

I think they are right, we are to blame because no-one listens to us.

We just need to make them listen to us, and all the problems go away!

Control=freedom. I get it now.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

escalating political nihilism

I think I get the joke here.

In my experience, the argument against 'libertarian nihilism' is, "Darn it, if more people believed in government solutions, those solutions would work!" I'll take my nihilism, thank you.

[Square = Circle]

Also known as "apathetic cynicism."

I think the one moment in Reality Bites that really resonated was when Winona Ryder said something to the effect of "turning away in disgust is not the same thing as apathy."

[BYODB]

If you're feeling disgusted it seems fairly obvious that you're not apathetic. Yet.

Although, to the point of the article itself, either big or little 'L' libertarians (or even just those who ascribe to the ethos) aren't to blame for a single damn thing. No one listens to us, and in national elections we continually do worse than 5% of the vote.

Blaming the minority would appear to be counter-intuitive.

[Hank Phillips]

I thought that was in Peter Pan, where you had to really believe in fairies and say the prayer, or Tinker Bell would die.

[Old Mexican's Speedos]

"Libertarian Nihilism".

That's funny. An oxymoron, sure, but a funny one. Like saying "Fatalist Mirth."

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it was an ethos.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

I dunno, it seems to me that Washington is full of people who think they're making a difference, so I'm not sure if the small number of people who think nothing they do will make a difference is... making a big difference.

[Warren]

Nick,
You didn't fucking say fucking enough. Try fucking harder to say fucking every fucking other fucking word.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Funny to hear SIV get called out.

[Hank Phillips]

The Soundcloud mp3 version lets me edit out the Magnitude of Order blowhard who keeps interrupting Katherine. That makes the podcast soooo enjoyable to listen to while walking or bicycling.