Is America Heading for a National Divorce?
Plus: A listener asks about Supreme Court legitimacy, and the editors practice "libertarian Festivus."
In this week's July 4 edition of The Reason Roundtable, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and special guest Christian Britschgi ruminate on the so-called Disunited States.
1:24—The current conversation surrounding "National Divorce"
37:55—Weekly Listener Question:
Where does Supreme Court legitimacy come from, and if it was lost, how does it get it back? Is the only cure to New Deal–era judicial activism yet more judicial activism today to rein in the Commerce Clause? Does this enhance its legitimacy because they are being faithful to the Constitution; or does that illegitimate the court because it upends the present order and is wildly unpopular?
41:52—How the editors spent July 4, and "libertarian Festivus"
This week's links:
"Once Again, the Firework Cops Failed To Stop People From Celebrating Freedom With a Boom," by Christian Britschgi
"3 Myths About American Decline," by Nick Gillespie
"70 Percent of Republicans and Democrats Agree: The Other Side Are 'Bullies,'" by Christian Britschgi
"America's Founders Raged Against Qualified Immunity, Trade Restrictions, and Anti-Immigrant Policies," by Eric Boehm
"Randy Barnett: Abortion, Guns, and the Future of the Supreme Court," by Nick Gillespie
"Inside the Mises Caucus Takeover of the Libertarian Party," by Zach Weissmueller, Nick Gillespie, and Danielle Thompson
"Confidence in U.S. Institutions Down; Average at New Low," by Jeffrey M. Jones
"Spurred by the Supreme Court, a Nation Divides Along a Red-Blue Axis," by Jonathan Weisman
Send your questions to roundtable@reason.com. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.
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Audio production by Ian Keyser
Assistant production by Hunt Beaty
Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve