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Lyndon Johnson

John Stossel is seen next to a headline about the New York state exam failure rate | Stossel TV

Charity/Philanthropy

Here's Why Charity Is Better at Solving Problems Than Government

Big government has been ruinous for millions of people. Charities aren't perfect, but they are much more efficient and effective.

John Stossel | 12.27.2023 3:59 AM

chicken tax tariffs pickup trucks free trade podcast why we can't have nice things | Illustration: Lex Villena

Season 1, Episode 5 Podcasts

Why We Can't Have Nice Things: The 'Chicken Tax' That Makes Pickup Trucks More Expensive

"It's not easy to make one of these rules, but it's a thousand times harder to get rid of one."

Eric Boehm | 8.31.2023 11:00 AM

An NPR tote bag set on fire | Illustration: Lex Villena; Jakub Gojda

Politics

Ax Government Funding for NPR

NPR is no Xinhua, but Elon Musk is correct that it doesn't need government subsidies.

Liz Wolfe | 4.13.2023 12:05 PM

inflationfeature | Illustration: Joanna Andreasson; source images: AgnosticPreachersKid/Wikimedia, Department of Defense, Gage Skidmore, Library of Congress, mediaphotos/iStock, Wikimedia

Inflation

What the 1970s Can Teach Us About Today's Inflationary Politics

Inflation is a problem for politicians. Unfortunately for them, it's not a problem they know how to solve.

Peter Suderman | 10.13.2022 6:00 AM

Riotsville USA documentary

Militarization of Police

'Riotsville, U.S.A.' Explores the Origins of Police Militarization

Sierra Pettengill's documentary focuses on the fake towns, built by the Army in the 1960s, to train law enforcement.

Meredith Bragg | 10.7.2022 11:25 AM

Ford2 | Credit: DAVID HUME KENNERLY/UPI/Newscom

State of the Union

Beware of Big Presidential Speeches During Times of Crisis

Biden tonight, like LBJ in 1964, Ford in 1975, Reagan in 1981, and Obama in 2009, is ready to make some terraforming asks to a pliant Congress.

Matt Welch | 4.28.2021 11:44 AM

book2 | HarperCollins

History

How We Lost the War on Poverty

Amity Shlaes concludes in her new book that grand governmental schemes to broadly reorder society are doomed to fail.

John McClaughry | 4.4.2020 6:00 AM

interview1 | Julian Dufort

Poverty

The Not-So-Great Society

Historian Amity Shlaes on the good intentions and bad results of LBJ's war on poverty

Nick Gillespie | 3.15.2020 6:00 AM

Screen Shot 2020-01-15 at 12.45.16 PM | Lex Villena

Election 2020

The Failure of LBJ's Great Society and What It Means for the 21st Century

Historian Amity Shlaes talks about the last time a president massively expanded the federal government to help people.

Nick Gillespie | 1.16.2020 3:37 PM

00003.MTS Multicam.00_57_17_00.Still001 | Jim Epstein

Lyndon Johnson

Why LBJ's Great Society Flopped—and What It Means for the 2020 Election

Amity Shlaes's new history of the late 1960s explains the failure of the last time the federal government tried to fix all that was wrong with America.

Nick Gillespie | 1.15.2020 3:55 PM

sipaphotosnine765039 | Jason Bergman/Sipa USA/Newscom

Election 2020

Bloomberg's Promise of a New 'War on Poverty' Echoes Past Government Failures

"There has to be a war on poverty," says Michael Bloomberg. Does he know how the last one turned out?

Steven Greenhut | 12.27.2019 8:00 AM

Large image on homepages

Reasontv

The Vietnam War Is the Key to Understanding Today's America: Q&A with Filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

Their 18-hour miniseries looks at one of the most divisive, painful, and poorly understood episodes in American history.

Nick Gillespie and Todd Krainin | 9.13.2017 2:05 PM

Large image on homepages | Reason

History

Don't Like Militarized Police and Mass Incarceration? Blame Progressivism.

Talking about racism won't end these problems

Thaddeus Russell | 1.21.2017 7:00 AM

Politics

That Time the President, the FBI, and a Moonlighting Supreme Court Justice Tried to Dig Up Dirt on a Movie Star

When LBJ ordered an investigation of George Hamilton.

Jesse Walker | 9.2.2014 11:35 AM

Presidential History

Presidential Pants

Jesse Walker | 1.19.2011 10:01 AM

Politics

He Was Right

Looking back at the Goldwater moment

Glenn Garvin | 3.1.2002 12:00 AM

Richard Nixon

It Didn't Start with Watergate

Steven Beckner | 12.1.1977 12:00 PM

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