Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Who Decides What Health Care Is 'Needed'?
Too often, it's government bureaucrats acting under the influence of special interests and against the wishes of doctors and patients, with sometimes tragic results.
Reason Podcast
Mike Pesca: How NPR Lost Its Way
Former NPR and Slate fixture Mike Pesca discusses media meltdowns, objectivity vs. moral clarity, and whether we are better or worse off now that media gatekeepers have less influence.
The Best of Reason: How Inflation Breaks Our Brains
From salt riots to toilet paper runs, history shows that rising prices make consumers—and voters—grumpy and irrational.
What Libertarians Would Ask Trump and Harris at the Debate
Plus: A listener asks if rebranding tariffs as taxes would make any difference in reducing their appeal to politicians and voters.
Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Can Mark Cuban Make Prescriptions Affordable Again?
Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs project brings a bit of free market flair to the health care industry, but the lack of meaningful price signals is only part of the problem.
The Best of Reason: Project 2025 Is No Match for MAGA Dysfunction
Trump promised to hire "only the best people," yet his presidential plans were repeatedly thwarted by his staff. Will a second term be different?
How Should the U.S. Respond to Hamas Executing Americans?
Plus: A listener asks the editors, when it is right to revolt to stop repeated miscarriages of justice?
Trailer: Why We Can't Have Nice Things Season 2
A new season brings six new stories about how the government is making Americans poorer and sicker.
Nick Cave: I See the World as 'Systemically Beautiful'
Legendary musician and writer Nick Cave discusses his forthcoming album Wild God, Roger Waters and the BDS movement, and the role of freedom in seeking transcendence.
The Best of Reason: The Afghan Allies Left Behind in the Graveyard of Empires
Thousands of people who helped the U.S. in Afghanistan are still looking for an escape.
Wait, Democrats Now Say They Love Freedom?
Plus: Does the government own too much land in Utah? And the latest response to Friends star Matthew Perry’s drug overdose death.
Anna Gát: Building an Intellectual Community for the Politically Homeless
The founder of Interintellect, a global online community for intellectual salons, advocates for a truly free and self-moderating market of ideas in the age of political polarization.
The Best of Reason: The Fragile Generation
Bad policy and paranoid parenting are making kids too safe to succeed.
Why Libertarians Hate Kamala Harris' Economic Platform
Plus: Special guest Ben Dreyfuss joins the editors this week.
Tim Walz Is Another Big-Government Liberal
Plus: A listener asks the editors about tariffs and subsidies in the manufacture of electric vehicles.
Chase Oliver: Q&A With the Controversial Libertarian Party Candidate
The 2024 Libertarian Party presidential candidate speaks out about the Israel-Hamas war, the authoritarian impulses of both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and homophobia within his own party.
The Best of Reason Magazine: Your Vote Doesn't Count
Why (almost) everyone should stay home on Election Day
Weighing Kamala Harris' Veep Options
A very special Reason Roundtable crossover episode with two guests from The Dispatch!
Randy Barnett: Originalism, Obamacare, and the Libertarian Movement
Libertarian legal giant Randy Barnett on his epic Supreme Court battles, the Federalist Society, and watching movies with Murray Rothbard.
The Best of Reason Magazine: A Baby Dies in Virginia
The lethal consequences of a common, obscure hospital licensing law.
What Kamala Harris' Coronation Says About the Democratic Party
Plus: A listener asks the editors about Project 2025.
Ted and Courtney Balaker: College Students Are Rejecting Wokeness
The filmmakers who brought The Coddling of the American Mind to the big screen discuss the students whose stories inspired the film and the state of the media, Hollywood, and storytelling.
The Best of Reason: Congress 'Can Regulate Virtually Anything'
How legislators learned to stop worrying about the constitutionality of federal drug and gun laws by abusing the Commerce Clause.
Biden's Out. Harris Is In. Everyone Else Is Screwed.
Plus: A listener asks the editors if employers should be held responsible for the speech and actions of employees outside of the workplace.
Corey DeAngelis: The School Choice Wave Sweeping America
The Parent Revolution author on lockdowns, teachers unions, and voter rage.
The Best of Reason: Why Did Americans Stop Caring About the National Debt?
Both parties—and the voters—are to blame for the national debt fiasco.
Is Violent Rhetoric To Blame for the Trump Assassination Attempt?
Plus: Is Biden fit to be president today, let alone stand for reelection?
Eric Brakey: How Libertarians Can Attain Political Power
The director of The Free State Project and Maine legislator talks about the free state movement’s history, accomplishments, and future.
The Best of Reason: Child Welfare Systems Are Trapping Innocent Families
Georgia parents were accused of child abuse after they took their daughter to the doctor. Does the state's story add up?
Why the Media Covered for Biden
Plus: A listener asks whether Bruce Springsteen's song Born in the U.S.A is actually patriotic.
Andy Mills: Quitting The New York Times and Making The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling
The podcasting pioneer discusses capturing the real J.K. Rowling, quitting The New York Times, and his new show Reflector.
The Best of Reason: What Caused the D.C. Crime Wave?
Don't blame criminal justice reform or a lack of social spending for D.C.'s crime spike. Blame government mismanagement.
Biden, Cognitive Decline, and the End of American Empire
Plus: The editors reflect on the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Mike Rowe: Make America Stand for Something Again
The Dirty Jobs host talks about patriotism, history, and his new movie for Independence Day 2024.
The Best of Reason: What If the U.S. Cuts Off Aid to Israel?
Ending U.S. aid would give Washington less leverage in the Middle East. That's why it's worth doing.
Eating Doritos While Drowning in Debt
Plus: A listener asks if there are any libertarian solutions to rising obesity rates.
Whole Foods' John Mackey: We Must Change How We Think About Capitalism
The co-founder of Whole Foods discusses his new memoir, The Whole Story: Adventures in Love, Life, and Capitalism as he launches his new holistic health venture, Love.Life.
The Best of Reason: Government Can't Fix America's Baby Bust
The obstacles to having more babies can't be moved by tax incentives or subsidized child care.
Abortion, Guns, and Hunter Biden.
Plus: A listener asks the editors about the Selective Service.
The Best of Reason: American Small Businesses Are Desperate for Foreign Workers
The number of job openings far exceeds the number of unemployed Americans. Seasonal businesses can't get the foreign labor they need.
The Best of Reason: The Mirage of China's I.P. Theft
As allegations of intellectual property theft swirl, a deeper look reveals a tale of phony numbers and twisted data.
Should Donald Trump Have Been Convicted?
Plus: A single-issue voter asks the editors for some voting advice in the 2024 presidential election.
The Best of Reason: Not Even Artificial Intelligence Can Make Central Planning Work
Revolutionary AI technologies can't solve the "wicked problems" facing policy makers.
Libertarian National Convention: Are You Not Entertained?
Plus: A listener asks the editors for voting advice and commiseration in a predominantly democratic state.
A Bonus Reason Roundtable. Live From Boston!
Plus: Who are the editors' favorite vice presidents of all time?
The Best of Reason: 'AI Bullshit' Makes Poets Mad
Is AI-written poetry cheating if you laboriously trained the AI?
