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With six hours to go, we’ve already reached our goal of
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We’re fond of talking about “the Libertarian Moment” at Reason.
Back in 2008, Matt
Welch and I defined it roughly like this:
We are in fact living at the cusp of what should be called the
Libertarian Moment, the dawning not of some fabled, clichéd, and
loosey-goosey Age of Aquarius but a time of increasingly
hyper-individualized, hyper-expanded choice over every aspect of
our lives, from 401(k)s to hot and cold running coffee drinks, from
life-saving pharmaceuticals to online dating services. This is now
a world where it’s more possible than ever to live your life on
your own terms; it’s an early rough draft version of the
libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick’s glimmering “utopia of
utopias.” Due to exponential advances in technology, broad-based
increases in wealth, the ongoing networking of the world via trade
and culture, and the decline of both state and private institutions
of repression, never before has it been easier for more individuals
to chart their own course and steer their lives by the stars as
they see the sky. If you don’t believe it, ask your gay friends, or
simply look who’s running for the White House in 2008.
Over the past six years, things has
simultaneously gotten so much better and so much worse. Yes, every
day seems to bring a new adventure in terror (literal and
figurative) and governmental overreach and miscalculation. We’ve
got tons more debt and regulation than when Barack Obama was a
minor-tier presidential wannabe and his health-care reform plan was
barely a twinkle in his eye. Today’s release of the Senate torture
report is a reminder of just how low the U.S. government can stoop
in the name of righteous defense of the homeland.
But things are better, too: From Uber to Airbnb to Tesla to
Bitcoing to 3D printing to the rise of school choice, gay marriage,
and pot legalization to all sorts of glorious new experiments in
living all over the globe. To the extent the Republican Party has a
future, it’s not due to the backward-looking hawks such a Sen. John
McCain, social cons such as Rick Santorum or Mike Huckabee, or
establishmentarians such as Chris Christie or Mitt Romney but due
to the rise of explicit libertarianish pols such as Reps. Justin
Amash and Thomas Massie and Sen. Rand Paul, whom the Washington
Post says is currently most likely to snag the
2016 presidential nominee. And to the extent that the
Democratic Party and the worn-out liberalism for which it stands
has any chance of surviving, it will be by reacquainting itself
with its free-trade and lifestyle-liberation roots.
Make no mistake: The Libertarian Moment is
not about politics per se. It’s about the radical
decentralization of information, power, and autonomy that is
leeching authority out of all the old established places (goodbye,
New Republic) and into the hands of people who are ready,
willing, able to grab it with both hands and innovate and
live their lives without asking permission. As Matt Welch and I
argued in The Declaration of Independents,
politics is a lagging indicator of American society and it’s no
coincidence that the places where your life is mostly likely to
suck—education, health care, and retirement—are mostly or wholly
run or regulated by the government.
Which is a long-winded way of saying yet again:
Thank you for supporting our work at Reason magazine,
Reason.com, and Reason TV. We cannot do what we do without your
help and the fact that we have already raised 33 percent more than
we did last year is one more sign that our vision of “Free Minds
and Free Markets” is becoming more interesting and attractice to
more and more people are up. Our numbers are up—Reason.com
has more than doubled its audience since 2011 alone and is now
pulling over 4 million visits per month—across every possible
measure. And so is our energy and drive, thanks to your gracious
and generous support.
And if you haven’t yet given but are meaning to,
go here to finish the job as
we punch through into a new era of peace, pluralism, and
progress.
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