The Reason Roundtable

Barrett Brown was just released from prison last November after four years behind bars for, among other things, posting a series of videos in which he appears to threaten an FBI agent. How things escalated to that point in the first place is a complicated matter involving email hacks, drug addiction, and the murky world of private intelligence contractors.

Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Music by Kai Engel.

Reason editors Katherine Mangu-Ward, Matt Welch, and Nick Gillespie discuss a preliminary federal budget that "takes the things that lefties like and dumps it in to the things that righties like;" the "strangulation of Big Bird in his nest;" the existential despair at three-year-old birthday parties in Washington, D.C.; Jeff Bezos and the coming of the robot overlords; Chuck Berry as our cultural Apollo project (or is it Wikipedia?); the coming, extended, nauseating theater of the Gorsuch hearing; and the greatness of pop music as "an endless parade of freaks differentiating themselves."

The suppression of free speech on college campuses isn't a new thing, says Jonathan Haidt, a psychologist at the New York University Stern School of Business and author of The Righteous Mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. In the past, however, it was usually done by professors and administrators rather than students.

Haidt says student-driven speech suppression is a relatively new phenomenon. "It was after the Yale protests that everything really spread, and that was only 13 or 14 months ago," says Haidt, referring to an incident in which students protested potentially offensive Halloween costumes.

For Haidt, students calling for speech codes, trigger warnings, and the like is a reversal of what we had come to expect on college campuses in the wake of the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s. "The thing people were not expecting was that the students are the ones who are demanding [political correctness] now," he explains. "Before, it was typically the students who were demanding more freedom."

This can have a chilling effect on speech even as it pushes students to opposite ends of the political spectrum. "At schools," says Haidt, "men feel they can't speak and then they go and vote for Trump."

Reason TV's Nick Gillespie sat down with Haidt at the International Students for Liberty Conference to discuss the rise of political correctness and its cultural implications. They also talk about Heterodox Academy, a website that Haidt helped start that discusses the need for viewpoint diversity within the university system.

"The U.S. [health care system] is what you get when you let government run rampant," says Michael F. Cannon, who's the Cato Institute’s director of health policy studies. "The government controls half of our health care spending directly and the other half indirectly."

Would Americans be better off if the government pulled back and let markets function? That was the topic of a debate held Monday night at the Soho Forum, a monthly Oxford-style debate series that "features topics of special interest to libertarians" and "aims to enhance social and professional ties within the New York City libertarian community." Cannon's debating partner was The Huffington Post's Jonathan Cohn, author of the 2007 book, Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis—and the People Who Pay the Price.

In the newest Reason Podcast (archive here), Reason mag Editor in Chief Katherine Mangu-Ward, Editor at Large Matt Welch, and I discuss Donald Trump's evidence-free accusation that Barack Obama "tapped" his phones, why his presidential transition is taking so long, and whether his deregulatory moves will come to fruition. Also in the mix: What is wrong with former Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who can barely go a few days without insulting the children of immigrants ("other people's babies," in King-ese), why libertarian-leaning Republican Justin Amash finally missed his first vote in 4,000-plus votes, and why privacy is probably gone for good (and why that's not always such a bad thing).

"I consider myself primarily to be a libertarian," says P.J. O'Rourke, the author of the new book How the Hell Did This Happen?: The Election of 2016. I am personally conservative [but] I always think of libertarianism as basically being an analytical tool, not an ideology per se.... When you look at something that happens, especially in politics, you look at something that happens, you say, 'Does this increase the dignity of the individual? Does this increase the liberty of the individual? Does this increase the responsibility of the individual?' If it meets those three criteria, then it's probably an acceptable libertarian political policy, or lack thereof, because we like to subtract some things from politics too."

In the latest Reason Podcast, O'Rourke tells Nick Gillespie what he learned about Donald Trump's appeal from his time spent covering the 2016 election, why populism is a "tragedy" for libertarians, and why he wants his kids to study English and the liberal arts at college. "Be immersed in the history of civilization, you know, in literature, in the arts," he says. "You're going to be force-marched through these things. Some of it's going to be boring. Some of it you won't appreciate for another 40 years, but it's that college liberal arts education, is the last chance you really get to [immerse yourself in art, music, and culture]."

"People think the world is in chaos. People think that the world is on fire right now for all the wrong reasons," says author and Cato Institute senior fellow Johan Norberg. "There is a segment of politicians who try to scare us to death, because then we clamber for safety we need the strong man in a way." Reason's Nick Gillespie sat down with Norberg during the International Students for Liberty Conference to talk about his book, Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future, the current political climate in the West, and how technology is creating a younger generation that will look past politics for answers to societal problems.

"Are we a chosen marginalized group that is going to be forever hanging around together? Is this just our social gang?," asks Jeffrey Tucker, director of content for the Foundation of Economic Education (FEE). "I think that is a problem."

Reason's Nick Gillespie sat down with Tucker at the International Students for Liberty Conference to discuss the history of FEE and how popular culture can be used by libertarians to spread their ideas to a mainstream audience.

Nick Gillespie talks with Kari DePhillips, a Free State Project participant and owner of the digital PR agency The Content Factory, and Kelly Chase, her friend and colleague. Together, they're living abroad for a year, each month in a different spectacular location, working from the road and actually spending less money than if they had stayed put in their American homes (New Hampshire and Ohio, respectively). They call their experiment "workationing" and in the latest Reason podcast, they explain the logistics of how they're pulling off an adventure that will lead to places as far-flung as Puerto Rico; Sofia, Bulgaria; Amsterdam; Spain; California; and (probably) Iceland.

Their website, Workationing.com, documents how it all works via blog entries, photos, videos and podcasts. It also explains how you can do it too, if that's what floats your boat. For DePhillips, becoming a digital nomad is an extension of the intentional community she found in the Free State Project (FSP) and, before that, being a self-described "Deadhead for Ron Paul" in 2007 and 2008. "I want to live not just with intentionality, but with integrity," explains DePhillips about her attraction to FSP. "If you really believe in limited government and personal freedom and you see that there's a group of people congregating to make that happen...how can you not be a part of that?...Getting into the digital nomad community, I find so much of the same sentiments...Do you own yourself? How do you engineeer the best life for yourself that suits your needs and desires and wants and goals in the best way possible? For me right now, living as a digital nomad is the best way possible to achieve that freedom and flexibility."

"There is a tradition of Islam that actually values enterprise and free trade," says Mustafa Akyol, a New York Times columnist and author of Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty. "Islam was born as a very trade-friendly religion. Prophet Muhammad was a merchant himself."

Nick Gillespie sat down with Akyol at the International Students for Liberty Conference to discuss the historical relationship between Islam and free trade, how Islamists reshaped the religion into political authoritarianism, and whether or not Islam needs a reformation or an enlightenment.