The Reason Roundtable

Can speech ever be violence? Is bigotry and ignorance best countered via the free exchange of ideas or the criminal justice system? Do universities have more of an obligation to let students be challenged and possibly offended, or to protect them from "harmful" or "hateful" ideas?

We found opinions on campus that ran the gamut.

Produced by Zach Weissmueller and Justin Monticello. Hosted by Monticello. Edited by Weissmueller. Camera by Weissmueller and Monticello. Graphics by Brett Raney. Music by Elvis Herod.

Libertarians had high hopes last presidential race. The candidates offered by the two major political parties were hated, so libertarians thought 2016 was their big chance.

It didn't turn out that way.

Still, Nicholas Sarwark, Chairman of the Libertarian Party, says it was a great success. "We tripled all previous records. In the 45-year history of the Libertarian Party, we've never had that kind of support from the electorate."

Johnson only got 3.5% of the vote. John Stossel asks, "is that really winning?" "We're growing, and they're dying," answers Sarwark. "Voter registration identity with Republicans and Democrats is dropping. Voter registration identity with Libertarians is the only party that's growing."

The fight isn't easy. Republicans and Democrats try to keep Libertarians off the ballot. But Sarwark says the plan for this year's midterm elections is "to be on the ballot in all 50 states. We'll definitely be on the ballot in all 50 states in 2020."

Gary Johnson helped the Libertarian Party get on ballots. "But it's not about any particular candidate" says Sarwark. "That's the real difference between the Libertarian Party and, say, Ross Perot. When Ross Perot gets tired of running for office, there's nothing there anymore."

Stossel talks to Sarwark about what we can learn from the last election, and what the future holds for libertarians and the Libertarian Party.

As 2017 thankfully limps to its conclusion, we turn our sights to 2018 and ways in which Congress can be less awful. In this special holiday edition of "Mostly Weekly" Andrew Heaton comes up with some out-of-the-box ideas for our legislators:

•Find out what's inside the stuff they vote on

•Quit hemorrhaging money like a drunken sailor

•Balance mental health with Mr. Trump's twitter account

•Find healthy outlets for pint up sexual energy otherwise directed at staffers

And, of course, what to do about that shrimp running on a government-funded treadmill.

Remy rides crypto to the moon.

Written and performed by Remy. Produced by Austin and Meredith Bragg. Music tracks mastered by Ben Karlstrom. Music by J-Beats Productions.

"Fifteen million able-bodied adults on government welfare would have a better chance at economic betterment if they were taken off welfare."

That was the proposition debated at the most recent Soho Forum debate, held on December 11 at New York's Subculture theater in the East Village. Sponsored by Reason and moderated by economist Gene Epstein, the Soho Forum is a monthly, Oxford-style debate series that explores issues of particular interest to libertarians.

At the December 11 event, the Foundation for Government Accountability's Tarren Bragdon defended the proposition while Neera Tanden of the Center for American Progress opposed it. As an Oxford-style debate, the audience (including those watching via Reason's Facebook live stream) voted before and after the debate, with the winner being the person who moved more people to his or her side. It's a lively conversation that features audience questions toward the end.

The next Soho Forum takes place on January 16 and features the proposition that "selfishness is a virtue." Yaron Brook, the executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, will defend selfishness and Gene Epstein will move from moderator to debater in opposing the resolution. Moderating the debate is Fox News' chief legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano. Tickets for the event are $18 ($10 for students) and must be purchased in advance. To buy tickets, go to https://thesohoforum.org

How many killy things do we need before our country is safe from invasion? The United States defense budget is enormous–it's larger than the next eight largest countries combined, most of which we're buddies with.

But military spending is only partially designed around our protection. A significant portion of America's defense tab is caught up in the military-industrial complex. Politicians love to send federal money and jobs back to their district, and defense contractors eagerly soak up the cash. The $400 billion F-35 program, for example, is the most expensive weapons program in history. Yet it might be obsolete by the time it's finished.

In the latest Mostly Weekly, Andrew Heaton explores the scope of defense spending and whether or not we're getting our money's worth.

Mostly Weekly is hosted by Andrew Heaton with headwriter Sarah Rose Siskind. Watch past episodes here.

Script by Andrew Heaton with writing assistance from Sarah Rose Siskind, Brian Sack, and David Fried

Edited by Austin Bragg and Sarah Rose Siskind.

Produced by Meredith and Austin Bragg.

Theme Song: Frozen by Surfer Blood.

With Republican tax reform almost a sure thing, the nation is poised to experience the most sweeping and significant changes to the tax code since the late 1980s. But are those changes—including lower corporate and individual rates, reductions in some longstanding deductions, and almost certainly trillions of dollars in new national debt—good from a libertarian perspective.

Chris Edwards, director of tax policy at the CATO Institute, likes most of what he sees on the corporate side of reform. But when it comes to individual tax policy, he tells Reason's Nick Gillespie, "It's basically reassembling deck chairs on a really messy and horribly complex system."

Edited by Ian Keyser. Music by _ghost, lisenced under Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 US.

Tax reform bills have been approved by both the Republican-controlled House and Senate. Most observers believe the different versions will be reconciled into legislation representing the most thoroughgoing and consequential changes to the U.S. tax code since the late 1980s.

To get a sense of the good, the bad, and the ugly of tax reform (there's plenty of each) Reason's Nick Gillespie sat down with Grover Norquist, the longtime head of Americans for Tax Reform and arguably the most influential activist over the past 30 years when it comes arguing for lower taxes.

Food trucks are a vital part of many vibrant neighborhoods. For some entrepreneurs, they're a great way to enter the food industry.

Laura Pekarik is one of these entrepreneurs. She sells cupcakes from a food truck in Chicago. Laura says the food truck industry "gives individuals like me an entrance into a market opportunity for the small business owner that otherwise wouldn't have been there. I was able to rent a kitchen space instead of renting a whole brick and mortar and managing a team of people. Everything kind of was under my control to kind of get my feet wet in the business."

But since starting her business, the increased regulations have made it too hard for her to take her truck in to the city. Often she is not even allowed to park. When she does find parking, she can only stay 2 hours. "Every moment that we're driving around and not parked in the location with our window open meant that we couldn't sell," she says.

Baltimore Pizza Truck operator Joey Vanoni tells John Stossel about his similar experiences. He is not allowed to park his truck within 300 feet of any brick and mortar restaurant that sells pizza. Joey says that means "there's almost nowhere left for me to operate."

Why do politicians limit where food trucks may park? Chicago Alderman Tom Tunney says he wants to protect existing restaurants. "It is such a small margin business and it employs so many people," Tunney explains. "That's what we need to protect." Stossel says, he's a bottlenecker.

Produced by Naomi Brockwell. Edited by Joshua Swain.

The mortgage-interest deduction is just special-interest pandering wrapped in a gooey story that equates "the American Dream" with having a mortgage. The tax code should be designed to raise the revenue necessary to pay for essential services, not to nudge and prod us into spending money on something the government decides is good for us.

Produced by Todd Krainin. Written and narrated by Nick Gillespie.