Atlantic mag fires pro-life columnist for tweet

By Firing Kevin Williamson,The Atlantic Shows It Can't Handle Real Ideological Diversity - Hit & Run : Reason.com - :

April 5, 2018 - "Kevin Williamson has been fired from The Atlantic. Since leaving National Review in March, the conservative writer has managed to produce just one column at his new perch, in which he declared the death of the libertarian moment.

"But the thing that cost him the gig was a remark he made on a podcast well before his firing and in a tweet (since deleted [UPDATE: Williamson notes that his account is deactivated, not that this specific tweet was deleted]): 'And someone challenged me on my views on abortion, saying, "If you really thought it was a crime, you would support things like life in prison, no parole, for treating it as a homicide." And I do support that. In fact, as I wrote, what I had in mind was hanging.'

"Williamson expressed the view that abortion is murder and should be punished to the full extent of the law (although he also later indicated that he has mixed feelings about capital punishment). I do not share his view. But by declaring Williamson to be outside the Overton window of acceptable political discourse because he believes strongly that abortion is a serious, punishable crime, The Atlantic is essentially declaring that it cannot stomach real, mainstream conservatism as it actually exists in 21st century America.

"Williamson uses colorful and sometimes rash language. He didn't have to detail the grisly form of punishment he would inflict on women who decide to terminate their pregnancies. He chose to do so because he enjoys provoking a reaction. But The Atlantic knew that about him before it hired him.

"Editor Jeffrey Goldberg says he decided to fire Williamson only after learning that the tweet and podcast quote 'represented his carefully considered views.' But the underlying logic of Williamson's pro-life position is a view shared by roughly half or at least 40 percent of Americans.

"It is, of course, the perfect right of The Atlantic's editors to publish whomever they wish. Reason staffers are all libertarian, under a big-tent understanding of that term (not to brag, but we are repping the pro-life view). That's written into our mission as a magazine. But if The Atlantic purports to capture a broad spectrum of American political views, Williamson's firing is a sign that it hasn't yet figured out how to do so. And the reader outcry against him ... is a sign of a market that has grown increasingly squeamish about a genuinely inclusive journalistic vision."

Read more: https://reason.com/blog/2018/04/05/kevin-williamson-fired
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Political change happens on the margins

The Enduring Libertarian Moment - The Atlantic - Conor Friedersdorf:

March 31, 2016 - "Back in 2014, when everyone was debating whether or not America was experiencing a libertarian moment, I urged against judging the matter using the standard that much of the press reserves for libertarians, where conservatives and progressives are judged with the understanding that political change happens on the margins, whereas with libertarians, antagonists and sympathizers alike act as if success means a radical shift toward an ideologically pure, uncompromising libertarian utopia.

"In reality, libertarian ideas will only ever be implemented partially, in a system of checks and balances, where even modest reforms are difficult to achieve. The real question is whether future electorates will support policies that enhance liberty compared to the status quo. If that's what is meant by a 'libertarian moment,' we're arguably coming off several important ones, and can expect more in years to come.

"In recent memory, whole states have legalized marijuana and millions of gays have won the freedom to marry a person of their choosing. Technology continues to be both a blessing and a curse to liberty-loving people. Libertarians face a long, hard fight on surveillance, for example, and there's no guarantee of victory. At the same time, the rise of ubiquitous video had an unexpected benefit: So far, instead of bringing Orwellian dystopia, it has allowed citizens to capture unprecedented footage of police officers, proving a degree of brutality and abuse that libertarians have long known about but that most other Americans had to see in order to believe.

"Police killings and overzealous incarceration are horrific infringements on individual liberty. The prospects for reforming both seem relatively bright. The fact that criminal-justice reform and drug-war reform now have conservatives and progressives behind them underscores a larger truth: A lot of libertarian victories aren't going to coincide with political success for libertarian politicians, because as libertarian ideas become electorally viable, they get co-opted by establishment politicians....

"Some libertarian gains won't even be grounded in libertarian philosophy. The failure of the Iraq War turned Americans away from neoconservatism and liberal interventionism more than any newly embraced principle.... Now, both major parties are willing to elevate presidential candidates who argue for noninterventionism.... Bernie Sanders is frankly anti-war. The only heartening thing about Trump's rise is seeing someone stand on a Republican debate stage, declare the Iraq War utterly idiotic, and then win GOP primaries even in the most jingoistic states in the union....

"We're a big, sprawling, complicated nation that faces an array of complex policy challenges. Libertarians don't have all the answers any more than any other ideological faction. But they do have one advantage over their more mainstream competitors.

"It springs from the law of diminishing returns: We've tried the most popular conservative and progressive ideas. Where libertarians have a realistic chance of winning over their fellow citizens — standing for strong encryption, eliminating inane professional licensing laws, insisting on due process, avoiding wars of choice, ending the war on drugs, reducing the prison population, reforming police — 'libertarian moments' would bring America huge benefits. That's why they'll be embraced by majorities who aren't yet sold on the entire libertarian philosophy."

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/where-libertarians-stand-as-donald-trump-rises/476139/
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Revisiting the 'Libertarian Moment' at Cato

The 'Libertarian Moment,' Revisited – InsideSources - Graham Vyse:

March 18, 2016 - "Nearly two years since the New York Times asked, “Has the ‘Libertarian Moment’ Finally Arrived?,” the answer appears to be a resounding 'no.'

"First, libertarian-leaning Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul failed to take off in the Republican presidential race.... Now presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump is frequently called an authoritarian, embracing an activist, indeed muscular, role for the federal government on issues ranging from publicly funded healthcare to rounding up and deporting undocumented immigrants.

"And yet for libertarianism’s biggest devotees, accepting defeat isn’t an option.

"Earlier this month, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson was pitching his Libertarian presidential campaign through the halls of the Conservative Political Action Conference, when InsideSources asked whether talk of a 'moment' for his movement was overblown. He was quick to say that Paul never called himself a pure libertarian, so the senator doesn’t prove any conclusive case against the cause.

"'They’re social conservatives,' Johnson said of Paul and his father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who ran as a Republican in the 2012 White House race. The former governor argued that Americans should try a true believer — someone like him.

"Conor Friedersdorf isn’t so sure. The Atlantic writer got laughs Wednesday at the Cato Institute, libertarians’ flagship think tank in Washington, when he joked during a panel discussion about Johnson’s charisma — or lack thereof.... At the same time, Friedersdorf ... stands by 'a belief that libertarianism is just fine, that it’s won some big victories in the very recent past, and I expect it to win more.'

"'Conservatives and progressives are widely judged with the understanding that most political change happens gradually and on the margins,' he said, 'but especially in the press, antagonists and champions alike often act as if libertarian success would mean a radical shift toward an ideologically pure, uncompromising, small government utopia — or distopia, depending on who you ask.

"'In reality,' Friedersdorf continued, 'libertarian ideas will only ever be implemented incompletely, gradually, in the system of checks and balances that we have, and the question [is] whether future voters will support policies that enhance liberty compared to the status quo. If that’s what we mean by a libertarian moment, I think we’re coming off several. We can expect many more.'

"Another panelist, Reason Magazine editor Matt Welch, also argued libertarians should keep their chins up. Compared to 2008, prior to President Barack Obama’s election, he said the liberty movement is strong. 'We didn’t have Rand Paul in the Senate back then,' he said. 'We didn’t have Republicans who said, "Let’s actually cut military spending’ year over year. … California tried to legalize recreational pot in 2010 and got smacked down, right? … Now we have legal weed as a thing that happens.'

"Enactment of gay marriage and nationwide criminal justice reforms were also cited as libertarian victories, but not everyone in the Cato discussion was as upbeat. Ramesh Ponnuru, an editor at the conservative National Review, said flatly that there never was a libertarian moment, and 'libertarians shouldn’t kid themselves about the appeal of their philosophy.'

"Ponnuru added that some trends in American culture appear to be headed in an overtly anti-libertarian direction, including the public’s answer to the question, 'Do you think that people should be allowed to say things that are offensive?' 'With that question, it seems to me, the trend lines are going in the wrong direction, particularly among young people,' he said.

Read more: http://www.insidesources.com/libertarian-moment/
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Paul vs. Christie in the first Republican debate

Rand Paul and Chris Christie Clash on NSA Spying in the Republican Debate - The Atlantic - Conor Friedersdorf:

August 7, 2015 - "One of the biggest clashes in the Republican debate Thursday night came after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was asked about his past attacks on Senator Rand Paul. The two men disagree about an NSA program that spied on tens of millions of innocent Americans by logging all phone calls they dialed and received. Paul, a leading critic of the phone dragnet, has argued that it flagrantly violates the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures....

“'Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack?” a moderator asked Thursday.... 'Yes, I do,' [Christie] said. 'And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted, investigated, and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th.... And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way.' In fact, the phone dragnet has never stopped a single terrorist attack, during Chris Christie’s tenure as a U.S. attorney or at any other time....

"Paul responded to Thursday’s attack by expressing his preference for targeted surveillance rather than an expansive dragnet that sweeps up everyone’s metadata. 'I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans,” he said. 'The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence. I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights. I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights.'

"Christie was ready with a retort.... 'You know, that's a completely ridiculous answer: "I want to "collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know?' 'Get a warrant!' Paul said. 'Get a judge to sign the warrant!'

“Listen, Senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that,' he said. 'When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure –– to make sure that you use the system the way that it’s supposed to work.'

"In fact, 'get a judge to sign a warrant' is a rather succinct description of how 'the system' is 'supposed to work,' if we define 'the system' as the Constitution rather than national-security officials following their gut instincts. It’s hardly 'blowing hot air' for a senator to call on the executive branch to follow the law....

"On Fox News after the debate, a couple of commentators suggested that Christie won his exchange with Paul. I cannot comment on the style preferences of a GOP voter base that presently prefers Donald Trump to all other candidates. But on substance, Paul easily bested Christie in this exchange.... Christie seems oblivious to the basic logic of the Bill of Rights. The constraints it places on government are not suspended in the aftermath of a terrorist attack –– they are, in fact, most important precisely when a polity is panicked and officials are unusually able to seize excessive power without criticism. His praise for leaders unapologetically jettisoning such constraints in the name of protecting us is more dangerous than any terrorist plot in U.S. history."

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/08/rand-paul-and-chris-christie-clash-on-nsa-spying/400718/
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Nebraska legislature votes to end death penalty

How Nebraska Abolished the Death Penalty - The Atlantic - Russell Berman:

May 27, 2015 - "Nebraska on Wednesday became the first conservative state in more than four decades to repeal the death penalty. Its legislature, officially non-partisan but dominated by Republicans, voted by the narrowest of possible margins to override a veto by Governor Pete Ricketts, and enact a law scrapping a punishment that the state has struggled to carry out....

"In the end, a growing coalition of liberals, religious groups, and libertarian-minded conservatives overcame more traditional tough-on-crime Republicans who saw the death penalty as the appropriate, ultimate punishment for murder. Underlying that ideological debate, however, was a far more pragmatic consideration. Nebraska has been unable to kill any of the murderers sentenced to death by its legal system since 1997.... That failure has given momentum to opponents of capital punishment, including a new group of conservatives that has invoked fiscal and religious arguments to woo right-leaning legislators to their side.

"'It’s not just about the procurement of drugs,” said Marc Hyden of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, an organization that sprouted up in Montana several years ago and has since expanded nationally. 'It’s not pro-life because it risks innocent life. It’s not fiscally responsible because it costs millions more dollars than life without parole.'

"Yet Nebraska's bumbling and occasionally shady attempts to carry out death sentences — along with incidents in neighboring states like the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma — have given rise to another argument that sells among conservatives: the death penalty is just another example of government run amok.

"'At the end of the day, this is just another big government program that’s really dangerous and expensive but doesn’t achieve any of its goals,' Hyden told me, summarizing his pitch to Republicans. 'They don’t need to ask themselves, "Do some people deserve to die?" The question they need to ask themselves is, do they trust an error-prone government to fairly, efficiently and properly administer a program that metes out death to its citizens? I think the answer to that is a resounding no'...

"'This has been a slow, steady move toward repeal,' said Stacy Anderson, executive director of Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Danielle Conrad, executive director of the state chapter of the ACLU, cited the state’s unicameral, non-partisan legislature — unique in the U.S. — and a recent term-limits law that facilitated the election of more libertarian-leaning senators in recent years."

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/how-nebraska-banned-the-death-penalty/394271/
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Libertarians can be a significant force for good

Libertarians Can Be a Significant Force for Good in U.S. Politics - The Atlantic - Conor Friedersdorf:

August 14, 2014 - "Has the 'Libertarian Moment' Finally Arrived?"

"The question was put to New York Times Magazine readers by journalist Robert Draper, who has elicited disdainful responses from Paul Krugman of the Times, Jonathan Chait of New York, and my colleague David Frum. All three concur that the notion of a libertarian ascendancy is an unsophisticated, laughable fantasy. That's a vexing position to hear from this particular trio. If there is no real prospect of tomorrow's voters embracing libertarian ideas, let alone libertarians exercising meaningful power over policy, why have these three spent years dedicating countless hours, numerous articles in prominent publications, and tens of thousands of words criticizing, mocking, and vilifying libertarians, even as centrist elites carried out disastrous policies from Iraq to Wall Street? They're perfectly within their rights to proceed as though libertarianism is a political force that imperils us, or an obvious nonstarter, but it cannot be both.

"I'd respectfully argue that libertarianism is neither dangerous nor doomed, and that people who think otherwise are misled by a double standard they use when analyzing this political faction. When they write about a 'libertarian moment,' they act as if it would mean the immediate embrace of an extreme, ideologically pure version of a philosophy that most actual sympathizers embrace with pragmatic moderation.... But in the real world, libertarian ideas will only ever be implemented partially in a system of checks and balances where modest reforms are difficult to achieve, never mind sweeping, rapid changes....

""The relevant question is whether younger voters will support policies and elect leaders that enhance liberty in comparison to the status quo. If that's what is meant by 'a libertarian moment,' and it seems like a perfectly reasonable definition of the phrase to me, then we may indeed be witnessing one."

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/08/an-opening-for-libertarians-to-be-a-significant-force-in-us-politics/375972/
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Paul is now the 2016 GOP frontrunner - Atlantic

Rand Paul Is the 2016 Republican Frontrunner - Peter Beinart - The Atlantic:

January 22, 2014 - "If Chris Christie was ever the frontrunner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, he isn’t anymore. All along, the theory behind his candidacy was that he could overcome his lack of conservative bona fides with a combination of personality, competence, electability, and money. Bridgegate undermines all four.

"In the minds of many voters, Christie’s personality has morphed from brash to bully. It’s harder to look competent when your top aides egregiously abused power under your nose.... Marist and Quinnipiac, whose surveys showed Clinton and Christie virtually tied in December, now show him trailing her by 13 and 8 points, respectively.... And as Christie’s electability erodes, so will his vaunted support among GOP moneymen.

"So if Christie is no longer the candidate to beat in the 2016 Republican race, who is? Believe it or not, it’s Rand Paul.

"To understand the Kentucky senator’s hidden strength, it’s worth remembering this basic fact about the modern GOP: It almost never nominates first-time candidates. Since 1980, George W. Bush is the only first-timer to win a Republican nomination. And since Bush used the political network his father built, he enjoyed many of the benefits of someone who had run before. It’s the same with Paul. In both Iowa and New Hampshire, he begins with an unparalleled infrastructure left over from his father Ron Paul’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns."

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/rand-paul-is-the-2016-republican-frontrunner/283258/
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Dear Pope: It's a better world than you think

Is the Pope Right About the World? - Marian Tupy - The Atlantic:

December 11, 2013 - "In Evangelii Gaudium, an 'apostolic exhortation' released late last month, the pope bemoans inequality, poverty, and violence in the world.

"But here’s the problem: The dystopian world that Francis describes, without citing a single statistic, is at odds with reality. In appealing to our fears and pessimism, the pope fails to acknowledge the scope and rapidity of human accomplishment — whether measured through declining global inequality and violence, or growing prosperity and life expectancy....

"First, consider inequality. Academic researchers ... all agree that global inequality is declining. That is because 2.6 billion people in China and India are richer than they used to be. Their economies are growing much faster than those of their Western counterparts, thus shrinking the income gap that opened at the dawn of industrialization in the 19th century, when the West took off and left much of the rest of the world behind.

"Paradoxically, the shrinking of the global inequality gap was only possible after India and China abandoned their attempts to create equality through central planning....

"Second, let’s look at poverty.... Brookings Institution researchers Laurence Chandy and Geoffrey Gertz ... 'estimate that between 2005 and 2010, the total number of poor people around the world fell by nearly half a billion, from over 1.3 billion in 2005 to under 900 million in 2010. Poverty reduction of this magnitude is unparalleled in history: never before have so many people been lifted out of poverty over such a brief period of time.'"

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/12/is-the-pope-right-about-the-world/282276/
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The classified briefing that most of Congress missed, and why

The Hidden Classified Briefing Most of Congress Missed - Garance Franke-Ruta - The Atlantic:

September 20, 2013 - "Inside the House of Representatives, there is an internal communications system designed specifically for members and their staffs.... The 'e-Dear Colleague' system has existed since 2008 as an intranet database of messages ... and as a kind of listserv on official doings for the 435 representatives' offices. With so many people on the opt-in subscription service, the volume of email is high, which is why when there's an important intelligence briefing for members of Congress, staffers are formally notified directly by their party leaders in the House.

"Except in August, according to Rep. Justin Amash, when something extraordinary happened. An important national-security document the libertarian Michigan Republican and some of his colleagues on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence had been trying to see for some time was made available to all members on less than 24 hours' notice by the Intelligence Committee chair, with a viewing scheduled for when they were supposed to be voting, and on the very day Congress was set to begin its five-week summer recess. And the email went out through the 'e-Dear Colleague' system, where it was buried."

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/09/the-hidden-top-secret-briefing-most-of-congress-missed/279857/
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America's Libertarian Moment; an interview with David Boaz

America's Libertarian Moment - Molly Ball - The Atlantic:

August 18, 2013 - "Libertarianism is on the march. From the rapid rise to prominence of first-term Senator Rand Paul to the state-level movements to legalize gay marriage and marijuana, the philosophy of fiscal conservatism, social liberalism, and restrained foreign policy seems to be gaining currency in American politics. But it's nothing new, of course. (New York Times Magazine, 1971: "The New Right Credo: Libertarianism.") A lonely band of libertarian thinkers have been propounding this philosophy since the 1960s, when the late thinker Murray Rothbard published his first book, Reason magazine was founded, and, in 1974, Rothbard teamed up with Charles Koch and Ed Crane to found the Cato Institute, one of Washington's most influential think tanks.

"David Boaz, Cato's executive vice president, has been with the organization since 1981, giving him a good perch to put the current libertarian vogue in perspective. In an interview this week, we talked about the political currents propelling libertarianism into the political mainstream, the Supreme Court's libertarian turn, whether Paul will be our next president, and much more....

"What is the significance of Rand Paul to this discussion?
"Rand Paul is clearly the most significant libertarian-leaning American political figure in a long time. There are a couple of issues I disagree with him on, but when you look at issues that cut across left-right boundaries, like his interest in reduced spending, less regulation, reining in our adventurous foreign policy, protecting America's rights against surveillance -- that's a combination of issues that libertarians have waited a long time to find together in one candidate. I think he can have a lot of appeal. A lot of libertarians, including those who came out of the Ron Paul movement but also others, are very interested in seeing how far his political ambitions might take him....

"Are there other libertarian-leaning politicians you're interested in besides Rand Paul?
"One of the problems for libertarians is they aren't much interested in politics. The three most libertarian governors of past decade -- the brilliant lawyer William Weld, the true citizen-politician Gary Johnson, and the eccentric entertainer Jesse Ventura -- all walked away from politics. In the House you have Justin Amash [of Michigan] and Thomas Massie [of Kentucky] -- I once did a study that determined that Kentucky was the least libertarian state in the country by several criteria. Then they elected Rand Paul and Thomas Massie, so maybe I have to reconsider."

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/08/americas-libertarian-moment/278785/
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Dick Armey Sticks His FreedomWorks Payback to Glenn Beck - Politics - The Atlantic Wire

Dick Armey Sticks His FreedomWorks Payback to Glenn Beck - Politics - The Atlantic Wire - Elspeth Reeve:

January 4, 2013 - "Former FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey revealed that the Tea Party group paid Glenn Beck about $1 million to say "nice things" about the group on his radio show, and that it got a negative return on that investment, in an interview Friday — with the liberal group Media Matters, of all places. It's the latest strange revelation in the FreedomWorks civil war. Armey reportedly tried to stage an armed coup last fall, but his reign didn't last long, and donor Richard J. Stephenson agreed to pay Armey $400,000 a year for 20 years to go away....

"'The arrangement was simply FreedomWorks paid Glenn Beck money and Glenn Beck said nice things about FreedomWorks on the air,' Armey said, adding that, initially, Beck's kind words were only supposed to cost $250,000 a year. 'Once that was approved by the trustees, it then took on a life of its own, it got bigger than we understood it to be. All of a sudden it was we are paying Limbaugh as well as Beck.'"

Read more: http://m.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/01/dick-armey-sticks-his-freedomworks-payback-glenn-beck/60624/
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Pipe Dreamer - Molly Ball - The Atlantic

Pipe Dreamer - Molly Ball - The Atlantic:

October 2012 - "Attracting attention may be the chief challenge facing Johnson, a popular 1990s-era governor of New Mexico who now finds himself a political after­thought. He ran for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, but was excluded from almost all the debates, and dropped out before the Iowa caucuses.... Having since left the GOP for the Libertarian Party ... Johnson hopes to fashion a new voting bloc. He is more socially liberal than Obama, more fiscally conservative than Mitt Romney, and less interventionist than either on foreign affairs. He believes that combination leaves him well-positioned to unite liberals disappointed with Obama, conservatives distrustful of Romney, and the eccentric youth movement galvanized by Ron Paul....

"Johnson’s belief in his quixotic project has precedent: his experience backing drug legalization. He has been a vocal advocate since 1999, when, early in his second term as governor, he declared the drug war an expensive failure. Though New Mexico was by then accustomed to his unorthodox leadership style—he vetoed hundreds of spending bills and periodically left town to participate in grueling Ironman triathlons—his announcement came as a shock, and his approval rating quickly plummeted 30 points. By the time he left office in 2003, though, it had largely rebounded. His old supporters hadn’t come around; rather, he’d gained different ones—young people and liberals who had come to see him in a newly progressive light."

Read more:

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Gary Johnson and the End of Marijuana As a Fringe Issue - The Atlantic

Gary Johnson and the End of Marijuana As a Fringe Issue - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic:

May 1, 2012 - "The new reality: 70 percent of Americans favor legal medical marijuana, and half think the drug should just be legal. As Gallup notes, 'Support for legalizing marijuana is directly and inversely proportional to age, ranging from 62% approval among those 18 to 29 down to 31% among those 65 and older.' Eventually, the drug warriors are going to lose, and the country is going to win ... which brings us to Gary Johnson.

"Widely expected to emerge from this weekend's Libertarian Party convention as its presidential nominee, the former New Mexico governor has announced that he wants Judge Jim Gray to be his running mate.

"It's an opportune moment for a libertarian ticket to offer a serious, forceful critique of drug policy, for beyond fortuitous changes in public opinion, there's an incumbent with broken promises and a lackluster record on the issue; and a Republican challenger who is even more of a drug warrior in his avowed positions and such a teetotaller personally that he eschews even caffeine.

"Are Johnson and Gray the right team to make this critique? Whatever their shortcomings, they're ideal in this respect: one is an extreme athlete and health nut; the other is a veteran, former prosecutor, and judge who used to be a drug warrior and switched sides based on what he saw in his own courtroom. "

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/gary-johnson-and-the-end-of-marijuana-as-a-fringe-issue/256565/
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Cautiously, Libertarians Reach Out to Occupy Wall Street - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic

Cautiously, Libertarians Reach Out to Occupy Wall Street - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic:

Oct. 20, 2011 - "With a left-leaning populist movement taking to the streets in cities around the country, ... a few savvy figures with libertarian messages appreciate that ... a better opportunity to engage persuadable leftists has never before presented itself.

"Prof. Larry Lessig, the Harvard academic and political activist, is among the observers calling on Occupy Wall Street and the tea party movement to recognize what they have in common ... he says that crony capitalism is one shared object of ire, a message he repeated this week in Washington D.C.....

"GOP presidential primary candidate Gary Johnson is reaching out too. 'I just have to express my solidarity with everyone there that expresses the notion that we have a country that doles it out unfairly,' he said. 'Corporatism is alive and well in this country. We've bailed out individuals on Wall Street that made horrific decisions that should have been rewarded for those horrific decisions by having lost all their money. Of course, that didn't happen, and you and I bailed them out at a cost of a trillion bucks, and they continue to award themselves bonuses at our expense. I'm outraged by that.'.... Then the pitch: 'He told them that it is important for people to understand the distinction between capitalism and crony capitalism. "Is the free market to blame, or is it that fact that it's not a free market?"'"

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/10/cautiously-libertarians-reach-out-to-occupy-wall-street/247045/
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Why Does Ron Paul Scare You? - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic

Why Does Ron Paul Scare You? - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic Aug. 23, 2011:

Every presidential candidate inspires voters to ask themselves, "If this person is elected, what's the worst that could plausibly happen?".... So I got to thinking. What's the worst thing that could plausibly happen if Ron Paul wins?...

"Don't ask why I chose him. It's obvious. The idea of him in the White House makes a lot of the people reading this post uneasy. Despite my libertarian sympathies, there is even a part of me that has always felt, without ever having thought it through, that putting Paul in the White House would be the biggest gamble of all the possible candidates running in the GOP primary. His tenure might have tremendous upsides: zero imprudently launched wars, a resurgence of civil liberties, more transparency. But he's also a radical who wants to see more fundamental change than any other candidate, he is least beholden to the political establishment, which constrains the behavior of conventional pols, and we've never seen him operate as an executive....

"What's the worst that Ron Paul could do? Try to get America back on the gold standard, only to find that he doesn't have the votes in Congress to do it? I am not just being funny. Though Paul has some radical domestic policy ideas, I just don't see any of them getting passed into law. And in foreign policy and national security matters, the areas where he would exercise the most unchecked discretion, he is the candidate you'd least expect to unwisely provoke or launch a war."

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/08/why-does-ron-paul-scare-you/243987/
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New book on Ron Paul 2008 campaign.

Why the Press Loves Jon Huntsman but Ignores Ron Paul - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic

Why the Press Loves Jon Huntsman but Ignores Ron Paul - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic:

"As much as I agree with ... the other journalists praising Huntsman for challenging orthodoxies of thought in the GOP, however, I am struck by the very different standards that govern coverage of two other candidates, Ron Paul and Gary Johnson.

"Neither Huntsman nor Johnson nor Paul is likely to win. All three are challenging orthodoxies of thought in their party. In doing so, all have an opportunity 'to affect the political conversation for the better'....

"Huntsman is challenging orthodoxies of thought that afflict the GOP alone, and taking positions that reflect the conventional wisdom in the media.... In contrast, Johnson and Paul are challenging orthodoxies of thought that are bi-partisan in nature and implicate much of the political and media establishment. There is a strong case to be made that their libertarian voices are more vital....

"For questioning America's aggressive, interventionist foreign policy and its failed War on Drugs, policies that are tremendously costly, consequential, and executed in ways that are immoral and demonstrably damaging to our civil liberties, Paul and Johnson aren't given points for speaking uncomfortable truths, shining light on evasions, or affecting the political conversation for the better.

"They're ignored, and the excuse given is that they can't win."

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/08/why-the-press-loves-jon-huntsman-but-ignores-ron-paul/243910/

Gary Johnson Crashes the N.H. Republican Debate - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic

Gary Johnson Crashes the N.H. Republican Debate - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic - June 15, 2011:

"It used to be that a YouTube presidential debate consisted of citizens uploading questions so that candidates could answer them. After being excluded from the GOP presidential primary debate held in New Hampshire on Tuesday, however, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson turned that model on its head, taking the questions from the televised event and splicing them together with answers he recorded and uploaded to the video sharing site. Unlike the other candidates, he got to answer every question!

"This is interesting in that media organizations that host debates can no longer act as gatekeepers"

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/06/gary-johnson-crashes-the-nh-republican-debate/240477/

Tim Pawlenty and Ron Paul Are Officially Running for President - Chris Good - Politics - The Atlantic

Tim Pawlenty and Ron Paul Are Officially Running for President - Chris Good - Politics - The Atlantic - May 5, 2011:

"Both have filed for presidential candidacy in South Carolina -- a requirement for participating in the first GOP primary debate of the 2012 election cycle, cohosted in Greenville, S.C., by Fox News and the South Carolina Republican Party. And both candidates were aware that, by doing so, they have officially become presidential candidates in the eyes of the law. Spokesmen for both Pawlenty and Paul acknowledged that filing for candidacy in South Carolina changes their bosses' status in the eyes of the Federal Election Commission....

"'Dr. Paul still has not made a final decision, but he is serious enough to invest $25,000 to keep the door open,' said Paul adviser Jesse Benton, referencing South Carolina's $25,000 filing fee.

"'He'll have a formal and final announcement in coming weeks,' said Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant. 'The filing was required now to participate in the debate.'"

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/05/tim-pawlenty-and-ron-paul-are-officially-running-for-president/238388/