Nick Gillespie — The Lou Reed of Libertarianism (EP.123)

Nick Gillespie is the host of the Reason Interview and an editor at large at Reason. Nick is one of the most interesting libertarian thinkers in America, and has been described by the New York Times as being to libertarianism “what Lou Reed is to rock ‘n’ roll, the quintessence of its outlaw spirit".

Important Links:

Nick’s Substack
Nick’s Twitter
Nick’s Podcast
Reason

Show Notes:

Is libertarianism dead?
Saying what you think
The case for rational optimism
Labels and empathy
President Nixon, the Great Reshuffle, Bitcoin
Bureaucracy and responsiveness
The rapidly changing world
Prohibition and legalisation
Why America does not have enough immigration
The enfranchising power of social media
Obscenity and moral panics
Empathy with the dispossessed
And MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What’s Wrong with America; by Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch
The Rational Optimist; by Matt Ridley
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams
The Population Bomb; by Paul Ehrlich
The Beginning of Infinity; by David Deutsch
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy; by Joseph Schumpeter
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson
The War on Alcohol; by Liza McGirr
Immigration and Freedom; by Chandran Kukathas
The Illuminatus! Trilogy; by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea
What It Means to be a Libertarian: a Personal Interpretation; by Charles Murray
Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society; by Tipper Gore
Ulysses; by James Joyce
The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown