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Why We're Entering the Age of Ron Paul

Wed, 16 May 2012 09:00:00 EDT

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) will no longer be actively campaigning in forthcoming primaries for the Republican presidential nomination. But the libertarian politician's legacy - including controversial yet popular stands on everything from auditing the Federal Reserve to withdrawing troops from abroad to radically cutting government borrowing and spending - is just getting started.

Paul, says Brian Doherty, a Reason senior editor and author of the new Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired, "is leaving in his wake a set of institutions, and a set of hundreds of thousands of energized intelligent youngsters who are unquestionably going to shape American politics moving down the line."

Doherty argues Paul's long-term effect on the GOP will be similar to that of Barry Goldwater, the Arizona senator who, despite a crushing electoral loss to Lyndon Johnson in 1964, energized and transformed the Republican Party into the limited-government force that elected Ronald Reagan in 1980.

"His fans understand that Ron Paul is not just out to win an election," says Doherty. "Even if the [party bosses] shut the door in his face at the Republican convention as they did in 2008,...the ideas he injected into the party [and politics] are not going away anytime soon."

About 4:40 minutes. Produced by Sharif Matar, with camera by Matar and Tracy Oppenheimer.

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Outraged Fullerton citizens react to Kelly Thomas beating tape

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:00:00 EDT

The May 15 city council meeting in Fullerton, California was packed with outraged citizens ready to voice reactions to newly released security camera footage showing police brutally beating Kelly Thomas to death at a bus depot. Thomas was a 37-year-old schizophrenic drifter who died after a July, 2011 altercation with six police officers in which he was tasered, beat with batons, and hit repeatedly in the face.

Cpl. Jay Cicinelli will face charges of involuntary manslaughter and excessive force, while officer Manuel Ramos will face charges of involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder.

At the city council meeting, Ron Thomas, Kelly Thomas's father, called for the arrest and termination of another officer involved with the incident, officer Joe Wolfe, whom he says also murdered his son.

It was announced at the meeting that Kelly Thomas's mother would accept a settlement from the City of Fullerton totaling $1 million.

Written and produced by Paul Detrick.

Approximately 3:13 minutes.

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For more Reason coverage of the Kelly Thomas case, go here .

Lucy Steigerwald Confiscated Cell Phones at an Obama Donor Dinner with Alyona

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Associate Editor Lucy Steigerwald discusses moms spraying Lysol on dancing teens, George Lucas building low income housing, and the Obama campaign confiscating donors' cell phones on the Alyona Show's Happy Hour. Airdate: May 15, 2012.

6.34 minutes.

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Brian Doherty Talks Ron Paul's Delegate Strategy on PBS Newshour

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Senior Editor Brian Doherty appeared on PBS Newshour to discuss Ron Paul's so-called "delegate strategy" for the primaries and what the ultimate goals of the Ron Paul Revolution might be.

Approximately 9 minutes

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Tim Cavanaugh Talks California Budget Mess on Fox 11

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Tim Cavanaugh, Managing Editor of Reason.com, talks to FOX 11 Los Angeles about California's increased spending despite proposed cuts. Air date: May 14, 2011.

Approximately 2 minutes.

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Sex Politics and the GOP as We Know It: An Interview with Nancy Cohen

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

"The reason we've gone crazy, in a word, is sex," says Nancy Cohen, author of Delirium: How the Sexual Counterrevolution is Polarizing America.

Cohen explains how sexual fundamentalists became the gate keepers of election 2012. "That is why we're seeing someone like Santorum, who is really a fringe candidate," Cohen says, "and it's also why Mitt Romney has been forced to talk about birth control and abortion much more than he would want to".

Reason.tv's Tracy Oppenheimer sat down with Cohen to discuss the rise of sexual fundamentalism in America and how it helped shape today's Republican Party and political system.

About 4:30 minutes.

Shot by Paul Detrick, Zach Weissmueller and Sharif Matar; edited by Tracy Oppenheimer

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Moms Say, "No More Drug War!"

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

"Mothers throughout history have come forward for the sake of their children," says Gretchen Burns Bergman, executive director of Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing (PATH). "We're coming forth saying that the drug war has been more damaging to our families than the drugs themselves."

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union is well-known for helping push forward Prohibition in the United States. But perhaps less well-known are groups such as the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform, who were instrumental in the effort to repeal the 18th Amendment.

In that the tradition, Moms United to End the War on Drugs gathered on the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse to deliver a message this Mother's Day: no more drug war. Reason.tv was on the scene to talk with mothers who'd had their families torn apart by U.S. drug policy.

"You don't realize the drug policies in this country until they have an effect on you," says Lorraine Rebennack. "And when you lose a child, your life is never the same. Nor is your family."

Produced by Zach Weissmueller.

Approximately 3 minutes.

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Tom Easton on Dodd-Frank: "A Terrible Law"

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

"I think there's growing understanding of how terrible this law really is," says The Economist's Tom Easton of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

Dodd-Frank was passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and Easton is one of the very select few who have read the entire sweeping bill. He asserts that "the single most indicting read on Dodd-Frank, is to read Dodd-Frank itself."

To those who feel that the financial crisis was caused by a lack of regulation, Easton counters, "the argument that there needs to be more regulations (on banks) is frankly ludicrous if you look at how they were regulated before."

Runs about 4.14 minutes.

Produced by Anthony L. Fisher.

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Is Austerity to Blame for Europe's Economic Woes?

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:00:00 EDT

From Nobel laureate Paul Krugman to the free-market-friendly Economist to former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, all sorts of experts are charging that financial austerity measures are killing the great economies of Europe. "Austerity Is So Wrong!" reads the headline of a Krugman piece at The Daily Beast that argues against cutting government spending during weak economic times.

But the critics of austerity have got it all wrong, says Mercatus Center economist and Reason columnist Veronique de Rugy. For starters, many European countries haven't cut spending at all and, among the ones that have, most have made relatively minor trims while also hiking taxes. That's known as "the balanced approach," notes de Rugy, and it almost never works to reduce debt-to-GDP ratios or get economies moving again. Yet critics of cutting government spending in a weak economy ignore academic research showing that significant spending cuts, structural reforms to entitlements, and loosening labor regulations are proven ways to reduce debt loads and get countries moving again.

De Rugy talked with Reason's Nick Gillespie about austerity and its discontents—and what the United States could learn from Germany's economic reforms made earlier this century.

About 7 minutes long. Produced by Jim Epstein; camera by Epstein and Meredith Bragg.

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The Vampire Economist and the Moral Molecule

Thu, 10 May 2012 09:00:00 EDT

In his new book, The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity, neuroeconomist Paul J. Zak discusses his research on oxytocin, aka the "moral molecule." For the past 10 years, Zak has been conducting the same kind of trust games that are common in experimental economics, but with a twist. Before and after the trust games, Zak has been taking blood samples with the goal of gaining a better understanding of how and why people trust others.

Zak's work on oxytocin, which Genome author Matt Ridley calls "one of the most revealing experiments in the history of economics," helps economists understand why people are often generous to complete strangers and why those complete strangers so often reciprocate. The key, Zak explains, is oxytocin. Our brains release oxytocin when we hug others, when we receive gifts and when we are trusted. Because elevated oxytocin levels in the blood make us more likely to trust others, oxytocin plays an essential role in all human interactions, including the process of wealth creation. As Zak puts it, "You can't induce your brain to release oxytocin, you can only give it to somebody else. If you give this gift, our biology has set us up so that people will return it to us."

Approximately 5.5 minutes.

Produced by Paul Feine & Alex Manning.

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Anthony Randazzo Discusse Restoring Trust in Mortgage Backed Securities on Fox Business

Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Foundation Director of Economic Research Anthony Randazzo appeared on Fox Business to discuss how to increase private investment in mortgage-backed securities. Air Date: May 8, 2012.

Approximately 4 minutes.

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Anthony Randazzo Discusses France and Greece Austerity with Alyona

Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Foundation Director of Economic Research Anthony Randazzo discusses game changing election in France and Greece and what it can mean for austerity and the European economy on the Alyona Show. Air Date: May 7, 2012.

Approximately 11 minutes.

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Brian Doherty on Why Young People Love Ron Paul

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

"This is no longer just a set of weird ideas that individuals scattered across the country believe in," explains Reason's Brian Doherty, "this is a movement now."

Doherty's new book, Ron Paul's rEVOLution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired, charts the rise of the 76-year-old Texas congressman and GOP presidential hopeful to national prominence. Why does the unassuming politician and obstetrician command such a huge following among young voters? "After a lifetime of feeling lied to by every politician they see," says Doherty, "here's a guy that they know who is speaking the truth as he sees it."

A week ago, Doherty spoke with Reason about Ron Paul's central but largely unacknowledged role in creating the Tea Part movement. Watch that here.

Approximately 3 minutes.Produced by Sharif Matar. Camera: Matar and Tracy Oppenheimer.

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Cafe Hayek's Don Boudreaux Brings Sanity to the "Half-Witted" Media

Tue, 08 May 2012 11:00:00 EDT

"Many years ago my family ordered me to remove my shoes before sitting down to watch the evening news," recalls George Mason University economist Don Boudreaux in his new book, Hypocrites & Half-Wits: A Daily Dose of Sanity from Cafe Hayek.

"Seldom had I spent 30 minutes of any given evening watching the likes of Dan Rather without my wanting to throw my shoe at his face after he uttered some absurd economic fallacy."

So the barefooted Boudreaux began writing letters instead. A decade later he's penned nearly 5,000 missives not just to network news executives but to newspapers, magazines, websites, and blogs. The highlights are collected in his new book.

Many of Boudreaux's epistles offer concise explanations of basic economics for misguided journalists. In a note to NPR's Tom Gjelten, for example, he explains why "imbalanced" trade is not something to be concerned about. In a letter to The Economist, he analogizes using price controls to tamper inflation to "trying to control the temperature of a room by rigging thermometers so that they never record readings above 72 degrees." In another letter, Boudreaux aims his pen at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company for sending him an email promoting activities in which you "give back to the community."

"Your profits aren't pirate booty," Boudreaux tells the Ritz. "[T]hey're legitimate earnings."

Boudreaux sat down with ReasonTV correspondent Kennedy for a chat about the art of letter writing, the state of economic literacy in America, and why markets as far more robust than he once thought.

You can keep up with Boudreaux's letters at Cafe Hayek, the blog he shares with economist and hip-hop impresario Russ Roberts.

Approximately 7 minutes.

Shot by Jim Epstein and Josh Swain, and edited by Epstein.

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John Stossel on Journalism, How he became Libertarian & his new book "No They Can't"

Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

"Some guy came up to me said, 'Are you John Stossel?...I hope you die soon,'" recounts Fox Business Network host and Reason contributor John Stossel. Thankfully Stossel found a more civil audience when he stopped by Reason's Washington, DC office to promote his new book No, They Can’t: Why Government Fails But Individuals Succeed.

During a lively Q&A session, Stossel took questions from the audience about his book, his time as a consumer reporter, and the power of the internet to communicate libertarian ideas.

About 6.30 minutes. 

Camera by Joshua Swain, Meredith Bragg and Jim Epstein. Edited by Swain.

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