Brian Doherty

What I did with first year and a half of the plague era. New book scheduled for June release. Buy it, you'll like it: amazon.com/Dirty-Pictures…

@worst_account aspect of MNR I find fascinating and valuable-unlike most political thinkers, uses his premises and reasoning to come to conclusions that actually feel fresh and a result of following his logic (children, libel), not just "cobbling explanations for the things I already believe."

Rothbard basically bites the bullet on this while loudly emphasizing that it's still *immoral* even though it's on his view not rights-violating (and thus not legally actionable). This is a bad call, but he at least sees / faces the problem, whereas Thomson notably does not.

Might do a thread soonish on how I think a lot of the worst bad Rothbard stuff is still very insightful despite going very far in the wrong direction with it.

@ATabarrok In the modern age, I've often wished I could just perform the service twice to get paid rather than go thru their vexatious paperwork demands that go above and beyond the task they owe me for.

Whoever decided that a university speaker getting reimbursed for an Uber needs to complete the same supplier onboarding as a firm bidding on a $1M waste disposal contract: please rot in hell, with respect.

@Hot_Pepper76 Ian Paice of Deep Purple. Swings hard, always doing interesting non-obvious things, both forceful and tasteful.

Who's your favorite drummer that nobody talks about (because they are too busy worshiping Bonham)?

On the unneeded revival of the anti-libertarian ideas of tech critic Paulina Borsook: reason.com/2025/12/04/the…

Reason mag, where I work, is having its annual Webathon to raise $$$ to support its mission, covering politics&culture from libertarian perspective. Following will be links to some of my 2025 work, mostly related to libertarian movement concerns and ideas: reason.com/donate/?rfr=tw…

Remembering what it was like at the dawn of the 1980s for libertarianism, eulogizing unusually successful 1980 Libertarian Party presidential candidate Ed Clark: reason.com/2025/07/02/ed-…

On how the worst aspects of Trump's second first 100 days as president are directly linked to his anti-libertarianism: reason.com/2025/04/29/the…

On how the American Right in the Trump age lost its way in large part by ignoring the libertarian insights of Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises: reason.com/2025/03/08/the…

On the Libertarian Party's surprise sudden change in national leadership following the resignation of Angela McArdle: reason.com/2025/02/04/lib…

On how Donald Trump came through on a promise made at the 2024 Libertarian Party convention to pardon Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht: reason.com/2025/01/21/pre…

An account of the pitfalls and benefits of MAGA Elon Musk in the Trump administration for libertarians, appearing between election and inauguration and before the flameout: reason.com/2025/01/04/the…

Obituary post for Ed Clark, the Libertarian Party's then-unprecedentedly successful presidential candidate in 1980 (an amazing year for libertarianism in politics and culture), up at Reason: reason.com/2025/07/02/ed-…

@MattWelch @Steven_Hyden @iowahawkblog @EsotericCD @seanonolennon in march I was driving down a lovely and haunting Broadway in LA around midnite and saw Darian, walking alone. I contemplated shouting a thank you for all the great music out car window, but didn't want to startle him.

Special shout-outs to @brianmdoherty, @Steven_Hyden, @iowahawkblog, @EsotericCD, @seanonolennon, and especially Darian Sahanaja, whose appreciations I read selections from at the end of the episode.

Is there a throughline between Brian Wilson and Henry Rollins? Between Deadwood peaches and Celebrity Skin harmonies? Between Kurt Cobain's suicide and the Gen X muso-world veneration/exhumation/exaltation of their pop elders? Hell yes there is, I argue in a new audio cassingle.

A task I wish I hadn't lived to have to perform, eulogizing Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys at Reason. An artist& performer whose work meant as much as and in nearly all cases more than (Dylan only possible exception) any other American musician/creator: reason.com/2025/06/11/bri…

Miller's habeas corpus suspension trial balloon should remind libertarians who think they have a defense for immigration laws that you can't have serious immigration law enforcement without annihilating Western liberty entirely. New at REASON: reason.com/2025/05/20/ser…

Looking on first 100 Days of Trump II via terrible results from his severe rejection of a couple of core libertarian principles: reason.com/2025/04/29/the…

Mark the passing of Pere Ubu's David Thomas by listening to this Spotify playlist. So worthy of re/discovery, such haunting, wonderful, triumphant weirdness. And read @brianmdoherty's wonderful writeup of his belief in markets &art reason.com/2013/12/26/per… open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9d…

For @Reason's 40th anniversary, I had @brianmdoherty, THE historian of the libertarian movement, put together a long oral history. TNR/National Review/Weekly Standard, this very much wasn't. reason.com/2008/11/17/40-…

I had difficult task of eulogizing Manuel Klausner, Reason Foundation trustee and former Reason magazine editor, a man of great enthusiasm and charm and important advocate of freedom. reason.com/2025/03/18/man…

A miscarriage of justice I've been reporting on for a decade is now over, Ross Ulbricht pardoned by Trump: reason.com/2025/01/21/pre…