ZadekpediaReason is the magazine and media outlet associated with the Reason Foundation. On The Bob Zadek Show it appears chiefly through its staff, who join the program as guests, and through the host’s descriptions of the publication.
Description on the show
In a January 2021 episode, Bob Zadek introduced Nick Gillespie as the editor-at-large for Reason magazine, which he called the flagship publication of the Reason Foundation. Zadek described Reason as the leading publication of the foundation and said its tagline is “Free Minds and Free Markets.” He told listeners not to go a month without reading it and called it “the voice of reason.” The Capitol Riot in Context (2021)
Gillespie’s own title had changed over the years as described on the program. In a June 2011 episode, Zadek introduced him as the editor of Reason.com and Reason TV, noting that he had been the editor-in-chief of Reason magazine for a whole bunch of years. Nick Gillespie – The Voice of Reason (2011) By the 2021 episode he was editor-at-large. The Capitol Riot in Context (2021)
Gillespie as guest
Gillespie appeared on the show to discuss government funding of the arts. Zadek framed the discussion around the National Endowment for the Arts, which he said the federal government formed in 1965 to funnel money to artists. Gillespie argued that publicly financed art is easily censored art, that public support for the arts cannot be separated from public outcry over the arts, and that the arrangement is bad both for taxpayers forced to pay for what they do not want and for artists who then have to pay the piper. He compared the case for art to the case for religion, saying that if we have freedom of religion, which also means freedom from religion, we should also have freedom of art, which means freedom from art. Nick Gillespie – The Voice of Reason (2011)
Gillespie also cited figures in that episode, saying Americans shell out about $13 billion a year in philanthropic donations to arts and related cultural organizations, beyond what they pay at the box office or the bookstore, and that this dwarfs the hundreds of millions going to places like the National Endowment for the Arts and its state and local analogs. He described himself as a libertarian with a small ‘l’ and said Zadek was one too. Nick Gillespie – The Voice of Reason (2011)
In the 2021 episode, Gillespie returned to discuss the January 6th Capitol riot. He placed it in what he called a long-lived, continuous erosion of trust and confidence in all aspects of government, naming the presidency, the Supreme Court and Congress, and noted that Congress had been in the single digits in approval at various points in the prior four years. He said the Capitol events were indefensible and that Donald Trump and the people involved needed to be held to account, while arguing the underlying loss of confidence would not go away when Joe Biden showed up on January 20th. The Capitol Riot in Context (2021)
Soave and other contributors
A January 2019 episode closed with Robbie Soave, identified by Zadek as a Reason writer, telling listeners they could follow him on Twitter at @RobbieSoave and at Reason.com, and promoting his book Panic Attack: Young Radicals in the Age of Trump, which he said comes out in June and was available for pre-order on Amazon. Zadek wished him luck with the book and asked him to say hi to all my good friends at Reason, saying he would see them in a couple of weeks. On Crowds and Tribalism (2019)
Across episodes
Three episodes touch on Reason: the 2011 conversation with Gillespie on arts funding, the 2019 closing with Soave, and the 2021 conversation with Gillespie on the Capitol riot. The episodes show no development in how the publication itself is described; what changes is Gillespie’s title, from editor of Reason.com and Reason TV and former editor-in-chief of the magazine in 2011 to editor-at-large in 2021, and the subject matter, from arts subsidies to institutional trust.
Guests and episodes
24 appearances by 18 guests, 2009–2023. Guests A–Z by first name.
- Adrian Moore ×2 (Vice President of Policy at the Reason Foundation) — Fire All Government Workers (2011) — Economic and social benefits of privatization.; High Speed Bankruptcy – The California Way (2012) — California high-speed rail project critique.
- Anthony L. Fisher ×2 (Filmmaker and Reason TV producer) — Occupy Movement – What Does It Tell Us About America? (2012) — Origins and motivations of Occupy Wall Street.; Anthony L. Fisher on Confidential Informants (2016) — Predatory use of confidential informants in law enforcement.
- Christian Britschgi (Associate editor at Reason magazine) — Free to Build (2023) — Artificial inflation of housing costs in California.
- Damon Root (Senior Editor of Reason Magazine) — Overruling Government Overreach: Damon Root on the Libertarian Legal Movement (2014) — Judicial Restraint and the War for the Supreme Court.
- Elizabeth Nolan Brown ×2 (Associate Editor at Reason Magazine) — Elizabeth Nolan Brown on the War on Sex Workers (2019) — Government War on Sex Workers and Trafficking.; The Student Loan Debt Fiasco (2022) — Biden executive action on student loan debt forgiveness.
- Guy Bentley (Reason Foundation) — FDA’s New Rules Against Smoking (2022) — FDA regulatory war on e-cigarettes and vaping.
- Jacob Sullum ×2 (Senior Editor at Reason Magazine) — Hate Crimes Legislation (2009) — Critique of Hate Crimes Legislation and Federalism.; How to Stay Sane as a Libertarian on Lockdown (2020) — COVID-19 mortality rates and public policy challenges.
- Joe Lancaster (Associate Editor at Reason magazine) — Checking in on Bail Reform (2022) — Bail reform public safety and civil liberties.
- Katherine Mangu-Ward (Senior Editor at Reason magazine) — Cash For Clunkers is a Dud (2009) — Critique of the 2009 Cash for Clunkers program.
- Manny Klausner (Founder of Reason Enterprises) — Manny Klausner - A Libertarian Life (2012) — Supreme Court Decision on the Affordable Care Act.
- Mark Joffe (Reason Foundation) — Not Enough Bricks (2019) — Green New Deal and California High-Speed Rail.
- Matt Welch ×2 (Editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine) — A Libertarian Plan (2010) — Balancing the federal budget through constitutional limits.; Parents Voting With Their Kids’ Feet (2021) — Families fleeing government-run schools and school choice.
- Mike Riggs (Reporter for Reason magazine) — Cops Are No Better Than Criminals (2011) — Civil asset forfeiture and property rights.
- Nick Gillespie ×2 (Editor of Reason.tv and Reason.com) — Nick Gillespie – The Voice of Reason (2011) — The Case Against Government Subsidized Art.; The Capitol Riot in Context (2021) — Capitol riot and the erosion of institutional trust.
- Peter Suderman (Associate editor of Reason magazine) — Is the US the Next Enron? (2011) — Standard and Poors downgrade and US fiscal policy.
- Robbie Soave (Associate editor at Reason.com) — On Crowds and Tribalism (2019) — Media tribalism and the rush to judgment.
- Ronald Bailey (Science correspondent for Reason magazine) — Ronald Bailey on the End of Doom (2015) — Environmental renewal and the end of doom.
- Scott Shackford (Reason magazine) — How Bail Traps the Poor in Jail with Scott Shackford (2018) — American cash bail system and criminal justice reform.