The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie

This week, guest host Eric Boehm is joined by Colleen Shogan, the former archivist of the United States and head of the National Archives, the federal agency responsible for preserving presidential records and stewarding the nation's historical documents. Shogan explains what the archivist actually does, how the National Archives approaches custodianship of presidential records, and why those materials belong to the public rather than to individual presidents. The conversation then turns to the country's upcoming 250th anniversary and Shogan's "In Pursuit" essay project, which aims to foster a shared civic memory at a time when history has become a battleground in the culture war. Shogan reflects on how a divided country can commemorate its past without collapsing into partisan narratives, and what it takes to present American history in a way that invites disagreement without descending into zero-sum politics. Boehm and Shogan also discuss how the Archives became caught up in the Trump documents controversy, why Shogan believes she was fired without explanation, and how disputes over records and transparency have increasingly turned into political flashpoints. The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie goes deep with the artists, entrepreneurs, and scholars who are making the world a more libertarian—or at least a more interesting—place by championing free minds and free markets. 0:00—Introduction 0:52—The role of the U.S. archivist 9:54—Celebrating 250 years of history with "In Pursuit" 17:17—The importance of keeping history nonpartisan 22:47—Celebrating the lesser-known U.S. presidents 28:13—Wall Street Journal's criticism of Shogan 37:27—Getting removed by President Donald Trump 40:11—The importance of presidential records 44:51—Politicizing nonpartisan institutions 50:43—President Joe Biden and the Equal Rights Amendment 56:16—Shogan's Washington murder mystery novels   Upcoming Reason Events The Reason Roundtable: Live in Washington, D.C.! on February 4 Producer: Paul AlexanderAudio Mixer: Ian KeyserThe post Can We Save American History From Partisan Politics? appeared first on Reason.com.

This week, guest host Eric Boehm is joined by Lauren Hall, a political science professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the author of The Radical Moderate's Guide to Life, a Substack newsletter that encourages readers to reject binary thinking and keep politics from consuming every part of their lives. Hall's work focuses on the roots of tribalism and political polarization, examining where they come from, why they are so powerful, and how they distort both public debate and personal relationships. She has grown increasingly concerned about the populist impulses shaping American politics on both the right and the left, and about how political elites frame elections as a choice between the lesser of two evils. In the interview, Boehm and Hall discuss what it means to be a "radical moderate," why she believes that outlook offers a way out of America's broken political compass, and the diverse intellectual influences that have shaped her political philosophy. They also talk about what Hall did not anticipate in the second Donald Trump White House, and how moderates can navigate a political culture that rewards outrage, loyalty tests, and constant engagement. The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie goes deep with the artists, entrepreneurs, and scholars who are making the world a more libertarian—or at least a more interesting—place by championing "free minds and free markets."   0:00—Introduction 1:17—What is radical moderation? 6:24—Third parties in America 9:19—Polarization and elitism 15:13—Evolutionary biology and tribalism 27:24—Hall's path to political science 35:06—Culture of Rochester, New York 41:39—Expectations for the second Trump administration 47:19—Radical moderate advice for Democrats 51:03—Lessons from Edmund Burke Producer: Paul AlexanderAudio Mixer: Ian KeyserThe post The Politics of Permanent Outrage appeared first on Reason.com.

This week, guest host Zach Weissmueller is joined by Keonne Rodriguez, the founder of Samourai Wallet, a noncustodial bitcoin privacy tool. Rodriguez is currently facing a five-year federal prison sentence for conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, while Samourai's former chief technology officer, William Hill, faces four years. The conversation was recorded just 48 hours before Rodriguez was scheduled to report to prison. Rodriguez explains why he created Samourai Wallet, tracing its origins to bitcoin's cypherpunk roots and his belief that digital cash should offer the same basic privacy as physical cash. He walks through how Samourai worked, and why it never took custody of user funds. In the interview, Rodriguez addresses the government's allegations that Samourai facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in criminal activity, the role of blockchain surveillance firms in shaping those claims, and why he believes prosecutors ignored clear regulatory guidance from the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Rodriguez also explains why he ultimately chose to plead guilty despite believing he broke no law, citing the realities of federal prosecution, judicial reassignment, and what he describes as a stacked legal process. We examine the broader implications of the case for privacy, free expression, and innovation, including parallels to encrypted messaging, past crackdowns on online marketplaces, and the growing tendency of governments to treat privacy itself as inherently suspicious. Rodriguez also reflects on President Donald Trump's recent comments indicating he would look into the case, the possibility of a pardon, and what it means to face prison time for building a tool intended to protect individual autonomy in an era of expanding surveillance. The Reason Interview with Nick Gillespie goes deep with the artists, entrepreneurs, and scholars who are making the world a more libertarian—or at least a more interesting—place by championing "free minds and free markets."   0:00—Introduction 0:39—What is Samourai Wallet? 3:31—Bitcoin and financial privacy 9:51—Money transmission and noncustodial wallets 13:15—Justice Department communication with FinCEN 16:27—Responding to the indictment 22:50—Why Rodriguez pled guilty 29:41—Money laundering accusations 34:59—Was Samourai's advertising evidence of guilt? 43:01—Canadian trucker protests and bitcoin 50:37—Trump comments on Rodriguez's case 55:08—Ross Ulbricht's advice to Rodriguez Producer: Paul AlexanderAudio Mixer: Ian KeyserThe post He's Serving 5 Years in Prison for Bitcoin Privacy Software appeared first on Reason.com.

This week, guest host Zach Weissmueller is joined by Katherine Dee, a writer chronicling the subcultures of the internet at her Substack default.blog and in columns for The Spectator, Tablet, GQ, UnHerd, and various other publications. Dee also hosts a weekly call-in show that's an homage to the late-night AM radio show Coast to Coast. Dee talks about the internet as a mystical "other place": fairyland or the astral plane, somewhere you journey and play by different rules, interact with unusual entities, and hope you emerge with your sanity intact. In this interview, they discuss the shift from the "internet utopianism" of the '90s and early 2000s, where cyber philosophers mused about netizens "forming our own social contract" in a borderless digital space where "governments have no sovereignty," to internet pessimism, where politicians fret about online misinformation and extremism, parents worry their kids are "cooked" by short-form brain rot, and the media tell us AI will replace our jobs, our friends, and our romantic partners. Dee has a remedy, and she calls it "internet realism." It's time to step out of fairyland and remember what the internet is: a tool. We humans use tools to reshape the world, but so, too, do tools reshape humans. Wield them wisely.   The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie goes deep with the artists, entrepreneurs, and visionaries who are making the world a more libertarian—or at least a more interesting—place by championing "free minds and free markets."   0:00—Introduction 1:42—Dee's relationship with the internet 7:16—The early days of the internet 13:48—Has the internet changed us? 18:21—Mythological analogies 23:00—Benefits of logging off 27:15—Falling in love with AI chatbots 33:39—Smartphones and anxiety 42:11—Defending pseudonymity 50:46—The death of reading 55:52—Internet nihilism and violence 1:01:20—Embracing internet realism Producer: Paul AlexanderAudio Mixer: Ian KeyserThe post Did the Internet Break Our Sense of Reality? appeared first on Reason.com.

Today's guest is Sarah McLaughlin, a senior scholar at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and author of Authoritarians in the Academy: How the Internationalization of Higher Education and Borderless Censorship Threaten Free Speech. She explains how governments in places like China and the United Arab Emirates restrict academic freedom and expression not just in their own countries but also at colleges and universities in America by exploiting speech codes and threatening to end lucrative satellite campus arrangements. McLaughlin and Gillespie also talk about whether it was a good idea for American comedians to censor their material at Saudi Arabia's Riyadh Comedy Festival and what to make of President Donald Trump's repeated minimization of the murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi operatives. The Reason Interview with Nick Gillespie, goes deep with the artists, entrepreneurs, and scholars who are making the world a more libertarian—or at least a more interesting—place by championing free minds and free markets.   0:00—Introduction 1:14—Trump's response to Khashoggi's murder 7:26—The Riyadh Comedy Festival 11:29—Foreign influence on U.S. college campuses 23:55—The NBA and the Chinese government 28:39—Sensitivity exploitation 34:36—Changes to campus culture 39:46—Satellite campuses 43:50—Matthew Hedges and the UAE 50:03—McLaughlin's path to FIRE 51:55—Solutions to campus censorship 58:12—Climate of free speech under Trump   Upcoming Reason Events Reason Versus debate: Big Tech Does More Good Than Harm on December 10 Producer: Paul AlexanderAudio Mixer: Ian KeyserThe post How Foreign Governments Police U.S. Speech appeared first on Reason.com.