What Ronald Reagan's Fusionist Politics Teach Us About Liberty, Virtue, and Their Limits
Fusionism holds that virtue and liberty are mutually reinforcing, and that neither is possible in any lasting or meaningful way without the other.
July 2025
Anti-Vax and Protein-Maxx
Does RFK Jr.'s MAHA movement want to loosen the government's grasp on food and medicine—or use government power to impose blueberries on everyone else?
Features
How Tariffs Are Breaking the Manufacturing Industries Trump Says He Wants To Protect
Most imports to the U.S. are raw materials, intermediate parts, or equipment—the stuff that manufacturing firms need to make things.
Comic: Henry Hazlitt in One Lesson
Remembering the author of Economics in One Lesson
Interview
Obama Adviser Jason Furman on Biden, Neoliberalism, and Keynesian Economics
"I would love an intellectual ecosystem in economics that was more ideologically balanced than what we have now," the Harvard professor tells Reason.
Editor's Note
Welcoming Anti-Trump Liberals to the Free Trade Club
The real case for free trade is not "my enemies hate it" or "it's cheaper for me, personally" but "it makes the world richer, freer, and more peaceful."
Topics
Photo: Dire Wolf De-extinction
A biotech company used DNA from thousands of years ago to clone three wolf pups that resemble the extinct dire wolf.
Put the Libertarians Back in Charge
The libertarians aren't in charge. But the lesson of the last decade of politics is that they should be.
Utah Passed a Religious Freedom Law. Then Cops Went After This Psychedelic Church.
A religious group using psilocybin mushrooms in ceremonies "put the State of Utah's commitment to religious freedom to the test," a federal judge wrote.
Does Drug Use Lead to Addiction, or Are Some Brains More Prone To Use Drugs?
Researchers argue that "we may need to reevaluate the causal assumptions that underlie brain disease models of addiction."
As American as Due Process
Those accused of wrongdoing have the right to challenge the evidence against them before the government takes away their liberty.
The Alien Enemies Act Doesn't Say What Trump Claims It Says
Father of the Constitution James Madison made a distinction between alien enemies and alien friends.
Why We Don't Worry About Scarlet Fever Anymore
The infection killed millions of people throughout history. Today it's considered a mild illness.
Trump's Immigrant Removals Aren't Technically Deportations. So What Are They?
Deportation means expelling an alien back to their home country for violating immigration law. Many of the Trump administration's actions don't meet that definition.
If Brendan Carr Cares About Free Speech, He Should Make These Changes at the FCC
Now is the perfect time for the FCC to change its precedent to comply with the First Amendment.
An Empty Pool in Peru Is a Monument to the Drawbacks of Historic Preservation
Cusco earned a World Heritage Site designation from the United Nations. That's not always a good thing.
What Happens if the Department of Education Goes Away?
Most of what the department does would likely stick around, for better or for worse.
How Trump's Tariffs and Immigration Policies Could Make Housing Even More Expensive
Out-of-control housing costs helped Trump win the 2024 election. Is he about to make the problem worse?
Culture
'We Can't Let These Sheep Go'
A New Deal–era program nearly eradicated the sacred Navajo-Churro sheep—and still reverberates through the Navajo Nation today.
Books
McCarthyism, Past—and Present?
Clay Risen's Red Scare book wrongly frames it as an exclusively conservative hysteria.
The Best Democracy Is Anarchy
"Anarchism and democracy are—or should be—largely identical," wrote the anthropologist David Graeber.
Reviews
Review: What the Hell Is a 'Libertarian Authoritarian'?
Offended Freedom categorizes perfectly understandable anger at government overreach as inherently "authoritarian."
Review: Schedule I Is a Multiplayer Co-op Black Market Econ Simulator
A spiritual successor to the Drug Wars game that proliferated on high school graphing calculators
Review: YouTuber Max Miller Is Recreating Historical Recipes
From parmesan ice cream to pumpkin spice lasagna
Review: There Are No Top-Down Solutions to the Problems Depicted in Adolescence
The limited-run Netflix series is fueling a real-life push for the British government to protect kids from online dangers.
Review: Avowed Is a Fantasy Game About the Benefits of Local Control
The player encounters various governmental figures and debates about the rights of various human and not-so-human creatures
Review: A Doctor Changes His Mind About Opioid Prescriptions
In Greed to Do Good, a former CDC physician calls the agency's war on opioids a disaster.
Review: A Comic Book Villain Runs for Mayor of New York in the New Daredevil Series
Daredevil's nemesis Kingpin runs up against local government bureaucracy.
ETC.
Ross Douthat on Digital Alienation, Birth Rates, and Demographic Collapse
"I like Italy. I like South Korea. I enjoy the existence of distinctive human cultures. I would prefer that these cultures and countries not disappear," the New York Times columnist tells Reason.
Brickbats: July 2025
News of politicians, police, and bureaucrats behaving badly from around the world.
Archives: July 2025
Excerpts from Reason's vaults
Lists
These 4 Industries Successfully Lobbied Trump for Tariff Exemptions
Trump's trade war has created a carve-out bonanza for industries with political connections and big lobbying budgets.
