The Compleat Nick Gillespie

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How a Government Mind Control Experiment Backfired
Historian John Lisle new book on MKULTRA exposes how Cold War paranoia, LSD, and unchecked power continue to haunt contemporary politics and fuel…
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Nick Gillespie
Is the National Debt Just Too Goddamn Big for Libertarian Solutions?
No magic is required to rein in constant increases in debt-financed federal spending. Pricing out the cost of entitlements and fomenting generational…
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Nick Gillespie
How Religion and Shopping Inspired Modern Conceptions of Freedom
Historian Sophia Rosenfeld explains how personal choice became central to modern ideas of freedom and why that shift carries political, cultural, and…
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Nick Gillespie
The Insanity (and Banality) of Trump's Big Beautiful Bill
New Reason Roundtable discusses the philosophical bankruptcy of all Republicans not named Rand Paul or Thomas Massie, why cops shouldn't wear masks, and…
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Nick Gillespie
From Big Gulps to RFK, Jr: The Rise of MAHA and Right-Wing Food Purity Politics
Elizabeth Nolan Brown explains how MAGA conservatives went from praising junk food to exhorting nanny-state dietary guidelines.
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Nick Gillespie
1
How Texas Beats California on Housing
YIMBY policies in Austin have led to lower rents and increasing supply. The same can't be said for San Francisco.
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Nick Gillespie

June 2025

Did DOGE fail? And what about libertarianism more generally?
Documentary filmmaker Rob Montz interviews me about Elon Musk, the need for a 'usable past,' and whether libertarianism is a sufficient worldview for…
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Nick Gillespie
How LSD Helped Launch a Radical Libertarian Counterculture
Drug Smuggler. Fugitive. Icon. Meet Rosemary Woodruff Leary, the subject Susannah Cahalan's brilliant new biography, The Acid Queen.
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Nick Gillespie
5
Incels, Narcissists, and the Victim Mindset
Rise Above author Scott Barry Kauffman discusses toxic identity politics, the rise of grievance-based thinking, and why true self-actualization requires…
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Nick Gillespie
1
Free Speech in the Trump 2.0 Era
The current president is better than Biden was, says podcaster Brandi Kruse. Trump is worse than Biden, who also sucked, counters FIRE' Nadine Strossen…
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Nick Gillespie
1
Kennedy's Gen X Journey From MTV to Fox News
The former Alternative Nation host Kennedy explains her evolution from Republican to libertarian, why latchkey kids made great music, and why Adam…
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Nick Gillespie
4
Where have all the libertarians gone?
Michael Moynihan grills me on whatever happened to the 'Libertarian Moment,' which seemed like a foregone conclusion a dozen years ago.
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Nick Gillespie
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