Satiric Libertarianism

Writing on the Reason magazine website, neocon Michael Young bemoans the lack of an American equivalent of Le Canard Enchaine: "You have to wonder why a similar national publication doesn't exist in the U.S. The popularity of The Onion, or the fact that a magazine like Spy managed to have considerable influence during the 1980s, suggest that Americans aren't all that satire-resistant." That's strange: I thought Reason was a satirical magazine. After all, here is a "libertarian" periodical that publishes Young's warmongering screeds, takes a "neutral" position on Iraq -- and George W. Bush's project of world conquest"liberation" -- while contenting itself with calls for the legalization of methamphetamine and an unabashedly nerdy obsession with "The Simpsons." Mass murder is "debatable," from this "libertarian" viewpoint: what isn't debatable is putting heroin in school vending machines to let the free market work its magic. Now, that's got to be satire. But not in a good way ...