Customer Reviews

Reason

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is not a magazine for ideologues, this is for folks who truly believe in the title "Reason." You won't find the extremes of say "Liberty{Libertarian} or The Nation{Left}" in these pages. For anyone who likes current events & politics this is a new approach at looking at the world. There is a balance of both American & international views without being preachy. The reader may not agree with every articles concluding remedy for said problem? But, you will find the fresh perspective as one which will make you think differently about the issue.


It is divided into five parts. Departments, Culture & Reviews, Articles, Columnists, & Editorials. They all feature current events issues that are put into a new focus when compared to say "Time or Newsweek." The departments are divided into three parts. Letters, Citings, & Artifact. The first is obvious, the second has brief writings as in your local newspaper's. The latter is a one page article at the end of every issue, & often features something funny or unusual. Writers like Nick Gillespie, Jesse Walker, & Michael Lynch do not specialize in any one field. They often contribute to different sections of the magazine at various times. The photos are black & white, it is about seventy pages per issue, it comes out eleven times a year, & has only 15-20% of it devoted to advertising.

Reason magazine has the tag-line "free minds and free markets" and lives up to its promise. It's always interesting, provacative, and even if you don't agree, you'll always learn something. Part culture, part public policy, part current events, Reason looks at everything from an unconventional viewpoint. It's not liberal or conservative ... it's libertarian without being strident or cultish. I'd recommend it to anyone who is bored with the old, recycled left/right points of view.

Reason cannot be labeled conservative or leftist. Nor is it an extremist libertarian magazine like Liberty, fawning over Ayn Rand. It bases its commentary on the assumption that, if we have some faith, our chaotic culture will lead somewhere good. But if we try to monitor and control it excessively, we will dampen human creativity and end up muddled and conflicted. Reason takes on all aspects of culture and assumes an international perspective. Its arguments are laid out carefully but contain a percolating sense of indignation at our increasingly repressive environment. At the same time, they are more informative than polemical; each report is grounded in specifics - quotes, anecdotes, studies. This is the most intelligent and inquiring "political" journal available. If only it came out more often!

Never before or since have I encountered a magazine consistently worth reading cover to cover. But I've been doing that with Reason for 11 years now. Reason examines current events from a perspective that's generally libertarian, as evinced by the "Free Minds and Free Markets" tag line. Among mainstream publications, Reason provides a unique and refreshing difference in a market dominated by liberal publications with a smattering of conservative "opposition." At the same time, Reason manages to avoid the preoccupation with philosophical and ideological minutia that plagues most other libertarian periodicals.

With all of the garbage journalism out there, and the political money-mongering, it's refreshing to read a magazine that is chock full of good solid common sense (when common sense is at a premium).

Here's a magazine that's not afraid to call a spade a spade. There's no blue or red slant here. Reason cuts through the liberal nonsense and the conservative blather to find real answers to real problems (and most of then involve NOT spending money on the problem and putting more money in your pocket). Interviews are published with politicians on both sides of the fence; no one is spared the cutting criticism that politicians so often deserve.

If you're the kind of person that can't stand the constant insanity of congress, or the random presidential edicts, or the judicial activism so rampantly present in our slowly dying country, then this is the magazine for you. If you're tired of the federal government stomping all over your personal and economic freedoms, then Reason is for you.

Being a moderate libertarian with a penchant for pragmatic politics and a subscriber to several magazines, I would think that i'm in the very core of their target audience. But I just can't help being slightly repulsed and even a little embarassed by this magazine- I would hate if someone's first impression of libertarianism was through Reason.

The magazine lacks focus, which becomes more noticeable when you combine it with the unengaging writing and abomidable formatting/styling so terrible that it would have been hard pressed to earn a D- in my high school graphic design class.

There are lots of better alternatives, although you'll have to go to magazines that aren't specifically focused on libertarianism in america. The Economist is great- thorough weekly coverage of the global political climate usually with a "socially liberal, fiscally conservative" bent. Wired is a surprising one- each month it provides great coverage oh how technology is changing the the worlds of politics, culture, and society in general, and most of the writers present a libertarian if "left wing libertarian" viewpoint. The Atlantic has been good too, although its surpringly still considered a liberal magazine- you wouldn't realize it until you flip through the advertisements for hybrid cars and Greenpeace projects. I think those organizations need to reasess their marketing projects when the magazine now has articles that recognize Rehnquist as one of the best justices of all time, criticize the palestinian independence movement, and show possible republican presidential candidates in positive lights.

This monthly magazine is an opinionated breath of fresh air. It's philosophically allied with Libertarianism, but it is not extreme or strident. Reason is more mainstream and moderate than the left or the right; it's really about political common sense. I don't always agree with the articles, but I rarely object to the reasoning that supports them. For a point of view that isn't beholden to agendas or special interests, read Reason.

For those of you with a Libertarian bent, this is a must-read. It has, as some reviewers claimed, lost some luster. It lacks the total Ayn Rand Libetarianism of, for example, "Liberty", which is a pure delight.

But Reason contains some good reading and we do not need a pure diet of left, right or libetarian. We can, after all, think for ourselves. We don't require a magazine to do that.

Reason is one of the best for truthful, yet often opinionated reporting.

Susanna K. Hutcheson

Creative Director
Powerwriting.com LLC

I just started getting Reason in the mail and have to agree that it is significantly superior to merely downloading the articles online. "Brickbats" is probably my favorite section as most of us instinctively like short articles that convey a significant amount of information. Perhaps some of you are like me in that you are predominantly conservative but have now become alienated by the habits of the Grand Old Spending Party and seek a level of ideological purity that cannot be found within Republican sources. If so, you'll be attracted to Reason as well. Its uniqueness is what makes preferrable to the rest of the stuff out there. The truth of the matter is that the statists, rather than the Democrats alone, are the true enemy of the people of the United States.

There are not many magazines specializing in political commentary that are really any good these days. So many of them are geared toward a political party, instead of concentrating on the issues that are most important. "Reason" magazine is the exception, and with its motto that a "free mind implies a free market" and vice versa, it has proven to be a publication that one can count on for objective analysis under the umbrella of that motto. The authors who write for it definitely have their biases, but they are attentive to these biases, and usually anticipate and answer objections to the ideas on which they expound.

Many times this reviewer heard that the authors and editors of Reason are "socially liberal" but "fiscally conservative." This kind of description almost implies that their thinking is a mere hybrid of liberalism and conservatism. But this description is incorrect, for the content of the articles in Reason is a consequence of the general belief among its authors and editors that freedom, and that means first freedom of the mind, is a moral universal, regardless of the place and context in which one finds oneself. The `social liberalism' of Reason, if one is to call it that, manifests itself in the tolerance of ideas that one finds repugnant. The `fiscal conservatism' of Reason manifests itself in the belief that freedom is to be not subject to an arbitrary and coercive government that has no qualms about using deception or actual force to collect taxes, impose censorship, or generally violate individual rights.

There are always many fine articles written in Reason on a diversity of topics. The advocacy of biotechnology is refreshing and reflects a common sense attitude that is very rare in political debate on this branch of technology. One will also find commentary on government waste, propaganda, torture, and the "war" on drugs. In addition, many book reviews are included on books that are relevant to the issues that the magazine wants to address. One can only hope that Reason stays afloat and delivers many more insights in the years to come. The magazine is both a barometer of freedom of thought as well as its creation.