Lock up your daughters: the libertarian carnival is in town

Good lord. further evidence that, despite improvements in recent years, Washington still has work to do. Today’s WaPo runs a piece noting that the free minds and free markets crowd at Reason are insidiously recruiting innocent young Washingtonians to the libertarian cult by, yup, throwing a couple of parties a month. The horror! To wit:

Four minutes into Reason magazine’s monthly bash at the Big Hunt lounge, and every Libertarian-as-Bacchus fantasy you’ve entertained plays out before your widening eyes. Nick Gillespie, the leather-jacketed, Mama-said-you’re-dangerous editor of the political rag peers at you intently. “What do you need?” he asks. “Do you need a drink? A cigarette?”

Favourite bit, however? This:

Last month the staff launched Reason.tv, home of “The Drew Carey Project” (dude’s a libertarian) as well as other anti-Big Brother videos. And on Jan. 1, Gillespie will leave his print magazine role to bulk up the presence of Reason.tv and Reason.com. His replacement is Matt Welch, a former Los Angeles Times opinion writer who wears pink vests with rhinestone buttons and has a French wife.