...especially that it should be much shorter!

Liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans may disagree on all kinds of things, but based on the way they govern, they've reached a consensus that the Bill of Rights is just way too long.

Indeed, with the exception of the Third Amendment (the one about quartering of troops), is there any aspect of the Bill of Rights that they both support without reservation?

Had enough of left and right? Maybe you're ready for some Reason.

Go to http://reason.tv for more videos and information.

"Had Enough of Left and Right?" is directed by Courtney Moorehead Balaker and written by Ted Balaker. Director of photography is Alex Manning; associate producer is Nate Chaffetz. Starring Kyle Roper as the liberal Democrat, and Paul Detrick as the conservative Republican. Voiceover by Rin Palmer.

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A misfired bottle rocket solves the budget problem.

Produced by Meredith Bragg.

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Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie sat down recently with Patrick Byrne, the CEO of Overstock.com, the online retailer famous for sexy ads ("It's all about the O"), low, low prices, and hyperattentive customer service.

Born in 1962 and now living in Utah, Byrne holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Stanford and serves as the co-chair (with Rose Friedman) of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. He is the former manager of Blackhawk Investment, a cancer survivor, and a black belt in tae kwon do.

An outspoken critic of online sales taxes, Byrne is a self-declared libertarian who champions short-selling while adamantly opposing the more-controversial practice of "naked" short-selling.

From his journalistic perch at the blog Deep Capture, he and his colleagues regularly chart the ways in which regulators routinely stifle innovation and maintain a status quo that favors connected firms at the cost of competitors and consumers alike.

Raised in New Hampshire, Byrne describes himself as a former "Yankee Republican" who has never felt comfortable with anti-market Democrats and no longer recognizes the GOP as the party of small government and individual liberty.

In this 10-minute interview, Byrne explains why school choice is the key issue of our day, how bad regulations contributed to the current economic crisis, and why "the government should pave the roads, run the Post Office, and stay off my porch."

Filmed by Dan Hayes and edited by Meredith Bragg.

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It wasn't that long ago that everyone in America believed that Japan would soon overtake the United States as the dominant economic force on the planet. When the Japanese stock market rallied to historic heights in late 1989 and Japanese investors even bought Rockefeller Center in New York, it all seemed like a done deal.

But then...the Nikkei Index tanked, the nation's economy collapsed, the government responded with an ever-changing mix of tax hike and tax cuts, stimulus spending on infrastructure, massive bailouts of businesses, and more. None of it worked and Japan entered what's been called its "Lost Decade," a seemingly endless period of economic stagnation.

What are the lessons for the U.S. from Japan's experience? Reason Foundation policy analyst Anthony Randazzo is the co-author of the recent study "Avoiding an American Lost Decade: Lessons from Japan's bubble and recession" and a July 2009 cover story for Reason magazine, "Turning Japanese: Japan's post-bubble policies produced a 'lost decade.' So why is President Obama emulating them?"

As Randazzo explains, both the causes of and official responses to Japan's bubble and economic slump eerily anticipate exactly what the U.S. government is doing. Worse still, the Obama administration and Congress seem dead-set against the sorts of policies—across-the-board taxes on personal and business income, reductions in long-term and unsustainable government debt, and allowing damaged firms to go bankrupt—that would help revivify the American economy.

Is America on the verge of its own lost decade? Sadly, the government seems to be doing everything it can to make that happen.

Approximately 3.30 minutes long. Produced by Dan Hayes and Nick Gillespie; graphics by Meredith Bragg.

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As the debate over health care reform gets underway, Reason.tv asks, What if government ran health care?

Approximately one minute. Produced by Meredith Bragg, Austin Bragg, and Nick Gillespie.

For more videos, visit http://reason.tv

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Reason Editor in Chief Matt Welch appeared on Fox News' Live Desk on June 2, 2009 to talk about Califonria's budget problems.

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Nobody knows how to get more free* money from the government than ubiquitous TV pitchman Matthew Lesko ( http://www.leskobooks.com/inde x.html ). And now he's cashing in on the biggest pile of government loot since the Treasury first started printing greenbacks.

"Who cares about hyperinflation, crippling debt, or a massive tax burden on your grandkids? It's all free!"

*Some shipping & handling fees apply.

"Free Government Money" was written and produced by Reason.tv's Meredith Bragg and his brother Austin Bragg.

This video was entered into Right.org's anti-bailout video contest, where filmmakers are competing for a top prize of $25,799 (one person's bailout burden).

For more anti-bailout video commercials, go to http://right.org.

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Rediscovering young Winston's classical liberal American mentor, Bourke Cockran.


Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie recently sat down with Reason contributing editor Michael McMenamin, co-author with Curt Zoller of 2007's Becoming Winston Churchill, now out in a paperback edition from Enigma Books. The volume promises "the untold story of Young Winston and his American mentor."

Churchill's mentor was the Irish-born New York orator and politician Bourke Cockran (1854-1923), who served in Congress and advised President Grover Cleveland. Recognized as the one of the greatest public speakers of his day (William Jennings Bryan refused to appear on the same stage with him), the classical liberal Cockran introduced Churchill to the benefits of free trade, anti-imperialism, soaring oratory, and, even more important, says McMenamin, the idea that "government is not the source of wealth...[Cockran] gave Churchill a healthy distrust of government and other organizations (like the Church of England) that could hold power over people."

Approximately 7.30 minutes. Shot by Roger M. Richards and Alex Manning; edited by Roger M. Richards.

For iPod, HD, and audio versions, go to http://reason.tv.

To buy McMenamin's book, go to http://www.amazon.com/Becoming -Winston-Churchill-Untold-Amer ican/dp/1929631871/reasonmagaz ineA/

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This week the Virginia DMV announced that it's going to outlaw smiling in driver's license photos. Thought life at the DMV couldn't get any worse? Wrong again, America.

Reason.tv video written and produced by Dan Hayes.

For related videos and articles, go to Reason.tv.

To embed this video on your site and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/Re asonTV

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For all the talk of President Barack Obama's First 100 Days in office, too little attention has been paid to what comes next...

From the horror masters behind The Auto Bailout, The Stimulus Package, and White House Poetry Night comes a story of true terror...

128 Days Later: It Can Always Get Worse.

Written and produced by Meredith Bragg, with Nick Gillespie. From a concept suggested by Katie Hooks and Jeff Winkler.

For downloadable versions, related articles and videos, and more, go to http://reason.tv

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Putting things off ... It's what we humans do. Thankfully, President Obama has stopped putting things off when it comes to global warming. He's insisting on tough new fuel efficiency standards, and that means our children will enjoy a cleaner environment.

The new standards mean more of us will be driving smaller, fuel-efficient cars. And since smaller, lighter cars—even when they are extremely well-designed for safety—mean more of us will have to plan for our final day sooner than we anticipated, we urge you to follow the president's lead and think ahead.

Don't put off planning for your final day. We're the Morticians Association of America, and we salute President Obama.

Written and produced by Ted Balaker with Paul Detrick. Narrated by Rin Palmer.

For more videos and related articles, go to http://www.reason.tv

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With the proliferation of news on the Internet, Americans aren't supporting their local newspapers. Circulation and ad revenues are way down, while web readership—where the news is likely to be free and up-to-the-minute—is way up. Technology has changed the game.

But for those who see a connection between American democracy and the demise of the newspaper industry, it's time to get the government involved to save the news business.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) has introduced the Newspaper Revitalization Act, a bill that would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) warns of the "serious consequences for our democracy" if his hometown paper, The Boston Globe, goes belly up. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has publicly argued for an antitrust exemption to save the San Francisco Chronicle, a paper that has long supported her political career. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) recently argued that "If Congress does not act...a major city in the United States will be without a newspaper in the fairly near future."

Washington can give newspapers tax breaks or generous subsides to keep them afloat. There are many ways of extending the life of a terminally-ill by forcing onto life support. But why should the government support an industry that consumers are rejecting?

"Most of those supporting a newspaper bailout were also critical of the medias behavior in the run-up to the Iraq War," says Reason senior editor Michael Moynihan. "Now imagine the reaction if the very same journalists wrote the very same stories about Iraq in 2002 but were reliant upon the Bush administration for their survival."

For audio podcast, iPod-friendly, and HD versions of this video, along with links to relevant articles and other videos at Reason.tv, go to http://reason.tv/video/show/78 7.html

Correction: The dollar amount of proposed new French tax subsidies to newspapers is misstated. The correct amount is $800 million.

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