Politics is the last place where we’re supposed to be satisfied between Brand A and Brand B,” says John Avlon, author of the new book Wingnuts: How The Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America.
Hyper-partisans and rhetorical extremists on the left and the right—characters such as Reps. Alan Grayson and Michele Bachmann, commentators such as Keith Olbermann and Glenn Beck—are not simply polarizing the debate, argues Avlon, who is a regular presence on CNN and a columnist for The Daily Beast.
Reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie sat down with Avlon in Reason’s D.C. offices to talk to him about what is going on in American politics.
Reason.tv’s Ted Balaker sat down with Eugene Volokh, professor of law at the UCLA School of Law and founder of The Volokh Conspiracy, to discuss gun rights, free expression, and the Nanny State.
Find out what Volokh thinks the biggest threats to free expression are, and whether today’s muzzlers come mostly from the left or right. Volokh also explains what the landmark Supreme Court case, DC vs. Heller, has done to gun control and whether he agrees with the “more guns, less crime” thesis. Other topics include: media bias and gun rights, Alabama’s prohibition on selling sex toys, and whether judges can be nannies.