Well, at least Gary Johnson was a somewhat successful governor, as a Republican; a detail that Nick Gillespie tends to overlook. Every Libertarian Party candidate is a longshot or no shot. There has been only one recent grassroots movement of any significant size that builds itself on calling for a reduction in the size of government. That is the Tea Party, and the Libertarian Party attacks it with the exact same tactics the Left uses.
Reason’s editors often sound like hipster liberals who get mildly upset around April 15. They think that they can convert libs to their side by appealing to them on issues like pot legalization; erroneously thinking that it will lead to libs seeing the foibles of other government solutions. Sorry, Reason, but libs don’t “reason”, they emote. They just want to get high, and don’t care about personal responsibility or freedom or federalism or any of that. That is why Reason ultimately fails.
All that said, Nick Gillespie does do some outstanding writing, and is a very interesting conversationalist/interviewer. There is much in his arsenal from which conservatives can draw. When it comes to social issues, the Tea Party, foreign policy, or religion, he’s almost useless.
It's Frustrating. Some of it I put down to lack of the will to tell lefty friends they are idiots, and being kicked out of the "cool kids" clique. Hey, that happens everywhere, even here at FR!