Libertarians: don’t miss this. Drew Carey was a relatively quiet libertarian throughout most of his career as a comedian, TV host and actor… until recently. Drew has been contracted by the Reason Foundation for a series of documentary-style videos online, a project they’re calling Reason TV.
The videos feature “stories about freedom”, my favourite topic. I regret I haven’t had the time to sit and watch most of them yet, but the one I saw dealing with traffic congestion in Southern California was great and compelling, maybe most of all because I know the area well.
The solutions are based on free market, libertarian ideals which are grounded in practical reality at the same time. To use the freeway example: Carey advocates allowing private corporations to build their own roads, and to charge users to drive on them. The original 91 Freeway here in Southern California was built with public money, but additional lanes were added later by a private corporation who wanted to make money selling use of the road to commuters. They’re called the 91 Express Lanes, and use the FasTrak system. FasTrak involves a transponder placed in the customer’s vehicle which is read at high speeds by sensors over the roadway and used to charge customer per each mile they travel on the road. California Highway Patrol (CHP) charges the corporation to patrol speed and other highway laws (for British readers, CHP are the black and white coloured police cruisers typically seen in Hollywood movies). The system enables easily the concept of operating private roads with customers without involving public funds.
Stay tuned to Reason TV for more practical libertarianism in action (subscribe to it for free on iTunes here).