Is author Brian Doherty the missing link between the Libertarian Party and Burning Man?

In his new book, Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement (PublicAffairs), Brian Doherty takes readers through Libertarianism's strange and storied past. A senior editor for the Lib publication, Reason magazine, Doherty traces the evolution of the movement from the Declaration of Independence ("Hard to imagine a more Libertarian document") through Libertarianism's intellectual proclivities (Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is a venerated text), and beyond to the party's more fringe cultural moments—like Howard Stern's failed publicity stunt of running for governor of New York under the LP flag in 1994.

"People assume Burning Man is a bunch of disgusting self-indulgent hippies acting like idiots, but it also presents the radical edge of Libertarianism"A serious look at the movement as well as an entertaining tell-all about the LP's movers and shakers, the book sheds light on an eccentric and misunderstood political party. In some cases, eccentric and misunderstood being well-earned descriptors: In the '50s, for instance, after one particular sect began cavorting with writer Gerald Heard—a close friend to psychedelic scribe Aldous Huxley— the group started experimenting with LSD, as a tool for learning how to understand and reshape society. Doherty, in fact, is himself a link between Libertarianism and anarcho-psychedelics. Prior to writing Radicals for Capitalism, he penned This is Burning Man, a book about the annual week-long festival held in the Nevada desert, which consists mainly of engaging in mind-bending drugs and uninhibitive sex.

Radar caught up with the freewheeling author to talk about what it's like being in Bill O'Reilly's hot seat, the third party's effect on two-party elections, and how Libertarians and Burning Man disciples make for strange and unlikely bedfellows.

RADAR: While Libertarians are for the most part shunned by both the Republican and Democratic parties, there's definitely more of a kinship with the political right.

BRIAN DOHERTY: It's true. The connection mostly exists because Republicans have been the party—at least rhetorically—that has spoken about free enterprise, free markets, getting government out of people's business. That was Goldwater's rhetorical trick. It was Reagan's rhetorical trick. But they haven't been serious about it. Libertarians are serious, both about the Republican end of the belief of free markets and limited government and the more radical liberal end. We don't believe in laws against prostitution, discriminatory laws against people's sexual preferences, drug laws—laws that limit freedom of expression and the like.

So, some Libertarians picking up Radicals for Capitalism are going to see other books by Brian Doherty, like, This is Burning Man, and maybe scratch their heads.
Well, on a personal level both books are explorations of peculiar and often despised subcultures that I happen to be an enthusiastic defender of. Lots of people don't really know what you mean when you say either Burning Man or Libertarian, and to the extent that they do they kind of have a bad attitude about it. People assume Burning Man is a bunch of disgusting self-indulgent hippies acting like idiots, which is partly true, but it also presents the radical edge of Libertarianism: absolutely unbridled personal expression as long as you're not hurting someone else.

I do feel like I'm going uphill and I'm trying to rehabilitate these disreputable subjects. That's another reason why the word radicals is really important. I don't want Libertarianism to be thought of as some weird subset of the Right Wing. That's not accurate.

So Burning Man could be a recruitment event for Libertarians, were it not for the distaste they have for consumerism?
It really is sort of a living example of a Libertarian voluntary government. One way of looking at Burning Man is we're creating an intentional community—we're all gathered there because we want to be there. There's this sort of fake city government there that provides plumbing in the form of port-a-johns, road building in the form of grating in the dirt, and you could look at our ticket price as the tax we pay to that community. But we're paying it because we want to. It's a totally voluntary anarchistic government. Of course the cops are there as well, but we didn't invite them.

Are a lot of your Burning Man crew Libertarians too?
No. There's a lot of them who, if you put Libertarian principles in the vaguest way, like, "Shouldn't people be free to do what they want?" would say yes. That's a very natural instinct. It's sort of what America's built on. When you break it down to specifics, like, "Maybe that means we don't need a government to build roads, maybe the roads could be built by private companies, and we don't need a Food and Drug Administration approving our drugs," they start jumping off the Libertarian boat.

Why would the Burning Man crowd be offended by that? Then they could get Ginkgo root, cannabis, and whatever hippie herbs they like with no hassles from The Man.
You would be surprised how many people who do illegal drugs still believe that they ought to be illegal. It mostly comes out of a sense that there are lots of people out there who wouldn't be able to handle them, who would totally fuck up their lives.

It's drug snobbery.
Exactly.

Is it true that the balance of power in Washington today is the result of a Libertarian candidate?
It is very interesting to note that if not for the Libertarian Party the Republicans would still be controlling the Senate. There were two different races in Missouri and Montana in which the Libertarian candidate's votes far exceeded the difference between the winning Democrat and the losing Republican. There's no way to prove this 100 percent, but there's reason to believe that if most Libertarian voters were going to vote and they didn't have the Libertarian option, they would probably have gone Republican because of the rhetoric that attaches itself to Republicans.

"Even the complete weirdos of third parties can have very important effects on history. The Republicans would still control the Senate if not for [a Libertarian candidate]"The Montana case is my favorite. The only mainstream press that paid attention to it at all was the Washington Post. A man named Stan Jones had run as a Libertarian many times before and was pretty much the poster child for why everyone makes fun of the Libertarian Party. He was really afraid of Y2K. He was afraid there would be complete civilization collapse and there would be no more antibiotics so he got heavily into this weirdo quack therapy called colloidal silver, and he ate a lot of it. Colloidal silver has this occasional side effect called argyria, which basically turns your skin blue. So this guy was literally blue.

And he wasn't even a Democrat.
Yeah, but a complete weirdo, which is very inspiring. Even the complete weirdos of third parties can have very important effects on history. The Republicans would still control the Senate if not for him.

You've made appearances on O'Reilly, yet despite not being a Democrat, you weren't exactly granted admission into the old boys' club.
I've been on The Factor three times. The wisdom I received from Bill in my ear before we went on the air once, which I have found applies in so many situations, is: "You know you're in the hot seat tonight, Doherty. We don't want any pie in the sky stuff. Stick to the facts." I imagine he probably says something like that in people's ears every night. There should be a book on this, a collection of Bill's wisdom.

So were you sweating in the hot seat then?

TV does make you nervous. Not so much because of him. The funniest part of being on that show, I didn't learn until I saw the TiVo version of it afterward. We were talking about whether local police should enforce federal immigration law, which L.A. mostly does not. I was defending the principle that they shouldn't, mostly because it disrupts the policeman's relationship with the community in a way that's unnecessary. And while I'm saying these things they're showing the worst video you could find of shirtless tattooed cholos waving guns in the street. Like, "These are Mr. Doherty's friends."

What about the celebrity factor? Libertarians historically haven't really had support from high profile individuals or Hollywood.
I'm not sure how to react to that other than to grant that it's true. Libertarian ideas have a million problems in American culture, and that would be one of them. I will now do a quick plug for that small handful of popular and beloved characters who are in my mind pretty solidly Libertarians, my favorite being Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park. True American heroes. They're my favorites because I love their work so much. There's also Drew Carey, and Penn and Teller...

Matt Drudge.
Drudge seems more like a Democrat/liberal basher in a typical right-wing radio way. I have listened to his radio show and have never heard a Libertarian word come out of his mouth.

So there are wannabe Libertarians?
I think saying they're Libertarians makes celebrities sound a little edgy and outside the norm. I've seen no evidence, for the most part, that they genuinely believe that the government should hardly do anything at all.

So, have the Libertarians decided who they're putting up for president?
The nominating convention is going to be in the summer of 2008. No ideas yet. The great thing about the Libertarian Party is that really anything goes. Michael Badnarik, the guy who got it in 2004 was basically this unemployed computer programmer who had nothing to do for a year so he just drove around in a Kia Sephia with this college student friend of his, hit all the state conventions, shook a lot of hands, got to know people, talked the Libertarian game. All you have to do to win the Libertarian nomination is convince a bare majority of the delegates in the national convention. So you can be this unemployed guy one day and the next day you're on the ballot for president in almost every state.

Do you think Badnarik will take a stab at it again?
He will not be running this time. He's selling bumper stickers in Austin, Texas.