From Fishbowl DC:

Put them in the same air space and you’re likely to hear them discuss their persisting feelings of blind rage for each other. Without even a trace of a smile, Gillespie, dressed head to toe in his signature black frock, explains the dynamic between the two. “We have a tight relationship that usually ends in physical violence,” he says.

When I first discovered Reason magazine, I was stunned that it appeared so physically equal to popular magazines like Time and Newsweek.  A blind person would never be able to tell the difference.  Our local library had it on the same shelf with those other well known journalistic publications. It was available in the same book stores as if it were just as significant as all the other periodicals out there.  What the fuck was happening?  Reason is libertarian.  Libertarians are known to be fringe radicals, for Christ’s sake.  And yet this publication made us look normal and respectable.

Reason, almost single handedly, brought mainstream respectably to the libertarian movement by creating a magazine equal to or better than other highly popular periodical news publications.  By earning membership to that club, they brought libertarianism into the mainstream national conversation.  How do we know that?  Because libertarians have finally achieved enough prominence to garner establishment press attention and animus.  Celebrities as divergent as Glenn Beck and Bill Maher have both called themselves libertarian on some issues.  Libertarians have now become a legitimate team in the sport of political discourse.

It is utterly (yes, utterly!) impossible to overstate how important Reason Magazine has been to the libertarian cause.  So, happy 45th anniversary Reason Magazine and thank you for all you’ve done.