"The greatest gift to the libertarian electorate was the Obama administration," says John J. Pitney, Jr., a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and a Reason contributing editor. "At a time when you have massive expansion of government power and massive government spending, people start to see the downsides of that philosophy and the libertarian philosophy starts to become more appealing."

Pitney also tells Reason.tv why Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) energized so many voters during the 2008 election and whether America would ever elect a libertarian president.

Approximately 6.45 minutes.

Interview by Sam Corcos. Shot and edited by Hawk Jensen. Music by General Fuzz available at Magnutune Records.

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