Robby Soave and What a Libertarian Is to Do

“Soave’s new book, Tech Panic: Why We Shouldn’t Fear Facebook and the Future, will be published on September 28th…”

Robby Soave has a simple request: He wants you to remain calm. After all, things probably are not as bad as you think.

The 32-year-old libertarian writer and Detroit native has built a career on an intuitive skepticism of moral panic, which he sees as an impetus for poorly considered public policy. He is also known for a willingness to stand athwart the zeal of the mob in protection of the ideals of free speech, open discourse, and due process—in courts of law and public opinion.

In 2019, for example, he was among the few counseling patience as the media called for the blood of Covington Catholic High School students after a video segment appeared to show the youths attempting to intimidate a Native American protester at a March for Life rally. As it turned out, his instincts were dead-on: New footage emerged that showed that not only were the kids innocent of any aggression, they were at the time being subject to a battery of verbal abuse from a group of Black Hebrew Israelites, a religious sect known for confrontational and bigoted preaching.

A graduate of the University of Michigan and a former editor of The Michigan Daily, Soave found inspiration on campus. He initially thought he would write about higher education funding and student loans, but his natural interest in campus cultural issues helped him find a niche well suited to the times. As a senior editor at Reason, he has covered watershed moments in the campus Left’s retreat from the values of free speech and other elements of classical liberalism, such as the public berating of Professor Nicolas Christakis by Yale students and the violent reaction of Middlebury College students to the presence of social scientist Charles Murray.