Examiner Interviews Tom Knapp, Author of ‘Kn@ppster’s Big Freakin’ Book of Stuff’

Thomas L. “Tom” Knapp, in addition to his work mentioned in this interview, is a contributor here at IPR. Excerpt from Interview: A big freakin’ libertarian’s Big Freakin’ Book by Garry Reed:

What were your criteria for including/excluding articles in your book?

Really, there were only four: I had to be able to find the stuff; it had to strike me as interesting; it mostly had to be political; and I started to get worried when the book’s length approached 100,000 words and at that point I started getting more selective.

What else should we know about you that isn’t included in your blog bio?

My first real involvement in libertarian politics was called the Constitution Party, but it wasn’t the “conservative” organization that uses that name now. It was a libertarian political party started by Hollywood producer Aaron Russo (“The Rose,” “Trading Places,” “Teachers,” etc.). The Constitution Party fell apart within a year, but by that time several people I’d come into contact with, including libertarian icon L. Neil Smith and Missouri Libertarian Party executive director Bill Johnson had talked me into throwing in with the LP. I’ve been with the LP on and off ever since. I spent a year exploring the possibility of promoting libertarianism within the Democratic Party. I started the Boston Tea Party in 2006. I quit electoral politics from 2010-2014.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work for Free-Market.Net, Antiwar.com, the Center for a Stateless Society and a lot of other publications and organizations over the years. But of course my big labor of love for coming up on 12 years now is Rational Review News Digest.

Who or what brought you to libertarianism philosophically?

When I was a kid, I was something of a “liberal.” I was a member of Greenpeace. At the same time, my (then) father-in-law had been preaching conservatism to me and I started thinking of myself as a conservative. But I also started reading Ayn Rand’s works and by 1993 or so I was really thinking of myself as a libertarian. I think the big switching point for me was finding a copy of Liberty magazine at a newsstand and reading it. The only author I remember from that issue was Wendy McElroy, whom I’m now privileged to call “friend.” And I was also greatly flattered to become friends with Liberty publisher RW Bradford. Liberty was the publication that made me say with finality “yeah, I’m not a conservative any more.”