Thanks to Professor Beito for the invitation to guest-blog at L&P. I'm honored to share a space with so many libertarians I admire, not least for their recognition of the centrality of the war issue and their refusal to drop libertarianism at the water's edge.

I suppose I should say a word or two about myself. I work quite happily as senior editor at the Cato Institute, though in anything I write here or on my own website, I'm speaking for myself, not my employer. I also live inside the Beltway, though my neighborhood looks more like El Salvador than K Street. I prefer it that way.

I know, I'm supposed to say how awful it is to live and work in Washington D.C. But I like it. If you've got a sense of humor and a taste for the grotesque--which you'd better if you make your living following politics--living in D.C. gives you ringside seats. Besides, liberty isn't totally dead in the nation's capital. We still allow smoking in bars.