Burning Man Festival: 'bleeding edge of Libertarianism'?

I'd wager that when most people think 'libertarian' their mind trends towards something like this chap, a dull stereotype of fuck-da-guv'mint free-trade types and middle-aged white guys who haven't gotten laid in ages. More specifically, I bet their minds don't trend towards the Burning Man Festival, an "experiment in community, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance" that probably collects 85% of America's patchouli-oil supply in one place.

But that's exactly the connection made by Reason's Brian Doherty in an interview over at Radar. Apparently Doherty, off-and-on belle of the right and one of my favorite bloggers (really!) sees the heart of Libertarianism in Burning Man's "totally voluntary anarchistic government" and evolves an argument about how libertarianism oughtn't be seen as "some weird subset of the Right Wing. That's not accurate."

While I am certainly extremely suspicious of libertarianism, I've got to say it's a compelling narrative, and certainly one with infinitely more appeal than regressive statist-conservatism like we've got now. It's worth reading Doherty's interview (and Hit and Run in general), if only to ponder the sort of intellectual heritage that connects Adam Smith to smelly hippies.

Oh God, my hands are huuuuuuggeeee! WHERE IS MY HACKY-SACK??!