A Libertarians Guide to Washington, D.C. (for ISFLC2015)

A few years ago, your humble blogger came home from a 2nd, part-time, job, to receive a phone call from a libertarianish writer at Slate magazine who asked me about the “controversy” over a weeks old blog post I had made on a tea party blog giving advice to Glenn Beck fans coming to DC for his march on where to eat, where some odious politicians’ homes were, and what areas to avoid.  I had no idea what he was talking about.

No one had noticed my guide until it was re-posted on a (now defunct) Maine tea party website.  I then got the full Brian Williams/NBC news treatment, with Rachel Maddow, Eugene Robinson, Chris Matthews, almost every blog on earth, and my own Congressperson, Eleanor Holmes Norton, denouncing me as a racist from Maine who didn’t know anything about DC.  Which was funny, since I’d lived in DC since the 80s, where I had dated, and been employed and supervised by, people of virtually every race.

None of these people called me by the way, or asked me who I was or what I meant, etc.  (Except this one.)  (And no one asked why our local political class, Democrats black and white, have left black DC residents largely segregated in the high crime areas, victims of the drug war, civilian disarmament, and slow police and ambulance response times.)

I’d advised people to stay off the Yellow and Green metro lines (unless they had a DC native with them), because they line up (inside DC anyway) with where crime happens, as any of these people could have found out by googling any crime map like the one reproduced here.  (Though people have even been murdered at the Woodley Park stop where ISFLC2015 is occuring.)

Most of my advice to them is good for you ISFLC2015 peeps as well, though much of it is irrelevant since your activities, on this frigid weekend, will mainly take you from the Woodley Park Marriott to Union Station, one of our three airports, or perhaps Town, a gay bar and disco, if you plan to go to the largest LGTB libertarian event held to date, anywhere, the LGTB libertarian dance and social tonight at 9:30 pm

Food

Since I wrote my tea party guide a few things have changed that are relevant for young libertarian tourists.  Caribou Coffee is no more, as far as internet eateries go, and has been replaced with Cozy Corner Bakery, which is better and also has wifi.  They are all over, and there is one at 2nd and D Street NW near Union Station, across the street from a building that has Fox News, CNN, and FreedomWorks.

If you were here long enough I would also point you, for your wifi/food needs, to District Taco (19th and M Streets NW and 600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE) which is dear to libertarians both because the food is very good and because it started out as an upstart food truck.

The area near the Wardman Marriot at the intersection of Calvert and Connecticut is serviced by perfectly decent but not remarkable restaurants that have hotels as a captive market.  Nearer Town, should you venture out tonight (9th and U Streets NW), those of you from smaller towns should sample (google them, there are many) Ethiopian food (in this hemisphere), which DC has more of than anywhere else, best eaten in groups of 3 or more (goulashes and ragouts served on a bread plate and eaten with bread napkins).  Anywhere up and down 18th or 14th streets in Logan and Dupont (even 17th street) is chock full of restaurants.  For an inexpensive option the Vietnamese pho (noodle soup) place, Mimosa at 18th and T Streets NW is hard to beat ($7.99).  There is a very inexpensive pizza place, FlippinPizza, on the lower level around 1745 Connecticut Avenue NW, almost beside the reason magazine office.

If you want to patronize a libertarian, a fellow named Steve Davis owns two spots in Dupont Circle, Thomas Foolery bar (21st and P Streets NW) and Mr. Yogato (froyo) at 17th and Church Streets NW, but he’s sometimes a libertarian on the downlow, if you catch him on the premises.

Transportation

My previous blog post was attacked of course because the Brian Williams/NBC media hive wanted to attack Glenn Beck and the tea party.  The proximate cause/excuse was my awful racism against Green and Yellow lines as opposed to Red, Blue and Orange lines.  All five colors are equal.

Almost as soon as I had published it, gang warfare broke out on the Red line in Montgomery County, and Metro elevators and escalators began breaking down or catching people’s scarves and coats, and the tracks and stations began catching on fire.  So my advice is now more egalitarian between the five colors (now six as we have a Silver line):  avoid the Metro.

If you must take it, use the Metro bus.  You can find a trip planner on the WMATA web site.  (For tonight to go to Town take the 96 bus — it should be listed on the Metro bus stop sign if it stops at that sign.)  I see the organizers of the dance tonight are pushing Uber and Lyft which are great.  Another possibility is Car2Go, which I believe you can register for for free, though you will need a credit card.  Car2Go mainly offers smart cars that hold 3 or 4 people tops.  They are ubiquitous in NW DC, and I’ve used them in Columbus, Ohio.  I believe they started in Austin, TX.  So once you have an account you may find it useful for wherever you go in the future.

Etc.

I’ll be at a lot of ISFLC2015 so feel free to ask me for any information (I’ve lived here forever, longer than I’ve lived anywhere.  Feel free to post questions too and I will be happy to answer them.  And if you aren’t here, I will be posting items from the event on this blog tonight through Monday afternoon.

Media Swarm Rand Paul event at Howard University