Philosopher Moonbeam

Fascinating exchange between Reason's Matt Welch and Jerry Brown:

Brown:Are you a follower of Hayek?
Me: I’m a reader of Hayek, I wouldn’t describe myself as a--
Brown: I’m a reader of Hayek.
Me: (trying to change subject) Is there a—
Brown: Are you a reader of British philosophy, do you find that interesting?
Me: I’m not much like, you know, the whole, uh … I’m not a very learned guy. I’m not like your pal Jacques.
Brown: Yeah?
Me: There’s a lot of libertarians who are really into that political philosophy stuff. I’m kinda practical and dull-witted -- I’m from Long Beach, California.
Brown: Oh, that’s why. Most people from Long Beach derive from Iowa.
Me: Exactly. Exactly.
Brown: The good news about that is, that more people like corn than caviar.
Me: Speaking of libertarians, do you think that there’s more, is there a legitimate free-market kinda reason to go Democrat instead of Republican these days?
Brown: Uh, I think the Bush politicizing of science and distorting it, that’s certainly not reasonable. So that’s important. I think that Kerry’s a pretty reasonable guy. You know they say that “where’s the passion?” Well, there’s a lot reason there, and there’s a lot of thoughtfulness. And yes he’s a political person, and political person is apt to be flexible, that’s also true. But flexibility is a quality in an ever-changing world. Rigidity is definitely a vice.

Who would have thought Brown is even a reader of Hayek?