Cato Institute

[[File:Picture Cato.jpg|thumb|right|165px|The Cato Institute headquarters]]
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{{cquote|No, Cato, you fool.|||Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau in ''Return of the Pink Panther''}}
The '''Cato Institute''' is a [[think tank]] in the [[United States]] with a [[libertarian]] perspective. It has published numerous articles and papers on issues like [[economics]], [[liberty]], [[politics]], [[international relations]], and the [[environment]].

According to themselves, the philosophy of the institute is based on the principles of [[liberty]] and freedom. They think the current crop of [[neoconservatism|conservatives]] are idiots. Due to its libertarian nature, it was critical of both President [[Barack Obama]] and his rival in [[2008 US Presidential Election|2008]], [[John McCain]].

The noted humorist P.J. O'Rourke is a fellow at Cato.<ref>Cato Institute (n.d.). [https://www.cato.org/people/pj-orourke P.J. O’Rourke].</ref>

==Early history==
The Cato Institute was originally headquartered in [[San Francisco]], founded in 1977 with [[Koch Industries|Kochtopus]] [[money]] and the ideological backing of [[Murray Rothbard]]. Early Cato projects included ''Inquiry'' magazine, an outreach to left-[[liberal]]s concerned with [[civil liberties]].

Cato's President Ed Crane and Murray Rothbard publicly fell out in 1980. The reasons are complex but mostly due to a clash between Rothbard's flamboyant [[anarchism]] versus Crane's desire to court Beltway respectability. By 1981, Cato under Crane's leadership purged Rothbard, relocated to [[Washington, D.C.]], discontinued ''Inquiry'', and turned its attention to public policy research.

==The "liberaltarian" purge==
Brink Lindsey, Cato's former Vice President, coined the term "liberaltarian" during his tenure there. He wrote a number of articles on the term, claiming that the libertarian-conservative fusion was a hold-over from the [[Cold War]] and that libertarians in the 2000s had more in common with liberals than [[George W. Bush|Bush]]-style conservatives. Lindsey attempted to court liberal Beltway types and another fellow, Will Wilkinson, hopped on board the liberaltarian bandwagon.

In 2010, both Lindsey and Wilkinson left Cato. Whether they were booted or left voluntarily or something else happened is still a matter of speculation, but the first rule of Lindsey and Wilkinson's new blogs is you '''''do not'' mention "the liberaltarian purge."'''<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100825154801/https://slate.com/blogs/blogs/weigel/archive/2010/08/23/a-purge-at-the-cato-institute.aspx A Purge at the Cato Institute?] by David Weigel (August 23, 2010 2:05 PM) ''Slate'' (archived from August 25, 2010).</ref><ref>[https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/08/a-liberaltarian-purge/ A Liberaltarian Purge?] by Joseph Lawler (8.24.10) ''First Things''.</ref>

But Brink Lindsey had also been one of the libertarian movement's notorious "[[Chickenhawk|hawks]]" (if such a thing can even be [[No True Scotsman|said to exist in the first place]]) in 2001-[[Iraq War|2003]], criticizing the Bush administration ''from the right'' for not going hard enough militarily after the [[Taliban]] and [[Saddam Hussein]]. In fact he blogged almost entirely on two issues: for war in the [[Middle East]], and for [[free trade]].<ref>[http://reason.com/people/brink-lindsey/all Some of his articles from back then, for as long as you can stomach reading], and [http://wayback.archive.org/web/20030815000000*/http://www.brinklindsey.com see also his blog.]</ref> Those liberals who were attracted to a libertarian-liberal alliance were found on such blogs as MyDD and the [[Daily Kos]], and were, by and large, [[Howard Dean]] supporters who were against the wars and [[globalization]]. Liberals and libertarians having more in common with each other in the age of Bush was fairly self-evident. What was bizarre was that ''Brink Lindsey'' of all people would advocate this alliance. Lindsey, however, proved to be a harbinger of the path later taken by [[Andrew Sullivan]], John Cole, and finally [[Little Green Footballs]]. All three had been among the most noxious pro-war bloggers in the early 2000s.

==Attempted Koch takeover==
In 2012, the Koch brothers attempted what former president Ed Crane described as a "hostile takeover." The Koch brothers attempted to buy up the shares of the deceased former chairman William Niskanen, which would have given them a majority of the shares. However, Cato administration claimed that the shares belonged to Niskanen's widow. The Kochs sued for control of the shares, causing Crane to decry this move in a written statement:

{{cquote|Mr. Koch’s actions in Kansas court yesterday represent an effort by him to transform Cato from an independent, nonpartisan research organization into a political entity that might better support his partisan agenda. We view Mr. Koch's actions as an attempt at a hostile takeover, and intend to fight it vehemently in order to continue as an independent research organization, advocating for Individual liberty, [[Small government|limited government]], [[free market]]s and [[peace]].<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/think-tanked/post/koch-brothers-sue-cato-institute-president/2012/03/01/gIQAUoHMkR_blog.html?hpid=z4 Koch Brothers Sue Cato Institute, President.] ''[[Washington Post]]''</ref>}}

The lawsuit was settled soon thereafter, with a shakeup of the Cato board resulting. Crane was replaced by John Allison as president and David Koch remained, but Charles Koch did not.<ref>[http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/25/nation/la-na-nn-koch-brothers-cato-institute-20120625 Koch Brothers' Effort to Take Over Cato Institute Appears Over.] ''Los Angeles Times''</ref>

==Political positions==
===Support===
*Supports [[child labor]]<ref>[http://www.cato.org/publications/economic-development-bulletin/case-against-child-labor-prohibitions A Case against Child Labor Prohibitions] by Benjamin Powell (July 29, 2014)''Cato Institute''</ref>
*Supports the right to [[abortion]]
*Supports the rights of [[homosexuality|homosexuals]]
*Supports [[privatization]]
*Supports an unregulated [[free market]]
*Supports [[NAFTA]]<ref>Lincicome, S. (2016, April 6). ''[https://www.cato.org/commentary/truth-about-trade# The Truth about Trade]''. Cato Institute.</ref><ref>Lester, S. and Manak, I. (2018, December 5). ''[https://www.cato.org/commentary/how-house-democrats-can-fix-north-american-trade-deal# How House Democrats Can Fix the North American Trade Deal]''. Cato Institute.</ref>
*Supports [[War on Drugs|drug liberalization]]
*Supports [[pseudoscience]]s like [[Global warming conspiracy theory|global warming conspiracy theories]], [[anti-environmentalism]], and occasional [[mental illness denial]] (that last one due entirely to the presence of [[Thomas Szasz]])
*Supports the right to [[Voting Rights Act#A modern nightmare|deny black people the vote]]<ref>[[States' rights]], [http://projects.nytimes.com/live-dashboard/2013-06-25-supreme-court#sha=93cbbf3d5 what else did you think?]</ref>
*Supports the right to corrupt legislators<ref>[http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/soft-money-aids-democracy "Soft Money Aids Democracy!"]</ref>
*Supports the existence of [[global warming]] (despite the above);<ref>[http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-handbook-policymakers/2009/9/hb111-45.pdf "Global warming is indeed real, and human activity has been a contributor since 1975"]</ref> [[cognitive dissonance]]?

===Oppose===
*Opposes the [[income tax]]
*Opposes the [[welfare state]]
*Opposes [[universal health care]]
*Opposes [[public school]]s
*Opposes [[trade union]]s
*Opposes [[EPA|environmental regulation]], which they claim is "harmful to the economy"
*Opposes pseudosciences like [[creationism]]
*Opposes immigration restrictions, though this might be more closely related to union-busting than to caring about immigrants
*Opposes an interventionist US foreign policy (up to the point of calling [[South Korea]] a bunch of [[welfare queen]]s<ref>[http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/south-korea-close-friend-us-defense-welfare-queen? "South Korea: Close Friend of the U.S., and a Defense Welfare Queen"]</ref>)
*Opposes the firing of David Boaz,<ref>Executive vice-president and [http://www.cato.org/blog/church-global-warming global warming denier.]</ref> [[Richard Lindzen]], and [[Patrick Michaels]]

==See also==
*[[Koch Industries]]
*[[Competitive Enterprise Institute]]
*[[Heartland Institute]]
*[[Independent Institute]]
*[[Steve Milloy]] - Some of his books were published by the Cato Institute.

===Some of their other "fellows"===
*John A. Allison IV (yes, that's really his name) &mdash; Current president and [[Randroid]]. Former CEO of Branch Bank and Trust, a medium-large bank which notably ''avoided'' any need for a bailout during the [[Great Recession|2008-9 shakeup]]… Nah, [[just kidding]]… take the money and run.<ref>BB&T accepted $3.1 billion in bailout money under TARP: [http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/despite-joining-bailout-bbt-says-it-prefers-free-market] [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aaDhIjff2pAk] [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/business/02bbt.html?pagewanted=all] (Look at all the [[special pleading]]!)</ref>
*Robert A. Levy &mdash; Chairman, taught at and [[Crank magnetism|sits on the board]] of [[George Mason University]] as well.
*[[Daniel J. Mitchell]] 
*[[Penn and Teller]]
*[[S. Fred Singer]]

==External links==
*[http://www.cato.org/ The Cato Institute's official website]
*[http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cato_Institute Sourcewatch entry]
*[http://scienceblogs.com/islandofdoubt/2009/04/07/the-cato-institutes-defence-of/ Island of Doubt] and [http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/04/07/cato-copies-the-discovery-inst/ Deltoid] debunk Cato's global warming letter

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Austrian school]]
[[Category:Kochsphere]]
[[Category:Libertarianism]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoting organizations]]
[[Category:Publishers]]
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:Shysters]]
[[Category:Think tanks]]
[[Category:Woo]]

Categories: Austrian school, Kochsphere, Libertarianism, Pseudoscience promoting organizations, Publishers, Racism, Shysters, Think tanks, Woo