I can't offer an opinion.

Post #118,657 by Another Scott 9/23/03 10:54:19 PM Reply	I can't offer an opinion. Like you, I've ended up there a few times after doing searches for particular information. I haven't read enough of their stuff to recommend it (or not). [link\|http://www.cato.org/about/about.html\|About Cato] lists some things I can agree with, but it's pretty easy to write a moving policy statement that many will be enthusiastic about. It's how those policy statements are put into practice in the real world that matters though, IMO. The list of people on the [link\|http://www.cato.org/people/directors.html\|board of directors] includes John Malone of Liberty Media (he may have a lot to do with the dreck on TV these days) and the president of "U.S. Term Limits". They don't give me a warm feeling, but perhaps they're just hands-off directors. I haven't found a political or philosophical group that I can strongly identify with. I've got a bit of a libertarian outlook, but am not a hard-core Libertarian. I haven't voted for the winner in any presidential election since 1980. :-/ Cheers, Scott.
Post #119,139 by Ashton 9/26/03 8:58:09 PM Reply	Cato's been mucking around since the '60s at least I have been disinterested in tracking their activities (and it was harder through the '70s - Everybody has an Ethics Clause and is Wonderful in all internal docs. Natch) I recall that several pieces af artful dissembling in support of the Admin strategy of discrediting Viet-war protestors (with no distinction == alllumpedtogether; the simplisticism beloved of Muricans) emanated from this "think-ish tank". The specifics might come back, were I inclined to see how much old stuff is available on the web now. I don't therefore presume that anyone who writes for them is similarly afflicted -- only that management has not, to my recollection, ever represented other than a Reactionary mindset, and a willingness to speak (however academic) bafflegab as will assist their political aims. Same old same old. Ashton
Post #119,184 by neelk 9/27/03 3:38:50 PM Reply	Re: Cato's been mucking around since the '60s at least Hi Ashton, Cato was founded in 1977, two years after the end of the Vietnam war. Also, they're consistently libertarian, not reactionary. They support legalizing drugs, gay marriage, ending farm subsidies, and opposed the war in Iraq (mistakenly, I thought), the PATRIOT act, and so on.
Post #119,203 by Ashton 9/27/03 8:27:20 PM Reply	Re: Cato's been mucking around since the '60s at least I recall the mention by-name in "mid-70s" in connection with the Admin war on anti-Viet matters and presumed they were not a new creature. Now I wonder if 'Cato' was a re-use of a previous group's logo -not an- 'institute'..? So much for recollections and time-lines. If calling self 'libertarian' implicitly condones privatization of Soc Sec ... at any rate, this list, commenting on their 25 year anthology This book, published in conjunction with Cato's 25th Anniversary, is a must-have collection of the best articles published by Cato over the past 25 years. It includes such luminaries as Milton Friedman, Peter Bauer, William A. Niskanen, Julian Simon, Carolyn Weaver, George Gilder, Karl Popper, Justice Antonin Scalia, Richard Epstein, Vaclav Klaus, Alan Greenspan, Paul Craig Roberts, Charlotte Twight, Rep. Dick Armey, and P.J. O'Rourke. These articles span a variety of important issues, including the fall of communism and apartheid, globalization, school choice, Social Security privatization, technology and the new economy, and personal freedom. They show the power of ideas to change the world around us -- especially the idea of liberty. More and more countries around the world are opting for free trade and free markets, and the Cato Institute has played an important part in popularizing those policies to a worldwide audience. This is definitely a collection to treasure by all those who love liberty. ..appears to reflect the spread: when you can find Karl Popper.. Scalia!! Dick Armey! and PJ O'Rourke [Eat the Rich] courted by the Same Group -?- I must -continue-to- wonder, WTF DO They Mean? Ashton

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