Friday, February 8, 2008

Cato vs. Mises

If you know anything about Beltway "libertarians" like the Cato Institute and how they have strayed far from the path of real libertarianism, then these funny animated videos are for you!

Koch Hit

Koch Hit 2: The Wrath of Koch

2 comments:

Rothwellyek said...

I agree that Cato is not as libertarian as Mises and some others. But, you will always have varying levels what you called "true libertarianism", mostly because the definition of libertarianism has not been recorded long enough to completely iron out the wrinkles.

The point, however, is that Cato does excellent work and research--TRUE analysis with implications and recommendations. We can all argue forever about whether or not it is appropriate or inappropriate to the freedom movement when libertarians seem to "compromise" or water-down their own values (while confronting socialism and statists); but this is a very minor issue compared to the real issues--like CONFRONTING SOCIALISM AND STATISTS with intellectual muscle. Moreover, I bet you anything, that if you had any given Cato scholar alone in a room, that person would admit to being closer to a "true libertarian" than you had previously thought. Think of it this way: CATO is using the tactics created by the state in its aquisition and growth of power, in an attempt to beat the state at its own game.
--JBS

Minnesota Chris said...

While it is admirable that the institutions such as the Cato Institute and the Libertarian Party are trying to undermine the state from within (and without a doubt they are right on many issues), they will fail when they stray so far from the path. I read articles from Cato that were pro-war, and even supported pro-war Fred Thompson over the only true libertarian in the race, Ron Paul. If an organization cannot see that war is the health of the state, then they do not truly understand libertarianism.