Cato and the Kochs
by Don Boudreaux (Cafehayek.com)
March 4, 2012
Like many in the liberty movement, I’m disheartened by the current goings-on involving the Cato Institute, namely, the power struggle between, on one side, Cato’s co-founder and President Ed Crane, and on the other side Charles and David Koch. (Of course, there are many other people on each side of this dispute, but these are the main representatives of each side.)
The immediate source of this dispute is the disposition of the shares in Cato that belonged to former Cato Chairman Bill Niskanen, who died late last year. The Kochs believe that they, the Kochs, are entitled to those shares; Ed Crane believes that the shares should remain with Bill Niskanen’s widow.
For the much more detail, see this useful post by Jonathan Adler, and the several useful links that it contains. I agree (as far as my knowledge of these matters permits me to judge) with the factual record as laid out in Jonathan’s post and in the other sources he sites. And I certainly do agree with him, Jerry Taylor, Ilya Somin, Steve Chapman, and others who argue that – regardless of the legal niceties of this case – the Kochs are, with this action, most imprudently and unwisely threatening the long-term health of the liberty movement. (I do not question their motives, only their judgment in this matter.)
Before getting to my main point, I note that I am a Cato Adjunct Scholar, and I serve on the Advisory Board of Cato’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies. These posts are unpaid. I do, however, from time to time write and lecture for Cato; from these opportunities I do get paid market-rates of honoraria. I note also that I consider Ed Crane to be a friend and a man whom I deeply admire, and I’ve known Charles Koch for many years. (I’ve met David Koch on a handful of occasions, but don’t recall ever saying to him more than “hello.”) I have long regarded Charles Koch – as I regard Ed Crane (and his long-time lieutenant at Cato, David Boaz) – to be a great man and champion of liberty. I further believe that Charles and his brother David are undeserving of the left-liberal scorn poured on them – nearly all of which strikes me as uninformed; as springing from nothing more than juvenile presumptions parading as information.
All the above said, I want here to discuss the role of ideas and advocacy.
David Boaz on The Iron Lady
“By the way, Mitt Romney should not want Republicans to watch this movie: It will remind them of what it means to be inspired by a political leader.”
Read his review here.
