Tuesday, March 27, 2012

NPR: Kochs vs. CATO

Libertarians say it's like watching dear friends in an ugly divorce, as the billionaire Koch brothers try to take control of the highly regarded Cato Institute. The head of Cato says the Kochs are out to politicize the think tank. 

Listen to a 4-minute NPR segment here.

Related: Here's a recent statement from David Koch.

17 Comments:

At 3/27/2012 11:59 AM, Blogger geoih said...

"The head of Cato says the Kochs are out to politicize the think tank."

Too late.

 
At 3/27/2012 12:00 PM, Blogger geoih said...

"The head of Cato says the Kochs are out to politicize the think tank."

Too late.

 
At 3/27/2012 12:07 PM, Blogger AIG said...

Thanks for giving a chance to the Koch's to make their point!

 
At 3/27/2012 12:12 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Most GOP'ers confuse libertarianism with plutocratism.

Sad to see the GOP sink into infernal depravity, catamites for the very wealthiest.

Are the Dems better? No, just bought off by different groups.

 
At 3/27/2012 1:10 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

I bet if you gave Cato the choice between the Koch boys and George Soros... they'd love those Koch boys all over again, eh?

:-)

 
At 3/27/2012 1:10 PM, Blogger Che is dead said...

"Benji",

FYI. Only morons make up words like "plutocratism".

That's just "stupidism".

 
At 3/27/2012 2:03 PM, Blogger VangelV said...

Libertarians? Since when would Cato or the the Kochs ever be considered libertarian in anything but name only? After all, they supported the neocons in their call for meddling in the Middle East and have yet to see a war that they do not like. They have taken every chance that they had to attack Ron Paul and have supported the three stooges and the establishment. If you want real libertarians look to the Mises Institute, not Cato.

 
At 3/27/2012 2:34 PM, Blogger Larry G said...

CATO and Heritage are mostly GOP front groups.

 
At 3/27/2012 3:45 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Vange-

There is one guy at Cato always calling for cutting military outlays in half. I contend we could do better than that, probably three-quarters, quite easily, and with greater security.

Depends on what you call security---we have huge outlays for VA and Homeland Security as well.

In next 10 years we will spend $1.4 trillion on VA.

Evidently, very large percentages of Iraqistan vets are claiming permanent disabilities. PTSD.

They become lifetime wards of the state.

 
At 3/27/2012 5:21 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Juandos:

Plutocracy. That was the word i was looking for.

GOP-catamites are bringing us to plutocracy.

Thanks for the correx.

 
At 3/27/2012 8:26 PM, Blogger VangelV said...

Oh here we go! You tell em' Comrade!

Comrade?

This is why "libertarians" are a joke. Cause of people like you. Just like the communists, the tendency of extreme ideologues is constant factionalism. And just like them, you're a joke (when I say you, I mean the big L Rothbard/Rockwell/Ron Paul types)

Nonsense. You either believe in liberty or you don't. The Cato people are what one would call 'court libertarians' who are trotted out every time the neoconservatives want support for another war or some Republican president wants support for some program that would expand government. They are a part of the team and moved its offices from California to Washington because they wanted to be a part of the establishment.

On the other hand, the Ron Paul type of libertarians are not for sale. They do not seek power over others but are looking to expand liberty by removing as much power from the picture as is possible. As Ron Paul said, he does not seek the Ring and if he ever got it he would cast it into Mount Doom where it belongs. You do not understand because you have never believed in Lord Acton's observation that, "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

So saying that Ron Paul is a wacko, is the measuring stick of being a "libertarian" or not? Well, thanks for proving my point of why you people are a joke.

Not at all. You can disagree with Dr. Paul as I do on a number of issues. What you can't do is violate libertarian principles and still claim to be a libertarian. You can't sell your soul to the GOP and want influence in the party and still claim to be a libertarian because the principles are not compatible.

 
At 3/27/2012 11:36 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"After all, they supported the neocons in their call for meddling in the Middle East and have yet to see a war that they do not like"...

Baloney vangeIV on two counts...

There is no such thing (except in a libtard's head) as a neo-con and the supposed advice the Cato gave out was what?

Was it followed through?

"They have taken every chance that they had to attack Ron Paul..."...

Really? The Cato people should support a hypocritical but thoroughly clueless moonbat?!?!

"If you want real libertarians look to the Mises Institute, not Cato"...

Well now maybe there is some hope for you after all...

 
At 3/27/2012 11:38 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"CATO and Heritage are mostly GOP front groups"...

Says the clown who never offers up a credible and substantiated statement...

 
At 3/27/2012 11:40 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"What you can't do is violate libertarian principles and still claim to be a libertarian. You can't sell your soul to the GOP and want influence in the party and still claim to be a libertarian because the principles are not compatible"...

Does anyone else hear it?

Yeah, it sounds like the theme music from the Twilight Zone...

 
At 3/28/2012 8:56 AM, Blogger VangelV said...

Does anyone else hear it?

Yeah, it sounds like the theme music from the Twilight Zone...


LOL...No matter how the left or right try they cannot escape the fact that they support moral relativism, flexible morality, flexible ethics, flexible money, and flexible principles. The only thing that they are consistent about is that, contrary to the evidence, they don't like each other and they believe that if their corrupt leadership were in charge things would be better.

 
At 3/28/2012 9:23 AM, Blogger VangelV said...

There is no such thing (except in a libtard's head) as a neo-con and the supposed advice the Cato gave out was what?

Was it followed through?


Of course there are.

David Frum
Robert Kagan
Irving Kristol
Nathan Glazer
Jeanne Kirkpatrick
John Podhoretz
Paul Wolfowitz
Dick Cheney
John R. Bolton
Joe Lieberman
John McCain
Scooter Libby
Elliot Abrams
Michael Ledeen
Francis Fukuyama
Harvey Mansfield

Really? The Cato people should support a hypocritical but thoroughly clueless moonbat?!?!

No, they should support principled and consistent libertarians. As I said, liars who make claims to support war and aggression are not worthy of the support of anyone who is a libertarian or a true conservative. The apologists for Bush and Obma have no consistent principles to guide them and certainly no moral foundation for the acts of either man. Of course we all know deep down that life has a way of giving people what they deserve. When the USD is toast and follows the Euro into the abyss you will have plenty of time to think about the folly of throwing American wealth away in pursuit of an empire that made the country weaker and less safe.

Keep in mind that the US can still be the greatest country in the world. All it needs to do is to move back to the principles on which it was founded. In case you have forgotten those are libertarian principles that are far from those of Cato and Crane. Does anyone else find it funny that it was Crane who was the anonymous source for the hit piece the New Yorker did on the Koch brothers and the Tea Party?

 
At 3/29/2012 6:14 PM, Blogger juandos said...

vangeIV says: "As I said, liars who make claims blah, blah, blah"...

That's exactly the problem isn't vangeIV, that's 'your' interpretation of what was alledgedly said and written?

"The apologists for Bush and Obma have no consistent principles to guide them and certainly no moral foundation for the acts of either man"...

ROFLMAO!

Thanks for that... I needed the chuckle...

You may have been around the world but you've yet to finish your trip around the block....

"All it needs to do is to move back to the principles on which it was founded"...

Yes that definitely applies on the domestic front but in an age of ICBMs, well that's a bit naive it seems to me when applied to international relations...

Regarding 'libertarian' principles, what principles and on what day and by what alledged libertarian are you talking about?

"Does anyone else find it funny that it was Crane who was the anonymous source for the hit piece the New Yorker did on the Koch brothers and the Tea Party?"...

Nice bit of slander there pal unless you have something credible to back up that statement...

Do you?

 

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