It is always interesting when I discover that I have
completely misjudged a person or a situation or a group.
Years ago I heard about the Cato Institute, founded in 1979
by one of the much-reviled (by the liberal press) Koch brothers. I wrote it
off, without any further research, as another one of those far-right think tanks
and never gave it any attention thereafter.
Yesterday I got a letter from them soliciting memberships. I
almost threw it out as junk mail without reading it, but since I was housebound
with a bit of an intestinal bug and bored, I read it – and it was an eye opener
for me!
The Cato Institute is not right-wing as I thought, nor is it
left-wing; it is libertarian and equally critical (for good reason) of both
political parties. Now I have never thought of myself as a libertarian, but when
I read their positions on issues I find I agree with almost all of them:
·
They have been worried for decades about the
growing federal debt (the very subject of my last few posts) and even have a
website about the issue.
·
They have been a strong supporter of gay rights
from the beginning, as a Constitutional matter, and even filed amicus briefs with the Supreme Court in
support of some of some of the gay rights issues.
·
They are worried about the bloated size of the
federal government (whose spending now accounts for 40% of the nations GDP)
·
They think climate change is real, but that the
issue has become a religion to some, and that the proposed remediation policies
are founded more on ideology than on science or economics.
·
They are in favor of strong gun control. As they
point out, there is no way Americans are going to give up their guns (we have
more than one gun per person in this country), so we had better have good gun control.
·
They are worried about the increasing militarization
of local police forces, the growth of a paramilitary police, and about the need
for criminal justice reform
·
They are worried about the endless wars we are involved
with in the Middle East.
·
They think Trump’s focus on illegal immigrants
is a diversion from the real problems that need to be addressed, since illegal
immigration has actually been falling since 2007.
·
They support school choice, which most Democratic-leaning
teacher unions violently oppose.
Now I can see why big government liberals vilify the Cato
Institute, but in fact I find I agree with most or all of these positions. So I
guess I will have to start paying attention to their books and policy papers.
Who knew I was a libertarian?
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