Every four years, it’s sure to be a libertarian, and a Libertarian, year. It may sometimes be the former, but it has never been the latter. Hope rises yet again, this time in the candidacy of former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, now seeking the LP 2012 nomination. If recent polls are right, he has…
Libertarians
Daily Adams, Libertarians
FreedomWorks sides with Cato against the Koch Brothers
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The Tea Party activists at FreedomWorks have now condemned Charles and David Koch’s war to control the Cato Institute. Though they value independence themselves, they’ve received Koch money, and funding like that softens resolve. To their credit, FreedomWorks stayed true to their oft-professed belief in independence: The work of the Cato Institute – producing top…
Libertarians
Does Koch-supporter Kevin Gentry think everyone else in America is gullible?
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
At CNN, a Charles Koch-backed Cato Institute board member insists that the Kochs have always supported libertarianism, and that they want an independent Cato. Kevin Gentry must think that libertarians, and lots of other people, are particularly gullible. We’re not. If Gentry thinks the Kochs have always been true to libertarianism, he might want to…
City, Free Markets, Immigration, Libertarians, Politics
The Right and Immigration
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Steve Chapman, writing in a reposted 2007 article at Reason, explains Why the Right Shifted on Immigration. Chapman thinks the shift began with the fall of the Berlin Wall, when many conservatives no longer saw immigrants trying to reach our shores as proof of America’s sound economy and society. If so, consider the cynicism of…
Libertarians
The Former Libertarians
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
It’s well-past time to acknowledge Charles and David Koch as former libertarians. ABC does as much in a story about them. One can expect their efforts to control the libertarian Cato Institute for the benefit of the Republican-friendly Americans for Prosperity will only lead to more descriptions like this: While the case is pending in a Kansas…
Libertarians, Liberty, Presidential race 2012
Not fear, but principled opposition, from libertarians to Rick Santorum
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Smart, conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin asks Why are libertarians afraid of Santorum? Our resolute opposition to his conservatism comes not from fear, as though irrational, but instead from our own liberty-oriented principles. (Rubin crafts her post title carefully to frame the discussion most favorably to Santorum.) David Boaz of Cato answers her question in the…
Libertarians
The Think-Tank Addiction to Koch Money
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Over at Politico, one can read paragraph after paragraph of think-tank spokesmen insisting that they would never, ever be impressionable from the Koch brothers. Their statements would be more credible if (1) they were all on the record, and (2) if those who were on the record didn’t pretend the Cato-Koch conflict was something far-removed…
Daily Adams, Libertarians
Where are all the libertarians coming from?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In Britain, The Independent’s Anton Howes wonders where all the libertarians are coming from. He sees the trend: There’s a silent revolution happening on campuses across the world. Libertarian activism is on the rise. Political figures like Ron Paul have started to draw huge support from younger voters, but the trend seems to be much…
Fashion, Libertarians, Presidential race 2012
A Libertarian’s Anti-Style as High Style
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
At the Daily Beast, Isabel Wilkinson writes of Ron Paul’s clothes that In lopsided jackets many sizes too big, trousers so baggy they could pass as harem pants, and black orthopedic “referee” sneakers, Paul has distinguished himself during election season as the least sartorial of the bunch. He greeted Iowans last summer in a lime-green…
Libertarians
Invaluable Independence
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Liberal Ezra Klein understands what’s at risk in the battle over Cato. Writing at Bloomberg, Klein (a self-described technocrat) nicely summarizes what’s at stake in the Kochs’ battle to control the Cato Institute: The Koch brothers’ fortune is estimated at more than $60 billion, a couple thousand times Cato’s annual operating budget. The brothers have…
Libertarians, Liberty
The Existential Threats to Libertarianism
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There are only two dire threats to libertarianism The first is the threat of tyranny to all forms of independent thought (libertarian or otherwise). This is easy to see: Stalinism wasn’t a problem for libertarians; it was a threat to humanity. In America, a free and orderly republic, the state is a problem, but certainly…
Libertarians
The Kochs’ Flimsy, Self-Serving Defense of the ‘Rule of Law’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
You may have seen that the Charles Koch Institute sent an email defending the Kochs’ attempt to size control of the Cato Institute. As one would expect, the Kochs’ describe their lawsuit in self-righteously and sanctimoniously, as a defense of the very rule of law: ….Charles and David are absolutely committed to libertarian principles and…
Libertarians
What do the Kochs want with Cato?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Bob Levy, current chairman of Cato, describes a conversation with David Koch: In early November, David Koch met with Bob Levy, chairman of Cato’s board of directors, at Dulles International Airport. They were joined by Richard Fink, Koch’s chief adviser, and Kevin Gentry, a vice president of Charles Koch’s charitable foundation who’d been put on…
Libertarians
Clarity about the Kochs
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s deep sadness, but little surprise, in watching prominent libertarians come slowly and ruefully to the conclusion that Charles & David Koch’s attempt to seize control of the Cato Institute is a bad thing. So many of these gentlemen (outside of Cato) approach the topic hesitantly, cautiously. That hesitation and caution is an embarrassment: the…