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The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Institute's stated mission is "to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets, and peace" by seeking greater involvement of the "lay public in questions of public policy and the role of government." History The Institute was founded in San Francisco, California in 1977 by Edward H. Crane and initially funded by Charles G. Koch. The Institute is named after Cato's Letters, a series of British essays penned in the early 18th century expounding the political views of philosopher John Locke. The essays were named after Cato the Younger, the defender of republican institutions in Rome. Murray Rothbard was an important founding member. He was part of Cato's original three-member board and suggested its name. After he came into sharp disagreement with other members, he left in 1981. Cato relocated to Washington, D.C. in 1981, settling first in a townhouse on Capitol Hill. The institute moved to its current location on Massachusetts Avenue in 1993. In November 2002, shortly after Cato's website was named the "Best Advocacy Website" by the Web Marketing Association, the Alexa ratings service issued a report saying that it was "the most popular think tank site over the past three months," receiving a total of 188,901 unique visitors during the previous month of September*. Publications The Cato Institute publishes the periodicals ''Cato's Letter'',''Cato Journal'', ''Regulation'', ''Cato Supreme Court Review'', and ''Cato Policy Report'', as well as policy studies. Cato's books include Social Security: The Inherent Contradiction, In Defense of Global Capitalism, Voucher Wars, You Can't Say That!: The Growing Threat to Civil Liberties from Antidiscrimination Laws, Peace and Freedom: A Foreign Policy for a Constitutional Republic; Restoring the Lost Constitution, and Reclaiming the Mainstream: Individualist Feminism Reconsidered. Also, Cato published Inquiry magazine from 1977 to 1984. Principles According to its motto, the Cato Institute advocates policies that advance "individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace.” Cato scholars are libertarian in their policy positions, typically advocating diminished government intervention in domestic, social, and economic policies and decreased military and political intervention worldwide. Specific policy proposals advanced by Cato scholars include such measures as abolishing the minimum wage, reforming illegal-drug policies, eliminating corporate welfare and trade barriers, diminishing federal government involvement in the marketplace and in local and state issues, enhanced school choice, and abolishing government-enforced discrimination along with restrictions on discrimination by private parties. Cato and conservatism Though officially nonpartisan, media reports sometimes link Cato to the American conservative movement. Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, who reshaped and rejuvenated the Republican Party and were key contributors to the late 20th century conservative movement, were heavily influenced by libertarian ideals. Some Republican and conservative officeholders have supported Cato policy proposals over the past quarter-century. However, Cato has increasingly distanced itself from Republican standard-bearers in recent years* and officially resists being lumped in with the conservative movement because "'conservative' smacks of an unwillingness to change, of a desire to preserve the status quo." * The growing division between Cato and the Republican right may be attributable to Republican officeholders' growing support for state intervention in the economy and society, increased government spending, and neo-conservative foreign policy. For instance, only a minority of Republican congressmen supported President George W. Bush’s 2005 proposals to partially privatize Social Security, an idea strongly backed by Cato. Cato scholars have also been strongly critical of the expansion of executive power under the Bush administration* and the Iraq War*. Cato on Social Security The Cato Institute established its Project on Social Security Privatization in 1995, renaming it the Project on Social Security Choice in 2002. The change sought to emphasize the fact that its proposals would give citizens a choice of whether or not to participate in the program. Like other organizations supporting personal accounts, Cato scholars have avoided the term "privatization" as a description of its policies. *. Cato's Social Security proposal involves giving workers the option to invest half of their contributions (6.2 per cent) in individual accounts, in return for forgoing the accrual of any future Social Security entitlements. For workers selecting this option, future claims on already-accrued Social Security benefits could be sold as bonds, allowing the workers to re-invest those funds in higher-yielding securities if they chose. However, for these workers, past and future "payroll tax" contributions to Social Security, nominally made on behalf of the employer, would go to funding the Social Security benefits of people remaining in the traditional system Cato scholars have emphasized that the present Social Security system is unsustainable, and will necessitate future tax hikes and benefit cuts to make ends meet. Because of the "pay as you go" nature of the system, present workers are taxed to support present retirees. As the ratio of worker to retirees declines, worker will bear an increasing tax burden. Cato scholars also emphasize the benefits of inheritability. Unlike the status quo, Cato's plan would allow a worker who dies before reaching retirement to leave the assets in his personal account to his children or other heirs. Critics have charged that Cato's plan assumes that the increased returns projected from private accounts are not worth the increased risks of participation in the stock market. Some warn that Cato's the projected rate of return on equity (in which individual accounts would be invested) will be higher than appears to be justified by a risk premium. Cato on Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties In recent years, Cato's non-interventionist foreign policy views and strong support for civil liberties have frequently led them to criticize those in power, Republican and Democrat. Cato opposed President George H. W. Bush's decision to fight the first Gulf War, President Clinton's interventions in Haiti and Kosovo, and President George W. Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq. They have been similarly critical of recent infringements on civil liberties. Cato scholars sharply criticized Janet Reno's 1993 raid of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. More recently, they have opposed the USA Patriot Act, the imprisonment of so-called unlawful combatants like Jose Padilla, and the Bush administration's aggressive assertions of unilateral executive authority. Cato on other domestic issues Cato strongly criticized the 1998 settlement that many U.S. states signed with the tobacco industry. *. Among other laissez faire policies, they have argued for easier access for immigrants to enter the U.S. work force *. The Cato Institute also proposes, in Policy Analysis In 2003 Cato supported the Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down the few remaining state laws that made private, non-commercial homosexual relations between consenting adults illegal. Domestically, Cato has been a sharp critic of current U.S. drug policy and the growing militarization of U.S. police departments. Cato on environmental policy The Cato Institute holds regular briefings on global warming with renowned global warming skeptics as panelists. In December 2003, panelists included Patrick Michaels, Robert Balling and John Christy, all of whom disagree with the scientific consensus on the issue of climate change. No known mechanism can stop global warming in the near term. International agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, would have no detectable effect on average temperature within any reasonable policy time frame of 50 years or so, even with full compliance. In response to the World Watch Report in May 2003 that linked climate change and severe weather events: "It's false. There is absolutely no evidence that extreme weather events are on the increase. None. The argument that more and more dollar damages accrue is a reflection of the greater amount of wealth we've created." - Jerry Taylor Funding The Cato Institute is classified as a 501(c)(3) organization under the federal Internal Revenue Code. The institute performs no contract research and does not accept government funding. For revenue, the institute is largely dependent on contributions. According to its 2005 annual report, the Cato Institute had 2005 expenses of $17.2 million and revenue of $22.4 million. The report notes that 83% of Cato's income that year came from individual contributions, 11% from foundations, 2% from corporations, and 4% from "programs and other income" (e.g., publication sales, program fees). According to one critical source , in the 17 years spanning 1985 to 2001, the Institute received $15,633,540 in 108 separate grants from eight different foundations: Rupert Murdoch has served on the board of directors of Cato, and was at the time also on the board of Phillip Morris. Critical sources report that Cato has received substantial funding from Phillip Morris and other tobacco companies, though it was never more than one or two percent of the Institute's funding. The Knight Ridder newspapers reported that the Institute had received backing from the American International Group, "an insurance and financial services company whose business includes managing U.S. retirement plans" as Social Security reform has become a more prominent issue. * Between 2001 and 2003 the Cato Institute received $75,000 of funding from ExxonMobil. * Associates in the news Steven Milloy In 1999, after environmental scientist David Platt Rall died in a car accident, Steven Milloy, a Cato adjunct scholar, discussed the tragedy on his site, junkscience.com, writing: "Scratch one junk scientist who promoted the bankrupt idea that poisoning rats with a chemical predicts cancer in humans exposed to much lower levels of the chemical — a notion that, at the very least, has wasted billions and billions of public and private dollars." Cato President Edward Crane called the attack an "inexcusable lapse in judgement and civility", but Milloy refused to apologize. He retained his position with Cato until the end of 2005. Following renewed controversy over the financial support Milloy received from tobacco companies, while writing editorial pieces favorable to them, Milloy's name was removed from the list of Cato adjunct scholars. Milton Friedman Prize Since 2002, the Cato Institute has awarded the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty every two years to "an individual who has made a significant contribution to advancing human freedom." The prize comes with a cash award of $500,000. To date, the Prize winners are: Notable associates
Policy scholars Adjunct scholars Fellows Board of Directors See also Former staff and faculty | |||||||||
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