A friend of mine insists that the Cato Institute is nothing more than a sell-out, obsessed with media coverage at the expense of intellectual integrity. This view seems to have been shaped by the jealousy of a less media-effective think-tank. In Britain, the Libertarian Alliance has the ambition of being/becoming the world’s second best libertarian website after Cato.
Having been sent a copy of a recent publication: “Cato Supreme Court Review 2001-2002” I admit that I’m impressed with the quality of the content, the actual book itself, and the fact that it is possible to produce a commentary on the performance of the Supreme Court.
I have not read the Supreme Court Review from cover to cover yet. But leafing through I learnt about the practice of “fast-track plea bargaining” and the conundrum posed by obscenity laws on the one hand and the provisions of the Bill of Rights on the other. I discovered that 90 per cent of criminal cases don’t go to trial by jury in the federal courts because of the “fast-track” system and that British law on defining “child pornography” would be thrown out, probably with a 7-2 majority, if attempted in the USA.
The contrast with the United Kingdom is stunning. No British think-tank has the intellectual quality to produce such an academic work. None produces this level of production quality. And our absence of a constitution makes such a project redundant. The so-called “unwritten constitution” is precisely worth the paper it’s not written on.
My only suggestion for future editions would be that it would be handy to have a listing of all Supreme Court cases over the period, with an indication as to which cases were covered in the various chapters.
Otherwise, I welcome the appearance of this tome which deserves to become both a tool for the academic study of the US Constitution in practice, and an essential campaign guide to the wins and losses of individual freedom in America.
An admirable ambition, setting your ideal on CATO. Particularly as there seems to be so little support (relatively) for libertarianism in the UK.
Is Cato really #1? I’ve been mulling this over in my head. And I would personally rate America’s leading libertarian think tanks as follows:
1) Heritage Foundation
2) Hoover Institution
3) Cato Institute
4) Ludwig von Mises Institute
5) Reason Foundation
In any event, the Libertarian Alliance Has some high bars to hurdle to be considered in this pantheon. Best of luck to you.
I sometimes feel that the one of the best things libertarians could do is to send out copies of the United States Constitution to people (minus the offical interpretations – or with text exposing the falseness of official interpretations). Not much of the Federal government would pass muster under the Tenth Amendment.
I think the blog is corrct an “unwritten Constitution” is fairly worthless – but even a good Constitution is not much good if most people know next to nothing about it.
I’m the website editor of the Cato Institute.
To toot my own horn, let me just say that if you’re measuring by traffic, not only are we the #1 libertarian think tank website, we’re the #1 think tank website, period.
http://www.theagitator.com/archives/002686.php#002686
As for Cato “selling out for media coverage,” I think the charge is ridiculous. We do get lots of media coverage (the latest FAIR report says we got more media mentions than Heritage last year, and were second only to Brookings, despite having less than half their budget or either organization), but it’s precisely because we don’t sell out.
The press eats it up when a free market think tank attacks the White House for compromising its principles.
If Radley Balko visits here, you’re already well on your way. The Agitator is also an excellent blog, btw.
Antoine’s measure here was strictly qualitative: “…world’s second best libertarian website after Cato.” As such, I gave my own opinion of ‘best’ based primarily upon what I perceive as each institution’s gravitas among policy wonks. Perhaps a survey of other commentator’s opinions would be entertaining?
FYI,
The Heritage Foundation is not a “libertarian” thinktank, but a far-right conservative one, supporting state socialism, but for rightwing Christian ends. It supports government censorship against pornography; supports government measures to “protect” marriage against changing cultural trends like gay marriage (while marriage should more properly stay out of government altogether); supports school “choice” through vouchers which impose state regulations on private schools and entagle church and state and ultimately undermines educational choice; beats a dead horse on many cultural issues like race; and supports interventionist foreign policies such as the Iraq war.
The following would be my list of libertarian thinktanks:
1. Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)
2. Ludwig von Mises Institute
3. Future of Freedom Foundation
4. The Independent Institute (NOT the “Independence” Institute)
5. The Cato Institute
6. The Reason Foundation
7. The Hoover Institution
(Do a Google search to find their homepages.)
The best libertarian websites:
http://www.free-market.net/
http://www.lewrockwell.com/
http://www.rationalreview.com/
http://www.antiwar.com/
http://www.zetetics.com/mac/
I watch big brother