Koch

Cato, Koch, Libertarians

The End of the Koch-Cato War

On a day when all America is talking about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, I’m thinking about the Koch-Cato war, now resolved. Bob Levy explains the dispute and its resolution: In the end, this was a win for Cato, and an abandonment of the shareholder structure through which the…

Cato, Koch, Libertarians

The Armistice in the Koch Brothers War for the Cato Institute

The Cato Institute and prominent Republican donors Charles and David Koch are set to settle their legal fight over control of the libertarian think tank…. The settlement involves an agreement to dissolve the shareholder agreement. In addition, Crane is expected to retire under a deal that allows him to select his successor, though the Koch…

Cato, Koch, Politics

FreedomWorks sides with Cato against the Koch Brothers

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…

Cato, Koch

The Kochs double down on their war for Cato

Of course they do – there was not the slightest chance that men accustomed to having their way, and defining the world in the grandiose way they prefer, would relent. So, it’s a second lawsuit to control Cato, this one insisting that the libertarian Cato Institute is impermissibly packing its ranks with….libertarians.  Not any libertarians,…

Cato, Koch, Libertarians

The Koch Brothers’ Political Avarice

Over at the Huffington Post, Dan Froomkin states succinctly the difference between serious libertarianism and the conservatism of the Koch brothers: The Cato Institute is a Washington think tank with a long history of rigorous scholarship in the name of championing individual liberty It’s known for taking positions outside the conservative mainstream on issues like…

Cato, Koch, Libertarians

Refuting Charles Koch’s Statement about Controlling Cato

Charles Koch recently released a statement about the Koch Brothers’ lawsuit to control the Cato Institute, and chairman of Cato Bob Levy’s issued a point-by-point response That Levy answers Charles Koch’s statement with such specificity tells three things. First, Koch’s professions of an enduring commitment to libertarianism are platitudes easily disputed. Second, that years of…

Cato, Koch, Libertarians

The Former Libertarians

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…

Cato, Koch, Libertarians

The Think-Tank Addiction to Koch Money

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…

Cato, Koch

Charles Koch’s Latest Absurd & Grandiose Claim

Is there no one who can tell Charles Koch that he’s become an embodiment of grandiosity? All that money, but no hireling to tell him that he’s arrived at self-parody? I remarked on his rapid descent Wednesday, of Koch’s over-the-top insistence that trying to take control of Cato was about defending ‘the rule of law.’…

Cato, Koch, Libertarians

Invaluable Independence

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…

Cato, Koch, Libertarians

The Kochs’ Flimsy, Self-Serving Defense of the ‘Rule of Law’

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…