Van Doren also claimed that high tobacco taxes are highly regressive, noting that smokers tend to be disproportionately poor and minority. Robert A. Levy , an independently wealthy businessman who became a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in his 50s, [53] has published numerous editorials criticizing higher tobacco taxes, lawsuits against the Tobacco Institute , and other anti-smoking policies.
In one piece written with Cato fellow Rosalind B. Marimont and published in the Cato magazine Regulation , Levy acknowledged that smoking was a serious health problem but argued that the common estimates of , smoking-related deaths each year exaggerated the magnitude of the problem. Cato staffer Radley Balko testified before the Washington, D. City Council in opposition to clean indoor air laws in , arguing that smoking restrictions infringe on the liberty of business owners to decide what policies they wish to adopt for their restaurants, as well as the freedom of smokers.
In his testimony, Balko claimed that "the health risks associated with secondhand smoke are debatable. As for non-smokers rights, Balko argued that "you don't have the right to walk onto someone else's property, demand to be served food or drink someone else has bought, and demand that they serve you on your terms. Free societies don't work that way," he stated.
Cato has characterized the Bush administration's encroachments on individual rights as being the actions of an "intrusive federal government. Timothy Lynch , the director of the Cato Institute's Project on Criminal Justice, testified before Congress in December in opposition to an executive order signed by President Bush on government detention of suspected terrorists. A few months later, Lynch cautioned that "to assuage the wide-spread anxiety of the populace, policymakers make the dubious claim that they can prevent terrorism by curtailing the privacy and civil liberties of the people.
Perhaps the most comprehensive response by the Cato Institute on this topic is the May report by Lynch and Cato senior editor Gene Healy on the Bush administration's abuse of power. However, Cato's Roger Pilon has endorsed some of the Bush administration 's moves to restrict civil liberties as part of the war on terror , sparking disagreement from other Cato scholars. For example, the Institute sponsored a debate [70] on the Bush administration's domestic wiretapping program, with Cato senior fellow Robert Levy representing the traditional libertarian stance in favor of civil liberties.
Cato has also worked on occasion with the American Civil Liberties Union. For example, Nadine Strossen , the president of its board, contributed a chapter to a book on President Clinton's civil liberties record, [71] and she delivered the B. Cato staffers and scholars have called for legalization of currently controlled substances such as marijuana on the grounds that the "war on drugs" does not work, is expensive, causes crime, is used as an excuse to reduce civil liberties and to pursue overly aggressive policies abroad, and infringes on the principle of personal liberty.
In its Annual Report, the Cato Institute lists the Marijuana Policy Project as a foundation funder, although the amount and purpose of the funding is unspecified. Cato staff have angered some conservative activists by strongly advocating for the liberalization of immigration laws. Crane and late former Chairman, William A. Niskanen , argued for a limited role of government: "The list of reasons why it is not smart to turn to government to solve social and economic problems is, if not endless, extensive.
Yet, despite a truly horrendous record over the decades, the politicians of both major parties reflexively assume that the state is the proper vehicle for solving problems," they wrote. Cato has close ties with elements of the Republican Party, but it has often been critical of Republican officeholders -- especially President George W.
Cato scholars criticized the decision by U. President George W. Bush to go to war with Iraq , prosecution of the war on drugs , giving federal money to faith-based organizations, and the decision of President George H. Bush to fight the first Gulf war. The Cato Institute has argued repeatedly against the Republican party on bipartisan spending.
The Cato Institute has received funding from the following between [96]. Today, most of its financial support is from entrepreneurs, securities and commodities traders, and corporations such as oil and gas companies, Federal Express, and Philip Morris that abhor government regulation.
Aside from its own advocacy efforts, the Cato Institute has become a substantial funder of other "like-minded" think tanks around the U. Peter N. P platform:. As of July [95]. As of July []. For a full list of the current policy scholars at the Cato Institute, visit here. Penn Jillette of " Penn and Teller " is the H. Menken Research Fellow at the Cato Institute. A profile of Penn on the Cato Institute website describes it as a program that "looks to debunk junk science , scares and scams with reason and logic.
Scandal-ridden Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch previously served on the board of directors of Cato. Andrei Illarionov , former chief economic advisor to Vladimir Putin , is a senior fellow. Cato Institute Massachusetts Avenue, N. Washington D. Documents written by or referencing this person or organization are contained in the Anti-Environmental Archive, launched by Greenpeace on Earth Day, The archive contains 3, documents, some 27, pages, covering organizations and individuals.
The current archive includes mainly documents collected in the late s through the early s by The Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research CLEAR , an organization that tracked the rise of the so called "Wise Use" movement in the s during the Clinton presidency. Access the index to the Anti-Environmental Archives here. Levy , university biography of Cato Board Chairman, accessed July Accessed October 30, Accessed July 7, His Way , Washington Post , May 9, Cato , The New Yorker , March 1, The Cato Institute supports a libertarian approach to foreign policy, including decreased military spending, limited foreign intervention, and decreased foreign aid programs.
The Institute has called for decreasing the size of all branches of the United States military and implementing caps to reduce defense spending. The Cato Institute has embraced a number of left-of-center proposals on diplomacy, including supporting the controversial Iran nuclear agreement, opposing expansion of NATO, and abandoning military efforts focused on containing the power of China. Agency for International Development USAID , withdrawing from global development banks, and privatizing international banks and investment organizations.
The Cato Institute has supported efforts to partially privatize or abolish Social Security, including transferring Social Security payroll taxes to individual retirement accounts for young workers. The Institute is generally opposed to all large-scale entitlement programs run by the federal government, arguing that they should be abolished or consolidated.
The Cato Institute is a proponent of school-choice programs, supporting efforts to increase charter schools, voucher programs, and tuition tax credit programs. The Institute has argued that allowing the free market to influence education and shut down failing schools will result in better educational outcomes for children after years of stagnation in the American public school system.
In February of , the Cato Institute launched the Center for Educational Freedom to work specifically on promoting school choice. Aside from supporting school choice programs, the Cato Institute has also argued against the use of affirmative action in hiring or admissions decisions by institutions that receive public funding.
Despite adopting left-of-center positions on most social issues, the Cato Institute has been a long-time opponent of gun control regulations, working in to overturn Washington, D.
The Cato Institute has called on the Supreme Court to take on more Second Amendment cases and overturn several gun-control laws, including those that bar formerly convicted criminals from owning firearms. The Cato Institute has adopted several liberal expansionist policies on immigration, encouraging expanded guest worker visa programs for low-skilled migrant workers, approving more foreign workers and eliminating caps on foreign worker programs, and expanding employment-based green card programs.
The Cato Institute has also advocated against several right-of-center immigration policies, especially those enacted by the Trump administration. In January , Cato Institute officials called on President Joe Biden to lift the travel ban implemented against several predominantly Muslim countries by the Trump administration. The Institute has, however, opposed left-of-center efforts to allow immigrants to access social welfare programs, arguing for the implementation of restrictions on access to means-tested welfare programs for all noncitizens.
Just weeks later, Cato co-founder Charles Koch and his brother, business partner, and fellow libertarian political activist David Koch filed a lawsuit to gain control of the shares, sparking renewed tension between Cato CEO Ed Crane and Koch after an earlier split regarding the direction of the Cato Institute. Control of the former Niskanen shares would have allowed the Kochs to gain majority control over the Cato Institute. We hope you will join us. Our scholars and experts develop a portfolio of projects that drive tangible change in the near term while producing scholarship and research that bend the arc of ideas toward liberty in the long term.
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Since , the Cato Institute has been one of the most effective voices in Washington, DC, advocating individual liberty. Cato scholars annually participate in hundreds of television, radio, and online interviews and are regularly cited in broadcasts and news articles, both in the United States and internationally.
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It has also turned its fire on public transit , opposing the construction of light rail trains and new bus routes in many cities across the US. In , the Kochs sued Cato after some of its libertarian positions supporting same-sex marriage and drug decriminalization angered conservatives. Almost certain to attend are conservative political candidates looking to show off their ideological credentials in exchange for campaign funding.
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