Cato Institute (www.cato.org)

 

Heard another great book discussion on political and moral philosophy, the first on Adam Smith and the Scottish Enlightenment. This on the philosophy of Neoconservatism a dangerous and insidious movement; but rebutted although not well be a real live NeoCon from Hoover. As before extremely intelligent and revealing discussion

For those who don’t know Cato, it is a Libertarian think tank in Washington.  Libertarianism is NOT a far right political philosophy as many think; and it espouses as many liberal views as conservative (pro-Choice, drug law liberalization, anti-invasion of privacy, etc.).  In short it has two basic principles; a) promotion of individual rights and liberties; and b) accepting government intervention only when it is objectively shown that the private or non-governmental sectors cannot do it better.

The Cato Institute is the one place in all the institutions where I am a member (Hudson, Heritage, AEI, CSIS, Carnegie, among others) which always offers discussion and discourse at a consistently high intellectual level; never shies away from challenges to a Libertarian viewpoint (most sessions have two sides of an argument presented); and as importantly will challenge most received wisdom.  For that alone, it is worth the price of admission (which is free, of course, with free lunch after sessions)