Back when I was in the Pentagon, already a libertarian and noticing the crass illogic of government everywhere, a friend asked me if I had read David Boaz’s primer. I had not, but at the time I was an grateful admirer of the Cato Institute. Today, when it comes to the ideas on liberty not only that we must have — but the ideas on liberty the mass of people in this country will soon demand, it is LRC and the Future of Freedom Foundation that embody that liberated thinking. Cato has chosen to be the GOP’s muse when the GOP is out of power, and the GOP’s “friend with benefits” when it is in power. Boaz’s extensive quoting of pro-Iraq war pseudo-libertarian Brink Lindsey in his recent criticism of the FFF provides the seal of incredibility. The takeaway — Cato’s feeling the pinch as state power grasps obsessively for more power even as it leaches away like fine sand. The message going forward — peace, my brothers!

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