Edward Crane Discusses the Cato Institute | Big Think

Edward Crane Discusses the Cato Institute

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The Cato Institute CEO talks about the libertarian think tank.

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Ed Crane:

Ed Crane is the founder and president of the Cato Institute. Under his leadership, the Cato Institute has grown to become one of the nation's most prominent public policy research organizations. Crane has been a pioneer in framing the political debate as one, not between liberal and conservative, but rather between civil society (the voluntary sector) and political society (government power). He was at the forefront of promoting personal accounts in lieu of the current Social Security system, and was one of the first national leaders of the term limits movement. Crane is the coeditor of several books, publisher of Regulation magazine, serves on the Board of U.S. Term Limits, and is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society. He is a chartered financial analyst and former vice president at Alliance Capital Management Corp. Crane's writing has been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times and Forbes. He has been interviewed on NPR's Morning Edition and Talk of the Nation, C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, and other media. Crane holds a B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from the University of Southern California.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Question: What is the Cato Institute?

Edward Crane: I mean, among the major think tanks in American, Cato is third or fourth in terms of major media mentions. We are a serious effort to put libertarian ideas on the table of national debate. I think we do a pretty darn good job of doing that. We have more than a $20 million budget. We have 105 full-time employees, and the institute is able to put these ideas on the table of national debate. The problem, of course, is that the political process is so rigged, so oriented toward incumbents and toward the conservative liberal dichotomy that it’s very difficult to get these ideas implemented.

Question: What inspires your mission?

Edward Crane: To me, it’s just a wonderful opportunity to be able to say, “This is the way it should be, and what you’re doing is wrong.” And the worst thing, from my standpoint, would be to have to be in a situation where I felt that way but I couldn’t say so. I have a voice in this institute that is heard by the national public. And I think 30 to 40 percent of Americans are basically libertarian. I think polls show that. I mean, do you go to the Republican Party or the Democratic Party if you believe in civil liberties; if you are opposed to discrimination; if you believe that it’s wrong for the United States to be the world’s policeman; and we need some humility in dealing with other nations; and you believe in dynamic market capitalism? Where do you go? But I think about a third of Americans agree with that perspective, and so it’s frustrating. I think the campaign finance laws were designed to keep the major parties above competition. I think without those laws, you’d have a very strong Green Party that would be a real threat to the Democrats. And I think you’d have a small ‘l’ Libertarian Party, not as ideologically rigid as the current Libertarian Party is that would be a real threat to the Republicans. And it would attract a lot of independents, but it’s difficult.