Robert Greenwald: Would a Koch Takeover of Cato Make War with Iran More Likely?

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/would-a-koch-takeover-of-cato-make-war-with-iran-more-likely

Would a Koch Takeover of Cato Make War with Iran More Likely?

By Robert Greenwald

Co-Authored by Jesse Lava


The drumbeat for war in Iran is getting louder, but opposition is coming from a seemingly unlikely source: the Cato Institute. This libertarian think tank generally sides with the Right, but it has long shown an independent streak, sometimes bucking conservative orthodoxy on civil liberties, the war on drugs, and U.S. militarism.

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Independent voices like those at Cato serve a critical function in the national debate on war and peace. They show that peace is not simply the domain of progressives; it's something that Americans of any political stripe can get behind. Without such voices, progressives can more easily be marginalized and ignored.

So what happens when partisans like the Koch brothers get their hands on an institution that exhibits flashes of independence? In Cato's case, we can expect that independence to evaporate. They have already tried to pack the board with people like self-proclaimed neoconservative John Hinderaker, who once wrote, "It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can't get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile." Does anyone think guys like that are going to preserve any hint of independence at Cato?

As Alex Pareene writes at Slate, "Cato is mostly antiwar, decidedly anti-drug war, and sponsors a lot of good work on civil liberties. That ... is basically what the Kochs don't like about them, because white papers on decriminalization don't help Republicans get elected."

Little by little, our democracy is coming under the thumb of those who have more and more. The Koch brothers aren't the only big shots commandeering the public debate, but they do represent the worst of this frightening trend. That's why fights like the one between Cato and the Kochs should matter to progressives: the nation's most urgent public policy decisions, including ones involving war and peace, may hang in the balance.