Cato on Facebook
Cato on Twitter
Cato on YouTube
Cato RSS1000 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20001-5403
Phone (202) 842 0200
Fax (202) 842 3490
Contact Us
Cato Dispatch for November 7, 2008
Subscribe to the Cato Dispatch via email
(Links to outside sources were active as of the date of this dispatch; however, not all news sources maintain links to current stories indefinitely. Some links also may require registration.)
Barack Obama Elected President of the United StatesRoadmaps to Reform: The Cato Institute's Analysis and Advice for the Future
Barack Obama Elected President of the United States
What does Obama's historic victory signify for proponents of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace? Cato scholars weigh in.
Michael D. Tanner calls Obama's victory a "repudiation of George Bush and the current Republican congressional leadership....by almost every measure, government grew bigger, more expensive, and more intrusive under President Bush and the Republican Congres"." His book, Leviathan on the Right: How Big Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution, is essential for understanding where the GOP went wrong.
While the Republicans are not in power, will they learn from their mistakes? Tanner writes, "Republicans will have gone from controlling every arm of government to controlling none....As it emerges from the electoral rubble, the Republican Party must decide what it actually believes in before beginning rebuilding its battered fortune."
Writing before the election, Tanner lays out Obama's plans and how they will affect the country. Tanner concludes that the future will bring "a much bigger, more intrusive, and costlier government."
David Boaz expands on the idea that the American people rejected Bush's big government conservatism on Tuesday. He also reminds us that small government is still more popular than Barack Obama. "Bush and the Republicans promised choice, freedom, reform, and a restrained federal government. They delivered massive overspending, the biggest expansion of entitlements in 40 years, centralization of education, a floundering war, an imperial presidency, civil liberties abuses, the intrusion of the federal government into social issues and personal freedoms, and finally a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street that just kept on growing in the last month of the campaign. Voters who believed in limited government had every reason to reject that record."
With Obama slated to become president, Will Wilkinson offers his advice to the new commander-in-chief. "You've been claiming that the government can simultaneously create millions of new jobs, spur growth-enhancing innovation, and save the Earth by politically picking winners among energy companies. It's a beautiful dream. But in reality, it means nothing more than the greening of corporate welfare and an increase in energy prices. Our struggling economy can't afford that."
Gene Healy, author of Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power, explains why Obama will do little to tame the executive power that has grown so much under Bush.
For daily analysis on a range of topics, including insight on Obama's policy proposals, don't miss Cato's blog, Cato@Liberty.
Roadmaps to Reform: The Cato Institute's Analysis and Advice for the Future
Immigration: The Cato Handbook for Congress provides a clear plan on how the government should handle immigration.
The War in Iraq: Ted Galen Carpenter explains why it's time to exit Iraq.
Financial Bailout: Arnold Kling offers an exit strategy for taxpayers. To learn more about the future of the economy, don't miss Cato's 26th Annual Monetary Conference: Lessons From the Subprime Crisis on November 19.
Free Trade: Robert Krol argues in defense of expanding international trade.
Looking back, Cato examines the Constitutional record of President George W. Bush.
In January, Cato will release the 2009 Handbook for Congress, with more than 600 pages of policy analysis for the incoming members of the House and Senate.
Chris Moody, editor, cmoody@cato.org
NEW ONLINE RESOURCE
Healthcare.Cato.org
Provides in-depth analysis of health care issues and reform initiatives with a wealth of resources on how individual choice and competition—not more government control—are the changes we need.
NEW BOOKS
The Beautiful Tree
An inspiring personal journey into the lives of families and teachers in the poorest communities of India, Africa, and China who have successfully created their own private schools in response to failed public education.
The Power Problem
Documents the enormous costs of America's military power, and proposes a new grand strategy that will advance U.S. national security by establishing a new set of rules governing the use of force abroad, and reaffirming the Founders' intention to restrain the president's ability to make war.
Climate of Extremes
An in-depth look at consistent, solid science on the other side of the gloom-and-doom global warming story that is rarely reported and pushed aside: that global warming is likely to be modest, and there is no apocalypse on the horizon.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
From audio recordings of the best of Cato's events to articles by world-class experts, CatoAudio, Regulation and Cato Journal offer an amazing range of quality news and analysis.