• SUPPORT CATO
• FOR STUDENTS
• FOR MEDIA
• FREE NEWSLETTERS

• HOME

• ABOUT

• BLOG

• BOOKSTORE

• EVENTS

• EXPERTS

• MULTIMEDIA

• PUBLICATIONS

Books

Reviews & Journals

Public Filings

Policy Studies

Opinion & Commentary

• RESEARCH AREAS

• SPEAKERS BUREAU

• SUPPORT CATO

• CATO UNBOUND

• DOWNSIZING
  GOVERNMENT.ORG

• ELCATO.ORG

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 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