November 17, 2011 11:00AM 

# What are Occupiers Reading? 

By [Chris Edwards](https://www.cato.org/people/chris-edwards) 

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[My letter in the *Washingon Post* the other day](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mcpherson-squares-libertarian-lessons/2011/11/12/gIQAtXqzLN_story.html) suggested that the DC Occupiers would gain from reading Hayek. After all, they have voluntarily created a new community with rules and institutions akin to the spontaneous order of a limited-government capitalist society.

I haven’t yet seen copies of the *Road to Serfdom* when I’ve walked by the DC encampment, but Drudge is highlighting evidence that the New York Occupiers are reading the U.S. Constitution. Roger Pilon tells me that that’s a vintage 1998 Cato version of the Constitution that the hippie in the picture is holding aloft.

So you never know—numerous highly regarded libertarians started out as leftists. I admit the evidence is thin, but maybe the next [Thomas Sowell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sowell) is sitting right there in McPherson Square.

![Media Name: zucotti.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/wp-content/uploads/zucotti.jpg?itok=WWMah7ro) 

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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