# [ ](/free-society) Spring 2025 Vol. 2, No. 1 ![Free Society - v2n1 - Spring 2025 Cover Image](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_3x/public/2025-03/free-society-spring-2025-cover.png?itok=J6f5M4zf) Creating free, open, and civil societies founded on libertarian principles. ### [Cato in the News](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring-2025/cato-news-spring-2025) Noteworthy op-eds, TV appearances, and media highlights. ### [Cato Quarterly](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring-2025/cato-quarterly) Events, publications, and studies. ![](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2024-03/peter-goettler-portrait.png?itok=5uvrGnxs) ## [ A Letter from the President, Peter Goettler ](/free-society/spring-2025/letter-president-peter-goettler) Cato is seizing this moment. For decades, our experts have provided principled, research-backed solutions to the country’s most pressing policy challenges. [Read the Letter](/free-society/spring-2025/letter-president-peter-goettler) #### Features [![Free Society - Spring 2025 - Cobwebs Justice](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-03/FreeSociety-Cobwebs.jpg?itok=jAyLB3bj)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring-2025/blindfolded-juries-coerced-convictions-why-prosecutors-often-win-trials) Free Society ### [Blindfolded Juries, Coerced Convictions: Why Prosecutors Often Win Before Trials Even Begin](/free-society/spring-2025/blindfolded-juries-coerced-convictions-why-prosecutors-often-win-trials) By [Clark Neily](https://www.cato.org/people/clark-neily) The Founders would hardly recognize today’s justice system, which resembles an industrial-scale assembly line that prioritizes expediency over fairness and churns out guilty pleas through ad hoc, extraconstitutional dealmaking that systematically excludes ordinary citizens from a process in which they were meant to be the key players. [![Alex FS 16x9](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-03/Alex-FS-16x9.jpg?itok=vzybZhac)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring-2025/inside-making-catos-report-department-government-efficiency-doge) Free Society ### [Inside the Making of Cato’s Report to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)](/free-society/spring-2025/inside-making-catos-report-department-government-efficiency-doge) By [Audrey Grayson](https://www.cato.org/people/audrey-grayson) Drawing on decades of policy research, Alex Nowrasteh worked with Ryan Bourne to coordinate more than a dozen Cato scholars in crafting the Institute’s recommendations for the Department of Government Efficiency. [![Javier Milei Deregulation Illustration - Free Society Spring 2025](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-03/Javier-Milei-Dereg.jpg?itok=GgaNN3xm)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring-2025/deregulation-argentina-milei-takes-deep-chainsaw-bureaucracy-red-tape) Free Society ### [Deregulation in Argentina: Milei Takes “Deep Chainsaw” to Bureaucracy and Red Tape](/free-society/spring-2025/deregulation-argentina-milei-takes-deep-chainsaw-bureaucracy-red-tape) By [Ian Vásquez](https://www.cato.org/people/ian-vasquez) Argentine President Javier Milei has lowered inflation, drastically reduced government spending, and dismantled large parts of the federal bureaucracy. But one of the most far-reaching efforts by his administration has been its deregulation push, with officials implementing about two deregulations per day on average since he took office. #### In This Issue [![Free Society - Beyond Medical Paternalism (16x9 image)](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-03/Free%20Society%20-%20Your%20Body%20Your%20Healthcare%2016x9.jpg?itok=xdU_Y1rB)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring-2025/beyond-medical-paternalism-restoring-control-individual) Free Society ### [Beyond Medical Paternalism: Restoring Control to the Individual](/free-society/spring-2025/beyond-medical-paternalism-restoring-control-individual) By [Jeffrey A. Singer](https://www.cato.org/people/jeffrey-singer) Heavy-handed government policies often undermine patient autonomy, restricting the medicines they can take, the doctors they can see, and the information they can access. [![Statue of Liberty and New York City](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-09/New-York-Statue-Liberty.jpg?itok=fduoUCg7)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring-2025/marvel-prices-display-new-york-citys-streets) Free Society ### [The “Marvel” of Prices on Display in New York City’s Streets](/free-society/spring-2025/marvel-prices-display-new-york-citys-streets) By [Paul Best](https://www.cato.org/people/paul-best) New York City’s experience with congestion pricing, even if imperfectly structured, is a testament to spontaneous order—a real-world experiment showing the “marvel” of prices, as F. A. Hayek described it. [![Energy Sources Cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-03/energy-sources-cropped.jpg?itok=t5W8u-Se)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring-2025/travis-fisher-why-dynamic-electric-grid-essential-human-flourishing) Free Society ### [Travis Fisher on Why a Dynamic Electric Grid Is “Essential to Human Flourishing”](/free-society/spring-2025/travis-fisher-why-dynamic-electric-grid-essential-human-flourishing) By [Paul Best](https://www.cato.org/people/paul-best) Travis Fisher, the director of energy and environmental policy studies at Cato, argues in a recent interview with *Free Society* that only a dynamic, market-driven approach to energy policy can deliver affordable and reliable electricity in the years ahead. [![Free Society - Adam Michel portrait](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-03/Free%20Society%20-%20Adam%20Michel%20Portrait.jpg?itok=6iw0FhH3)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring-2025/nows-time-clean-americas-tax-code-adam-michel-reforms-needed-boost) Free Society ### [Now’s the Time to Clean America’s Tax Code: Adam Michel on the Reforms Needed to Boost Prosperity](/free-society/spring-2025/nows-time-clean-americas-tax-code-adam-michel-reforms-needed-boost) By [Josh Hardman](https://www.cato.org/people/josh-hardman) Adam Michel was a leading voice for two tax policy wins early in the second Trump administration. Now, with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act about to expire, he’s showing Congress how to enact a pro-growth, permanent overhaul of the tax code. [![constitution-flag.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2021-12/constitution-flag.jpg?itok=16VtfD80)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring-2025/reviving-constitution-ken-simon-builds-legacy-one-court-case-time) Free Society ### [Reviving the Constitution: Ken Simon Builds His Legacy, One Court Case at a Time](/free-society/spring-2025/reviving-constitution-ken-simon-builds-legacy-one-court-case-time) By Brian Mullis Ken Simon lived the American dream—and fought to preserve it. [![Lincicome Illustration - Last Word Free Society ](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-03/lincicome-last-word-sm.png?itok=RdwCN1md)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring-2025/last-word-happy-days-are-here-again-trade-lawyers-lobbyists) Free Society ### [Last Word: Happy Days Are Here Again (for Trade Lawyers and Lobbyists)](/free-society/spring-2025/last-word-happy-days-are-here-again-trade-lawyers-lobbyists) By [Scott Lincicome](https://www.cato.org/people/scott-lincicome) With Trump threatening bigger, broader tariffs in 2025, we should expect avoidance, compliance, and lobbying—which has its own economic costs, by the way—to increase accordingly. Indeed, the games have already begun. [![letters-in-black-and-white.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2023-05/letters-in-black-and-white.jpg?itok=QTTul39B)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring-2025/letters-editor) Free Society ### [Letters to the Editor](/free-society/spring-2025/letters-editor) *Free Society* welcomes feedback from our readers. If you would like to share your thoughts on the issues we cover, email us at [freesociety@​cato.​org](mailto:freesociety@cato.org) with your submission, name, and contact information. ### Never miss a beat. [ ](/free-society) Sign up for our email newsletter now to get the latest digital *Free Society* issues delivered straight to your inbox. [text](#) “ All civil virtue and happiness, every moral excellency, all politeness, all good arts and sciences, are produced by liberty. ” Cato’s Letter, no. 63 1723 John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon