# [ ](/free-society) Spring/Summer 2026 ![Free Society - Spring/Summer 2026 - Cover BG Image](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_3x/public/2026-07/free-society-pillar-image-3.jpg?itok=cKwyo3mi) Creating free, open, and civil societies founded on libertarian principles. ### [Cato in the News](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring/summer-2026/news-spring/summer-2026) Noteworthy op-eds, TV appearances, and media highlights. ### [Cato Quarterly](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring/summer-2026/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/summer-2026/letter-president-peter-goettler) We must be uncompromising in our defense of what the Founders created and their philosophy—which is, in large part, our own—even though they didn’t live up to it. [Read the Letter](/free-society/spring/summer-2026/letter-president-peter-goettler) #### Features [![The Revolution Was Libertarian Social Image 16x9](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-07/the-revolution-was-libertarian-social.jpg?itok=VwEDnifg)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring/summer-2026/revolution-was-libertarian) Free Society ### [The Revolution Was Libertarian](/free-society/spring/summer-2026/revolution-was-libertarian) By [Paul Meany](https://www.cato.org/people/paul-meany), [Brandan P. Buck](https://www.cato.org/people/brandan-p-buck), [Jon Hoffman](https://www.cato.org/people/jon-hoffman), [Colin Grabow](https://www.cato.org/people/colin-grabow), [Molly Nixon](https://www.cato.org/people/molly-nixon), [Gabriela Calderon de Burgos](https://www.cato.org/people/gabriela-calderon-de-burgos), & [Erec Smith](https://www.cato.org/people/erec-smith) This revolution of thought rested on a rich intellectual inheritance that stretched back millennia, drawing from Pericles’ democratic Athens, the Roman Republic transmitted through Cicero, and later Stoic and Christian traditions that grounded law in conscience and a moral order above political power. [![Free Society - Peter Pan State Social](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-07/Free_Society_Summer_2026_Peter_Pan_State-Schlott_16x9_gc9tpw.jpg?itok=Ly2ofnDp)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring/summer-2026/peter-pan-state-how-bad-policy-delays-adulthood) Free Society ### [The Peter Pan State: How Bad Policy Delays Adulthood](/free-society/spring/summer-2026/peter-pan-state-how-bad-policy-delays-adulthood) By [Rikki Schlott](https://www.cato.org/people/rikki-schlott) A generation raised under constant supervision is discovering that the oversight doesn’t end when they grow up. In the 21st century, the government increasingly acts as a permanent chaperone, standing between young people and the milestones that have long marked adulthood. [![Free Society - Affordability Social](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-07/Free_Society_Summer_2026_Affordability-Steelman_16x9_ast0qx.jpg?itok=k6waKmCU)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring/summer-2026/what-affordability-how-do-we-improve-it) Free Society ### [What Is “Affordability”—and How Do We Improve It?](/free-society/spring/summer-2026/what-affordability-how-do-we-improve-it) By [Aaron Steelman](https://www.cato.org/people/aaron-steelman) With the inflation surge that followed the COVID-19 pandemic still fresh in Americans’ minds, “affordability” has emerged as one of the defining political issues of 2026. But policymakers are often confused about the root causes of rising prices and what can be done to make goods less expensive. To help clarify the debate, the Cato Institute recently released its *Handbook on Affordability*, outlining more than 100 reforms that would improve living standards through sound money and economic freedom rather than government intervention. [![Free Society - Argentina Falcone Social](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-07/Free_Society_Summer_2026_Argentina-Falcone_16x9_zbmo0k.jpg?itok=txWeqgCO)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring/summer-2026/inside-argentinas-deregulation-revolution-federico-sturzenegger) Free Society ### [Inside Argentina’s Deregulation Revolution with Federico Sturzenegger](/free-society/spring/summer-2026/inside-argentinas-deregulation-revolution-federico-sturzenegger) By [Marcos Falcone](https://www.cato.org/people/marcos-falcone) As Argentina’s Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation under President Javier Milei, Federico Sturzenegger is the architect of the most ambitious deregulation effort in the country’s history. [![Free Society - Become Libertarian Social](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-07/Free_Society_Summer_2026_Become_Libertarian-Hardman_16x9_wztncz.jpg?itok=e7N7TJtM)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring/summer-2026/how-did-you-become-libertarian) Free Society ### [How Did You Become a Libertarian?](/free-society/spring/summer-2026/how-did-you-become-libertarian) By [Josh Hardman](https://www.cato.org/people/josh-hardman) America’s 250th anniversary is, by any measure, a moment for inventory. What has held? What has been won, slowly and painfully, from the original promise? And what remains urgently unfinished? [![Free Society - Remembering Ed Crane Social](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-07/Free%20Society_Summer%202026_Remembering%20Ed%20Crane_16x9.jpg?itok=0jYo7FFi)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring/summer-2026/remembering-edward-h-crane) Free Society ### [Remembering Edward H. Crane](/free-society/spring/summer-2026/remembering-edward-h-crane) This issue of *Free Society* is dedicated to [Ed Crane](https://www.cato.org/edward-h-crane-1944-2026), cofounder and president emeritus of the Cato Institute, who passed away on February 10, 2026. [![Free Society - Seed Round for Liberty Social](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-07/Free_Society_Summer_2026_Innovation_Project-Grayson_16x9_pgfkvd.jpg?itok=j67PcS7r)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring/summer-2026/seed-round-liberty-catos-innovation-project) Free Society ### [Seed Round for Liberty: Cato’s Innovation Project](/free-society/spring/summer-2026/seed-round-liberty-catos-innovation-project) By [Audrey Grayson](https://www.cato.org/people/audrey-grayson) The Cato Institute is looking for libertarian entrepreneurs and innovators you haven’t heard of—yet. [![Free Society - Jordan and Lyn Weingarten Social](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-07/Free_Society_Summer_2026_Foundation_of_Trust-Grayson_16x9_huuuys.jpg?itok=PIuWaUJf)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring/summer-2026/foundation-trust-jordan-lyns-multimillion-dollar-bet-future-freedom) Free Society ### [A Foundation of Trust: Jordan and Lyn’s Multimillion-Dollar Bet on the Future of Freedom](/free-society/spring/summer-2026/foundation-trust-jordan-lyns-multimillion-dollar-bet-future-freedom) By [Audrey Grayson](https://www.cato.org/people/audrey-grayson) Jordan Weingarten came to economics the way many scientists do—reluctantly, then obsessively. A physician by training, he had never taken an economics course, and the discipline remained largely foreign to him well into adulthood. That changed when a friend in Austin passed along a policy paper from the Cato Institute. [![Free Society - Paul Best Last Word Social](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-07/Free_Society_Summer_2026_Pursuing_Happiness-Best_16x9_s7ecig.jpg?itok=u7CEwGFf)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/spring/summer-2026/last-word-pursuing-happiness-friends) Free Society ### [Last Word: On Pursuing Happiness, with Friends](/free-society/spring/summer-2026/last-word-pursuing-happiness-friends) By [Paul Best](https://www.cato.org/people/paul-best) You don’t have to party like the Founders (and you probably shouldn’t try), but consider raising a glass with your friends and family this summer, and enjoy the revelry and camaraderie that sustain us in the pursuit of happiness. ### 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