Thomas DiLorenzo
LRC Blog
June 9, 2008

So Ed Crane thinks CATO’s minor tinkering around the margins of government policy, and offering advice to politicians that is never taken or implemented, is "respectable and important work"; whereas opposing state institutions (like the Fed and the income tax, for starters) as a matter of principle, and educating the masses about it, is not respectable.

Well, he’s right. What CATO does IS "respected" — by the Washington establishment — because the establishment knows that it poses no threat to its existence. If that’s the kind of "respect" you want, then send Crane your resume.

The Crane/Kochtopus failed philosophy reminds me of a scene in the great new video of the Estonian Revolution that was shown by a friend of ours from Estonia one evening at the annual meeting of the Property and Freedom Society a couple of weeks ago. The scene was the Soviet dictator Gorbachev meeting with Estonian political leaders shortly before the collapse of communism in that country. Gorbachev is instructing them (paraphrasing): "I’m open to all suggestions for reform, but they must be in the context of socialism" (emphasis in original).

This is essentially the Crane/Cato/Kochtopus philosophy: Never openly challenge any part of the American socialist/fascist regime in Washington. Only suggest minor and rather trivial "reforms" that will enable the regime’s rulers to talk about what great "reformers" they are, while never making any progress at all in the direction of freedom. That is how you gain the "respect" of the ruling elite in the nation’s capital. Crane is the libertarian Gorbachev.

Murray Rothbard was right when he said that government is just another criminal gang. What does this say about people who devote their careers to gaining the respect of these gangsters?

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