CATO: PROMOTING FULL DISCUSSIONS

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: 452

During the past week while my wife and I were on a cruise looking for whales, sealions and birds in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez (otherwise known as the Gulf of California), I had time to look at various magazines I had accumulated. Several of them discussed what the CATO Institute has been doing to promote full discussions of all issues, mostly among our younger people. I also learned that the word CATO is derived from the Latin word for “cactus,” meaning “wise” and “shrewd.” So “CATO is cultivating a nationwide movement to equip young people to think critically, debate respectfully, and defend freedom in an age of government overreach.” I was so impressed that I wanted to share this movement with our 2 Paragraphs Family.

So how is this being done? CATO is working with schools voluntarily to transform middle and high school classrooms where young people have been placed under unprecedented pressure to “choose sides in bitter partisan warfare” where dissenting opinions are silenced and “too many are never even introduced to the transformative power of free societies – the very ideas that have lifted billions from poverty, protected individual dignity, and unleashed human flourishing on an unprecedented scale.” CATO pursues these objectives in a variety of ways, including Internship, Research Associate, and Congressional Fellowship Programs where young people get real-life, hands-on experiences. And it also has the CATO Institute, which is a Libertarian Think Tank founded in 1977 in Washington D.C. by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard and Charles Koch that “provides immersive college-level educational experiences in classical liberal philosophy.” And CATO is increasingly successful in all of these efforts. As Serge Danielson-Francois, a high school teacher at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomingfield Hills, Michigan reported:

“My students – and hundreds of thousands of students across the country – are being taught how to apply seriousness, analysis, and critical thinking to develop their opinions on pressing policy issues, thanks to the CATO Institute’s Sphere Initiative. When facts, reason, and analysis are the primary vehicles for discussion, we restore respect for different points of view and defuse the tribalism and bitterness that has infected our society. I see it in my students. Civic culture is taking root, and their eyes are opening to new ideas.”

I know that this 2 Paragraphs edition may appear to be one-sided, but I am convinced that it is an accurate portrayal of what CATO is accomplishing. Part of that proof is that the demand for these programs is growing. For example, simply from 2024 to 2025 applications for CATO’s economic studies in its Congressional Fellowship Program increased by 80 percent, the International Studies series by 50 percent, and the Constitutional Studies by 28 percent. For further information, please visit www.Partners@CATO.org I believe that you will be impressed, and appreciative. And please do not hesitate to share your thoughts with me, and with all of us!

(Question for the week: What is deaf, dumb and blind, but always tells the truth?  Answer: A Mirror.)