Welcome to KochvCato.com

As we explain in the “About Us” section, soon after Charles and David Koch filed suit in Kansas, seeking control of the Cato Institute, those of us who opposed their hostile takeover took to any forum we could find to make our case for an independent Institute. Catoites’ responses—look here, here, here, here, and here for early examples— were unplanned, spontaneous, widespread, and, as far as I’m concerned, inspiring. (Not everyone agrees, however.)

Before long, we concluded that we could use a blog of our own, to provide rapid responses to new developments and serve as a central source for the case for an independent Institute.

In the coming months, we’ll use this space to provide our take on those developments, and to give Catoites and Cato supporters a forum to explain why we oppose this takeover attempt.

We can’t pretend to be neutral, but we’ll strive to give fair treatment to opposing arguments. And, to borrow a line from David Koch, we are “confident that when all the facts are known, those who are objective and open-minded will understand the reasons for our action[s].”