Coming Soon
The Cato Institute will be launching their own blog, called Cato Unbound, on Monday, December 5. They will post a new essay, and reactions, every month. From their About page:
Each month, Cato Unbound will present an essay on a big-picture topic by one of the world’s leading thinkers. The ideas in that essay will then be tested by the comments and criticism of equally eminent thinkers, each of whom will respond to the month’s lead essay and then to one another. The idea is to create a hub for wide-ranging, open-ended conversation, where ideas will be advanced, challenged, and refined in public view.
This, I suspect, will not be quite as engaging as reading The Volokh Conspiracy. I am sure that great ideas will be put forth, but knowing Cato, they won’t attract a broad range of readers. However, the next part of their concept is one that, I think, has potential.
But the discussion only begins at Cato Unbound. It ends, if it ends at all, with you. Cato Unbound readers are encouraged to take up our themes, and enter into the conversation on their own websites, blogs, and even in good old-fashioned bound publications. “Trackbacks” will be enabled. Cato Unbound will scour the web for the best commentary on our monthly topic, and, with permission, publish it alongside our invited contributors. We also welcome your letters.
That’s cool. That sounds like a great way to engage the libertarian blogosphere in the conversation. Now, the question is whether we can move the ideas beyond the libertarian folks and into the mainstream. Perhaps. When George Will talks kindly of libertarians, perhaps the ideas that we promote here at The Liberty Papers are not so fringe as they used to be.
