Save Cato from the Koch brothers. . .on Facebook?

By Allen McDuffee

(Facebook via screengrab) I suppose it was just a matter of time before the lawsuit the Koch brothers filed to gain control of the Cato Institute took on an activist element. And that’s exactly what happened when, on Friday, a Save the Cato Institute Facebook page appeared.


The Facebook page, which launched on Friday, gained nearly 1,000 supporters over the course of the weekend. The page’s administrators are not identified. In these early days of its existence, the page functions as a curator of the majority of journalistic accounts of the feud and some (mostly) healthy debate about the situation and what actions might be taken.
Thus far, the only overt call to action provided contact information and recommended: “If you’d like to see Cato maintain its independence, which is the most valuable asset it has, you could write a note (polite but firm) to the Charles Koch Institute.”
The goal of the mobilization effort is to gather enough people to persuade the Koch brothers to drop the lawsuit.
According to the page:

Charles and David Koch have initiated a hostile takeover of the Cato Institute. The Kochs’ goal is not to improve the stature nor effectiveness of the organization, but rather, to turn a venerable, independent and effective nonpartisan institution into yet another political arm of their vast empire.

We ask friends of Cato and supporters of independent policy analysis to join us in persuading the Kochs to drop this takeover attempt.