A Reader
Works
Selected essays, op-eds, speeches, testimony, interviews, and recordings by Edward Crane.
Essays & Op-eds
Reagan Never Meant What He Said
Argues that the limited-government rhetoric surrounding Reagan never matched his actual record.
Wrong to Use Tax Money for Campaigns
The case against taxpayer-funded political campaigns, on First Amendment grounds.
America’s Social Security System: The Case for Privatizing
His comprehensive argument for replacing Social Security with private, individually owned accounts.
A reminder to the Republican Party of its stated small-government principles.
9/11 and the Struggle for Liberty
Argues that the proper response to attack is to refocus government on protecting liberty, not to expand its reach.
Ed Crane’s Hopes for This Fine Publication
Lays out libertarian priorities: constitutional limits, ending foreign wars, sound money.
The GOP Presidential Debates: A Waterboarding Alternative
A satirical critique of the 2012 Republican field and its evasions on spending and war.
Argues Paul’s candidacy advanced the most significant libertarian agenda of the 2012 race.
Meet the Parents of the Super PACs
Explains the free-speech case law that gave rise to independent political committees.
Vivek Ramaswamy Is No Friend of the Libertarian Movement
A late-career insistence that property rights, not mere deregulation, define libertarianism.
From the Cato Policy Report
Sees the term-limits movement as part of a broader American turn away from political solutions.
Crane on Doonesbury: The Fraud of Campaign Finance Reform
Uses a comic strip’s free syndication as a reductio against campaign-speech limits.
Three Cheers for Libertarianism
A clear statement of the libertarian case against both the progressive left and the neoconservative right.
Defends Rand’s ethics of integrity against collectivist visions of national purpose.
Afghanistan: Lost Opportunity for the GOP?
Argues Republicans could reclaim limited-government credibility by opposing the troop surge.
Contrasts property-rights principles with the incoherence he saw in Occupy Wall Street.
The Illusion of Accountability
Argues Congress stages minor scandals to distract from the scale of federal spending.
Speeches & Testimony
The Founding, Direction, and Future of the Libertarian Party
An address on the party’s history and his hopes for its future.
Makes the case for a citizen legislature through term limits.
Opening Remarks at the Milton Friedman Prize Dinner
Traces the origins of the prize and honors the 2010 recipient, Akbar Ganji.
Conversations & Interviews
Reason Profile: Edward H. Crane III
The earliest profile: the young party chairman on principle and the movement’s future.
A 25th-anniversary profile, rich with his own words on Cato and his contrarian streak.
A profile of Crane at the height of Cato’s influence.
“Who the Hell…”: Cato’s President Speaks
A candid Q&A during the Koch dispute over Cato’s independence.
The Battle for the Cato Institute
The definitive long-form account of the Koch–Crane fight, in his telling.
The Cato Institute and the Libertarian Movement
A career-spanning conversation on the 1970s party and Cato’s first four decades.
Interview with Edward H. Crane
On libertarian ideas and the Cato Institute, for a Central American audience.
Video & Audio
Revisiting Hayek’s warning with a Nobel laureate and leading historians.
Edward Crane on Becoming a Libertarian
One of a 2012 series on his influences, philosophy, and the case for liberty.
Cato Founder Ed Crane on Cutting Big Government
Remarks expressing skepticism about Washington’s appetite for smaller government.
Ed Crane on the U.S. Credit Downgrade
On the 2011 downgrade of U.S. debt, from a limited-government view.
Decades of panels and interviews on term limits, tax policy, and campaign finance.
Books & Edited Volumes
Market Liberalism: A Paradigm for the 21st Century
Essays charting a market-liberal policy agenda for the new century.
The Politics and Law of Term Limits
A collection on the constitutional and political case for term limits.
Cato Handbook on Policy
A comprehensive guide to federal policy for a new Congress.