Why I fear CATO

They don't get channel theory as applied to government.

Here, one of my feared Big Government Conservatives, Breitbart, features an article by a CATO person advocating the end of Buy America Bonds and a federal flat tax.  If Breitbart and the NRO crowd would study channel theory for a moment they would discover an over bearing central government vs local government  problem.   It is a balanced local government that is the heart of libertarianism, or more precisely a balance between local and central government.  When the two are balanced, the economy will migrate to the smallest effective size of government.

The NRO crowd enforces central government rule with their policies.  They think that a strong and forceful central government is one that represses its own growth.  In fact channel theory says that the more force the conservatives give to central government, the more it grows, they get the opposite effect they want by inadvertently suppressing local government.

Let me repeat the correct version.  Higher central government taxes reduce the power of central government and increase the power of local government.   Buy America Bond is a way around the Senate, a terrible Big Government enterprise. Earmarks for the House is good,  they are  the most accurate transactions central government can make, earmarks for the Senate bad.   It is about time CATO figure this out and use a little nuance.