Purity politics have deep roots in American history, and we ought to look back much further than November to understand the real attractions, and the equally real pitfalls, of purism. It's a tension that dates back to America's founding, and beyond.

TOPEKA, Kan. — The Cato Institute and billionaire shareholders Charles and David Koch announced Monday that they are close to settling two lawsu...

Republican House Speaker John Boehner and GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney have, in the course of the past week, pushed starkly different approach...

WASHINGTON -- Anyone wondering why the ultra-conservative billionaire industrialist Koch brothers are trying to seize control of the libertarian Cato ...

The most likely outcome of a Koch takeover is that Cato would be eviscerated, the brand would be destroyed and the Kochs would take over an empty shell -- in short, the outcome would be a catastrophe, and even the winners would gain nothing.

Merits of the case aside, though, the dispute could provide an interesting test of the limits of federal tax law relating to organizations like Cato -...

With the current Social Security program you give the government your dollars now, and it gives you back dollars later. That is exactly what happens when you buy a government bond.

One suspects, however, that behind much of the "Don't Tread On Me" rhetoric directed at Obama is a spluttering "... but, but, but, you're black!"