Welcome to Free Society

Peter Goettler

I’m excited to announce that today Cato launches its new quarterly magazine Free Society.

Free Society will replace our long‐​running bimonthly Cato Policy Report and our quarterly publications Cato’s Letter and Cato Quarterly. But it will do much more than that.

It will offer a broad scope of content, including in‐​depth policy research, interviews with leading thinkers, stories from the victims of an ever‐​growing state, insightful commentary on current events from a libertarian perspective, and news of Cato’s activities and impact.

The world is grappling with a host of complex challenges, many driven by the erosion of individual rights and the expansion of government power. The Cato Institute remains committed to providing the intellectual ammunition needed to win the battle for human liberty, both practically and morally. I believe you will find that passion for freedom on every page of Free Society.

To give you an idea of the type of material you can expect in Free Society, here’s a sampling of pieces from the inaugural issue in addition to a full report on Cato’s work and initiatives.

Cato senior fellow Johan Norberg asks the question: “What is the state of human freedom?” While the answer isn’t completely certain—we have recently seen both setbacks and gains for liberty around the world—I think the piece ultimately will leave you with well‐​founded optimism.

We also explore the state of educational freedom in the United States through the lens of two families—one in Arizona and one in Kentucky—who fought for the right to choose the best education for their children. Cato has been instrumental in the battle for school choice and the explosion of different learning options following the pandemic, but we must keep this momentum going until every American has the “freedom to learn.”

An investigative piece sheds light on an awful case of eminent domain unfolding in North Carolina, where policymakers are subsidizing the construction of a $4 billion factory by the Vietnamese electric vehicle (EV) startup VinFast. While residents are left in the dark about precisely when they’ll lose their homes and properties—and whether the economic promise of the deal will even materialize—news of the car company’s shoddy products is spreading widely.

Finally, Bridget McCormack, the president and CEO of the American Arbitration Association and former chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, discusses working to free people who have been wrongly convicted of crimes, the problems with many sentencing guidelines, and why we need to reduce barriers to entry in the legal profession.

Free Society will bring you thought‐​provoking insights into the most pressing issues of the day from Cato’s unique view of the world—one that is informed by thinkers from America’s founding (and before) to F. A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, Robert Nozick, and current scholars at the forefront of advancing individual liberty, free markets, and peace. We hope you will join us as a regular reader and share your thoughts on what you find most valuable in the magazine and what you would like to see us cover in the future.