User:Vipul/Cato Unbound

Cato Unbound is a monthly web-only publication of the Cato Institute that features, every month, an open debate between four people: one lead essayist and three other people.

History
The first issue of Cato Unbound was in December 2005. As of June 2012, Cato Unbound has been published every month since the first issue.

The idea of Cato Unbound is attributed to Brink Lindsey, who at the time was Vice President for Research at the Cato Institute. Cato Unbound was edited by Brink Lindsey, Will Wilkinson, and Jason Kuznicki. The "editing" responsibilities largely involve coming up with topics and getting contributors for every month's conversation.

Lindsey and Wilkinson left Cato in September 2010. Editorial responsibility for Cato Unbound was taken over by Kuznicki and Gene Healy.

Format
The conversation begins with one lead essay, followed by three response essays by separate people. After that, all four participants can write as may responses and counter-responses as they want for the duration of that month. The conversation happens in real time, i.e., all participant responses are posted as soon as they draft them. Comments are not allowed on the posts, but trackbacks are, so that other parties can write their own blog posts or articles in response to the issues raised in the conversation.

Topics and contributors
Although the Cato Institute's stated mission is to promote libertarianism, Cato Unbound features a wide range of topics many of which have only a tangential connection with libertarianism. The participants in each month's discussion are selected for their expertise and opinions on the topics. Most participants do not work for Cato and many of them are not libertarian. Some participants may even hold and express views antithetical to the Cato Institute's libertarian ideals. Usually, the participants are selected so that they have disagreements on at least some of the points that are likely to be discussed. The Cato Institute does not take responsibility for the views expressed by participants on Cato Unbound.

Some examples of the topics covered in Cato Unbound are death and life extension, voter ignorance, neoconservatism, the war on drugs, libertarian paternalism, neoconservatism, copyright law, terrorism, seasteading, and the necessity of newspapers.