I don't pretend to know all that you read, but to say it is a "research arm of the Republican party" is not factual. Yes, as I stated in my opening, they are a conservative, non-partisan think tank is true; they will call anybody's baby ugly if they don't agree no matter what their political "tag". That is all I meant. Would Republicans tend to use them for research, sure, why not, it is conservative and not liberal (which today still means the opposite of what it mean in prior centuries). I have read a lot of Milton Friedman (Art Williams circulated his articles in the 1980's and 1990's very commonly); however I don't own a lot of his books. I own more of Friedrich Hayekâs books and Alexis de Tocqueville's books, but I do admire Milton Friedman's thought process and free market positions. I do like Brooking's research too, which is certainly not the "think tank of choice" for most conservatives; however, they make a good effort at research to support their positions. Aside from that, Thatcher did a lot of good for Britain, and helped to usher in their subsequent "prosperity" which was languishing under government "nationalized" industrial ownership.
Aside from that, Thatcher did a lot of good for Britain, and helped to usher in their subsequent "prosperity" which was languishing under government "nationalized" industrial ownership. I'll check out CFR. Do you look at CATO?
I mostly follow Council of Foreign Relations as far as weekly listening (great podcast) and reading. I like Pete Peterson as a pragmatic conservative who listens to all points of view I really think he put a stamp on CFR's process for non-partisan scholarship. Personally I don't think an organization can call itself non-partisan and a liberal or conservative at the same time, that kind of talk is just window dressing for the tax man. It's fine to have think tanks with an agenda but I think going at policy with an agenda will generally distort the honesty of the conclusion. I find it much more credible when the resulting issue paper from a think tank came from people from across the spectrum with a consensus section and a section of individual dissents which is what I get from CFR.