John Locke Foundation

The John Locke Foundation is a 501(c)(3) think tank based in North Carolina started in 1990. Its mission statement says the "John Locke Foundation employs research, journalism, and outreach programs to transform government through competition, innovation, personal freedom, and personal responsibility. JLF seeks a better balance between the public sector and private institutions of family, faith, community, and enterprise." The organization advocates lowering taxes, decreasing spending on social welfare programs, and encouraging free markets. John Hood is its current president.

It is named after the philosopher John Locke, who was a primary contributor to what we understand as the idea of classical liberalism.

The Foundation is concerned primarily with state and local issues. The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy was in its initial stages a project of the John Locke Foundation. A co-founder is Art Pope, and his family foundation provides most of the support for the center.

The Foundation is a critic of scientific opinion on climate change and has joined with other conservative political advocacy groups to write Congress urging an end to an end to tax credits for wind power and natural gas-fueled vehicles.