On February 26, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a case that has the potential to overturn a 40-year-old precedent ( Abood v. Detroit Board of Education ) that allows public-sector unions to charge nonmembers “agency fees.” Currently, half the states have laws that enable such fees. Mark Janus—an Illinois state employee but not a union member—objects generally to being required to pay AFSCME, as well as ...
Feb 15, 2018•1 hr 29 min
How can advanced democracies modernize their economies and reform their welfare states? Drawing on the successful experiences of Sweden and Australia, Nils Karlson will explain the ways in which competing political parties can promote more dynamic economies and more flexible and open societies. He will discuss how distinct reform strategies, the development of new ideas, and policy entrepreneurship can overcome barriers to reform. John Samples will discuss the book's relevance to the rise of pop...
Feb 14, 2018•1 hr 11 min
In 1994, responding to a terrible murder, Congress passed a law requiring all 50 states to set up sex offender registries. Now many states closely control where and with whom persons on the registries may live, while public maps showing offenders’ places of residence lead to social shunning and occasional harassment. They also scare parents from letting their children play outside. But does the registry make kids any safer? Lenore Skenazy, the New York newspaper columnist famous for letting her ...
Feb 08, 2018•1 hr 12 min
Born into slavery in 1818, Frederick Douglass rose to become one of the nation’s foremost intellectuals—a statesman, author, lecturer, and scholar who helped lead the fight against slavery and racial oppression. But unlike some other prominent abolitionists, Douglass embraced the U.S. Constitution, insisting that it was essentially an anti-slavery document and that its guarantees for individual rights belonged to all Americans, of all races. Further, in his most popular lecture, “Self-Made Men,”...
Feb 08, 2018•1 hr 33 min
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration exists to certify the safety and efficacy of medical technologies. Yet all too often, the FDA polices not drugs and medical devices, but speech. The agency prohibits many people from sharing truthful and non-misleading information about lawful uses of FDA-approved products. When the FDA restricts what people can say about drugs and medical devices, it violates the free-speech rights of patients and guarantees they will not learn about new treatments. Does pr...
Feb 07, 2018•1 hr 37 min
It has long been believed that the education system must assimilate new and different groups into American society. Public school assimilation efforts, however, have often been wrenching for students and families, seemingly based on an assumption that some groups will refuse to assimilate or will even rebel against prevailing norms. This worry has animated opposition to school choice and may be particularly acute when it comes to Muslims, especially since 9/11. But are fears that Islamic schools...
Feb 01, 2018•1 hr 38 min
Education is important , and the more of it you and everyone else get, the better. More years in school, more college degrees, means a better economy, country, and world for everyone. Right? Wrong, argues Bryan Caplan in a brand new book that challenges almost all the understandable, powerful—but perhaps ultimately damaging—assumptions people make about education. We hope you’ll join us for a lively debate about this assault on education orthodoxy, and the premiere of this new book. Hosted on Ac...
Jan 31, 2018•1 hr 31 min
A year into President Trump’s term, what can we say about the Trump Doctrine? As a candidate, Trump promised dramatic changes for American foreign policy. As president, many would agree he has delivered on that promise. In just one year, Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and the Paris climate treaty, launched cruise missiles at Syria for using chemical weapons, increased American arms sales abroad, refused to certify Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan ...
Jan 30, 2018•48 min
A year into President Trump’s term, what can we say about the Trump Doctrine? As a candidate, Trump promised dramatic changes for American foreign policy. As president, many would agree he has delivered on that promise. In just one year, Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and the Paris climate treaty, launched cruise missiles at Syria for using chemical weapons, increased American arms sales abroad, refused to certify Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan ...
Jan 30, 2018•1 hr 35 min
Like the country’s overall education discussion, the national school choice debate is far too often reduced to “which schools get better test scores” and maybe even “who gets kids to graduation.” But there is so much more to education than blunt academic outcome measures, including shaping character, transmitting culture, and just plain advancing freedom.In this special, National School Choice Week Facebook Live event, join the Cato Center for Educational Freedom crew to tackle these far deeper,...
Jan 25, 2018•48 min
Trade, tariffs, and America’s role in the global economy have taken center stage in the public policy debate during the first year of Donald Trump’s tumultuous presidency. That’s not surprising to economic historian and Dartmouth economics professor Douglas A. Irwin, whose latest treatise on the subject documents in exquisite detail how “the Tariff” has sparked passionate political, economic, and constitutional debate and has been a source of bitter political conflict from the Founding of the Re...
Jan 24, 2018•1 hr 31 min
For just one week every year, roughly 70,000 people from around the world come together in the Nevada desert to create Black Rock City, home to Burning Man, billed by its organizers as an “annual experiment in temporary community dedicated to radical self-expression and radical self-reliance.” Because cash exchanges and the barter system are largely banned in Black Rock City (Burning Man instead relies on something called the “gift economy”), Burning Man is often seen as an attack on conventiona...
Jan 24, 2018•1 hr 31 min
Public corruption is the silent killer of our economy. We’ve spawned the thickest network of patronage and influence ever seen in any country, a crony capitalism in which business partners with government and transfers wealth from the poor to the rich. This is a betrayal of the Framers’ vision for America, and of the Constitution they saw as an anti corruption covenant. This state of affairs repels many Americans, a response that explains the otherwise improbable rises of Donald Trump and Bernie...
Jan 23, 2018•1 hr 33 min
The second session of the 115th Congress is underway, and congressional leaders have to address a number of wide-ranging and contentious issues before the midterm campaign and election season begins.Among those, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program expires early in March, and whatever happens in the short term will still leave reform opportunities for policies that satisfy both the security and labor needs of the country and that ensure the just and equitable treatment of noncitize...
Jan 23, 2018•43 min
Since Colorado became the first state to allow for the sale of recreational marijuana, United States drug policy has been on shaky and unpredictable ground. Just this month U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has thrown out Obama-era guidance to protect businesses and individuals in states that have legalized cannabis for medical and recreational purposes. Now that federal prosecutors have additional discretion, what's next for the feds' reinvigorated war on pot? Join us for a live discussion ab...
Jan 22, 2018•55 min
Governments across the globe have begun evolving from lumbering bureaucracies into smaller, more agile special jurisdictions. Private providers increasingly deliver services that political authorities formerly monopolized, inspiring greater competition and efficiency. In Your Next Government?: From the Nation State to Stateless Nations , Tom W. Bell, professor at Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law, shows how these trends suggest that new networks of special jurisdictions will soon...
Jan 18, 2018•1 hr 28 min
Robin Hanson and Kevin Simler have written a book about the hidden motives in all of us: quite often, our brains get up to activities that we know little or nothing about. This isn’t just a question of regulating hormone levels or involuntary reflexes. Many of these involuntary behaviors are social signals, such as laughter or tears. Involuntary motives appear to underlie many forms of human sociability, including family formation, art, religion, and recreation. What are the implications for pub...
Jan 09, 2018•1 hr 26 min
With the Federal Reserve likely to raise interest rates at this week’s FOMC meeting, another step will have been taken in the Fed’s “Normalization” plan. The Fed will, however, enter 2018 facing many more issues: the continued unwinding of response measures taken during the Financial Crisis and the high levels of turnover in the Federal Reserve system. Federal Reserve Chair nominee Jerome Powell awaits a confirmation vote and searches continue for other key positions. Join us for a wide-ranging ...
Dec 15, 2017•31 min
From front-page news stories featuring transcripts of wiretapped campaign officials to dramatic cyberattacks using hacking tools stolen from the National Security Agency, intelligence and surveillance issues have saturated the news in 2017. Yet there were also plenty of important surveillance stories that didn't get the exposure they deserved: the ongoing debate over reauthorizing the NSA's controversial section 702 spying authority, set to expire at year's end; the Supreme Court's pending consi...
Dec 15, 2017•1 hr 8 min
From front-page news stories featuring transcripts of wiretapped campaign officials to dramatic cyberattacks using hacking tools stolen from the National Security Agency, intelligence and surveillance issues have saturated the news in 2017. Yet there were also plenty of important surveillance stories that didn't get the exposure they deserved: the ongoing debate over reauthorizing the NSA's controversial section 702 spying authority, set to expire at year's end; the Supreme Court's pending consi...
Dec 13, 2017•1 hr 24 min
From front-page news stories featuring transcripts of wiretapped campaign officials to dramatic cyberattacks using hacking tools stolen from the National Security Agency, intelligence and surveillance issues have saturated the news in 2017. Yet there were also plenty of important surveillance stories that didn't get the exposure they deserved: the ongoing debate over reauthorizing the NSA's controversial section 702 spying authority, set to expire at year's end; the Supreme Court's pending consi...
Dec 13, 2017•54 min
From front-page news stories featuring transcripts of wiretapped campaign officials to dramatic cyberattacks using hacking tools stolen from the National Security Agency, intelligence and surveillance issues have saturated the news in 2017. Yet there were also plenty of important surveillance stories that didn't get the exposure they deserved: the ongoing debate over reauthorizing the NSA's controversial section 702 spying authority, set to expire at year's end; the Supreme Court's pending consi...
Dec 13, 2017•1 hr 11 min
How is the Pentagon faring under the Trump administration? More than many administrations, the Trump administration seems determined to rely on the Department of Defense as the primary tool of U.S. foreign policy. With the President’s open acclaim for his ‘generals,’ the Pentagon looms large in today’s U.S. foreign policy.Yet the new administration’s policies also create questions about the future of U.S. defense policy, from increased deployments in the Middle East to ongoing debate over the de...
Dec 13, 2017•39 min
From front-page news stories featuring transcripts of wiretapped campaign officials to dramatic cyberattacks using hacking tools stolen from the National Security Agency, intelligence and surveillance issues have saturated the news in 2017. Yet there were also plenty of important surveillance stories that didn't get the exposure they deserved: the ongoing debate over reauthorizing the NSA's controversial section 702 spying authority, set to expire at year's end; the Supreme Court's pending consi...
Dec 13, 2017•51 min
From front-page news stories featuring transcripts of wiretapped campaign officials to dramatic cyberattacks using hacking tools stolen from the National Security Agency, intelligence and surveillance issues have saturated the news in 2017. Yet there were also plenty of important surveillance stories that didn't get the exposure they deserved: the ongoing debate over reauthorizing the NSA's controversial section 702 spying authority, set to expire at year's end; the Supreme Court's pending consi...
Dec 13, 2017•51 min
From front-page news stories featuring transcripts of wiretapped campaign officials to dramatic cyberattacks using hacking tools stolen from the National Security Agency, intelligence and surveillance issues have saturated the news in 2017. Yet there were also plenty of important surveillance stories that didn't get the exposure they deserved: the ongoing debate over reauthorizing the NSA's controversial section 702 spying authority, set to expire at year's end; the Supreme Court's pending consi...
Dec 13, 2017•21 min
Some members of Congress are committed to holding the line on spending, but they face opposition from others more focused on busting spending caps and securing funds for pork programs. Yet federal deficits are soaring, and inefficient spending impedes economic growth by crowding out better state, local, and private alternatives.Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), on the discretionary side, has created a new and updated list of wasteful spending programs in his latest report, Federal Fumbles: 100 Ways th...
Dec 07, 2017•1 hr 4 min
On December 5, 1933, the Twenty-First Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, supposedly ending our nation’s failed experiment with alcohol prohibition. Prohibition brought with it violence, organized crime, unsafe alcohol practices, and denial of basic civil liberties — and it almost killed the cocktail. Yet, 84 years later, we continue to feel the lingering effects of prohibition, both in policy and in culture — from blue laws, dry counties, and state-run liquor stores to the selection of ...
Dec 06, 2017•1 hr 1 min
Nearly four years have passed since Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity brought down the corrupt government of Viktor Yanukovych. The revolution inspired widespread support and generated hope for a better future; yet Ukrainians’ expectations are far from being met. The economy has shrunk by 16 percent; the authorities have devalued the currency and defaulted on debt; living standards have plummeted; and growth remains weak. Levels of corruption and of political and civil liberties have hardly change...
Dec 06, 2017•1 hr 26 min
Amid much controversy, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos recently began dismantling the federal guidance on campus sexual assault put in place by the Obama administration. DeVos said her predecessors had created a “failed system” that served neither accuser nor accused. Ending campus sexual assault was a signature issue of the Obama administration, which waged a concerted five-year effort to end what it said was an epidemic of sexual violence on college campuses. Emily Yoffe, contributing edito...
Dec 05, 2017•1 hr 26 min
