Heard at Heritage

For nearly a century, the Academy Awards have been given to Hollywood’s favorite movies and the people who made them—from Casablanca and Titanic to 2018’s winner, Green Book. But a large cultural gap has developed between the awards and Middle America. Nominated movies like the pot-boiler Vice and politically-correct speeches by Oscar winners like Spike Lee have sparked questions like: Who are the members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences? What is their political affiliation? What is the process that decides the winners? Are the results skewed by the millions of dollars spent to promote this movie and that actor? And there are larger questions: Why does Hollywood avoid making movies that celebrate America’s past? Should cultural conservatives step up and underwrite up-lifting movies like It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street? Do the Academy Awards still matter or is it time for an alternative film festival?We agree with Andrew Breitbart that politics is downstream from culture and invite you to attend a far-ranging discussion of the recent Academy Awards and whether they reflect the cultural views of most Americans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Contemporary Supreme Court jurisprudence treats “property” as far less deserving of judicial protection than “life” or “liberty.” The Supreme Court, however, has misread American legal history. Anglo-American traditions, customs, and law held that property was an essential ingredient of the liberty that the colonists had come to enjoy and that must be protected against arbitrary governmental interference. The Framers' generation believed that “property” and “liberty” were equally important institutions and that neither one could exist without the other. The Framers venerated property as a means of guaranteeing personal independence because (among other things) the concept of “property” embraced the legal rights to which everyone was entitled, such as the right to governance under “the rule of law.” Property was not immune from regulation, but that regulation had to be for the purpose of promoting “the general Welfare,” not the interests of specific groups or people. It is time for the Supreme Court to revisit Anglo-American legal history and to re-examine its precedents in light of what that history teaches.For a complete list of speakers, topics, and dates of the Free Markets: The Ethical Economic Choice speaker series visit heritage.org/free-markets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While Washington focuses on federal policies, the 50 states serve as an example to national lawmakers of policies that help and those that hurt. This year’s 11th edition of the Rich States Poor States, the ALEC-Laffer State Competitiveness Index, examines what states have been doing to either grow their populations and economies or to shrink them.Of particular note in 2018 was how states responded to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which brought about both unexpected revenue gains as well as a limit to states’ ability to pass their high-taxes onto federal taxpayers through the state and local tax deduction.In addition to taxes, the report examines states’ business environments, labor policies, and growing pension burdens. As the authors find, people are voting with their feet based on which states offer lower costs, fewer regulations, and greater opportunities. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The House and Senate Judiciary Committees have broad jurisdiction, with both playing a powerful and critical role in Congress. In the Senate, the committee is responsible for providing oversight over key activities of the executive branch, including the Department of Justice, and is responsible for the confirmation process of judicial and many executive branch nominations. The House Judiciary Committee, often referred to as the lawyer for the House of Representatives, has jurisdiction over matters relating to the administration of justice in Federal courts, administrative bodies, and law enforcement agencies. With the beginning of the 116th Congress, and the changes that the mid-term elections ushered in, now is an opportune time to assess what’s going on and to clearly lay out a conservative agenda for both chambers.We are delighted to have Senator Lindsey Graham, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Congressman Doug Collins, Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Committee, join us to discuss their priorities for the new Congress. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On February 3, 2019 Nayib Bukele was elected president of El Salvador with one of the highest majorities in the Central American nation’s history. His election also marks the first time a third party candidate won the presidency since the 1992 Peace Accords. His election takes place at an opportune moment for El Salvador and U.S.-Salvadoran relations.Come join us to hear the president-elect’s reform agenda for El Salvador. In keeping with his campaign slogan “there’s enough money when no one steals”, Bukele will discuss his plans for fighting corruption. He will also discuss his policies for strengthening the rule of law and creating economic growth. Necessary to his agenda will be deepening and broadening cooperation with the United States. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After six years of failed attempts to get Russia to return to compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty obligations, the U.S. officially announced its intention to withdraw from the treaty on December 4, 2018. To date, much of the discussion surrounding the U.S. withdrawal from the INF Treaty has focused on the implications for Russia, the European Union, and trans-Atlantic relations. Far less attention has been devoted to the implications for U.S. strategy in the Indo-Pacific. Specifically, what does America’s withdrawal from the INF treaty mean for U.S. partners and allies in the region? How does this decision stand to effect the conventional military balance in the region? What are the implications for U.S.-China relations and how has it been received in Beijing, which is not a party to the INF treaty and has been investing in its land-based missile capabilities for decades? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The suffering of America's working class is real. Immobility, inequality, a retreat from marriage, and deaths of despair are the symptoms. In short, for much of the country, the American Dream is dead. The root cause is the collapse of local community for the working-class. The institutions of civil society that are still strong in some parts of America, specifically among the elites, are fading away as America secularizes and the classes drift apart. Join Tim Carney as he discusses his new book, Alienated America, documenting these tragic realities, and what we can do to combat them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Six states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws providing for “physician-assisted suicide.” Sometimes proposed as relief for patients undergoing pain and suffering, physician-assisted suicide constitutes a major break with the traditional medical ethics embodied in the Hippocratic Oath that call on doctors to heal patients. Many analysts across the ideological spectrum agree: the normalization of medical killing poses a threat to the poor, disabled, and vulnerable members of society.How can policymakers address the need for persons to plan for terminal illness - and improve end of life care?Our expert panel will address these and many other questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Equating capitalism with colonialism, Africa’s nationalist leaders rejected it and adopted socialism in the 1960s. Foreign companies were nationalized, a string of state-owned enterprises were established and a plethora of state controls on rent, prices, imports and foreign exchange were imposed to capture the commanding heights of the economy. But nowhere in Africa was the socialist experiment successful. It was a miserable fiasco in country after country including Angola (under dos Santos), Benin (under Kerekou), Ethiopia (under Mengistu), Ghana (under Nkrumah), Guinea (under Toure), Mali (under Keita), Mozambique (under Chissano), Tanzania (under Nyerere), and Zambia, among others.In 1961, workers on Ghana state farms barely produce enough to feed themselves let alone the nation. In Tanzania, Ujamaa destroyed the country’s agriculture. Ethiopia’s misguided villagization program did the same. Zimbabwe socialist experiment ended in disaster, transforming the country which used to be called the breadbasket of the region into a net food importer, with millions facing starvation. Over 4 million fled the country into neighboring countries such as Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique. Tragically, South Africa is gearing up to repeat these catastrophic mistakes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the past few years, the world has seen the dramatic movement of Islamist terrorists to war zones around the world. While this is not a new phenomenon, the elevated level of terrorist travel to places like Syria and Iraq from many nations in Europe and North America was deeply concerning to many policymakers across the globe. Now as ISIS loses its last stronghold in Syria, similar concerns over returning terrorist fighters must be addressed. The U.S. led the way following 9/11 in its efforts to combat terrorist travel through intelligence sharing programs like the Visa Waiver Program and a revamped vetting system. Other countries are also following suit, with the EU recently implementing passenger name record vetting, but more remains to be done to ensure that terrorists are unable to travel to carry out their violent endeavors.Please join us for an address and conversation with Ambassador Nathan Sales on the status of the fight against terrorist travel and what needs be done going forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.