Cato Event Podcast

President Barack Obama’s announcement that the United States will seek to ease the embargo on, and normalize relations with, Cuba marks the beginning of the end of more than 50 years of failed efforts by Washington to improve human rights or achieve political or economic reform on the island through economic sanctions and diplomatic isolationism. Further moves to end the embargo depend on Congress, however. Senator Flake will explain why he supports normalizing relations and discuss what to expect from a new Congress on policy toward Cuba. Carl Meacham will present national security arguments in favor of engaging Cuba. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12:35 – 2:00 p.m. Luncheon Address His Highness: The Unconstitutional World of Barack Obama Tucker Carlson, Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Caller and Co-Host, Fox & Friends Weekend Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10:50 – 11:00 a.m. Welcoming Remarks John Allison, President and CEO, Cato Institute11:00 – 11:30 a.m. The Forever-War President: Obama’s Dangerous War-Powers Legacy Gene Healy, Vice President, Cato Institute11:30 a.m.– 12:10 p.m. Impact of the 2014 Elections on Policy Daniel Mitchell, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2012, the Live Free or Die state launched a bold initiative to advance educational freedom: scholarship tax credits. The New Hampshire Opportunity Scholarship Act grants tax credits to businesses worth 85 percent of their contributions to nonprofit scholarship organizations that fund low- and middle-income students to attend private or home schools. The scholarship law then faced both a repeal effort in the legislature and a bitter lawsuit that went to the state’s highest court. Join us as we present Live Free and Learn: Scholarship Tax Credits in New Hampshire, a short film detailing the struggle over New Hampshire’s scholarship law and some of the families it has touched. After the film, please join us live online and on Twitter at #CatoConnects for a discussion on the politics, policy, and constitutionality of scholarship tax credit laws.Live Free and Learn: Scholarship Tax Credits in New Hampshire on YouTube. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12:30 – 2:00 p.m.Luncheon Address The Dangers of the Imperial Presidency Tom Campbell, Dean, Chapman University School of Law; Former Member of Congress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10:30 – 10:50 a.m.Registration10:50 – 11:00 a.m.Welcoming Remarks John Allison, President and CEO, Cato Institute11:00 – 11:20 a.m.Technology and Liberty Jim Harper, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute11:20 – 11:40 a.m.Are Millennials More Libertarian? Emily Ekins, Research Fellow, Cato Institute; Polling Director, Reason Foundation11:40 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.Making Immigration Work Alex Nowrasteh, Immigration Policy Analyst, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The economic reforms and subsequent growth in China must count as among the most astonishing and hopeful events of our age. Weiying Zhang was among the leaders who set China on its path of change. His new collection of essays recounts the successes and failures of reform and looks to the future for continued progress. He emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurs in continuing and deepening economic liberalization along with reducing state ownership and control. Please join us to hear a real hero of liberty talk about the past, present, and future of China and free market economics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We hear a lot about moral decline these days. Michael Shermer, the author of Why People Believe Weird Things, The Believing Brain, and eight other books on the evolution of human beliefs and behavior, argues that the scientific way of thinking has made people — and society as a whole — more moral. The Age of Reason and the Enlightenment led theorists to apply scientific reasoning to the nonscientific disciplines of politics, economics, and moral philosophy. Instead of relying on the woodcuts of dissected bodies in old medical texts, physicians opened bodies themselves to see what was there; instead of divining truth through the authority of an ancient book, people began to explore the book of nature for themselves through travel and exploration; instead of the supernatural belief in the divine right of kings, people employed a natural belief in the right of democracy. Abstract reasoning, rationality, empiricism, and skepticism, Shermer says, have profoundly changed the way we perceive morality and, indeed, move us ever closer to a more just world. With advance endorsements from Steven Pinker, Jared Diamond, and Michio Kaku, this book is likely to provoke lots of debate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In an engaging new book, David Gans and Ilya Shapiro provide a comprehensive analysis of the issues in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the blockbuster legal challenge to the Obamacare regulation that required employer-sponsored health plans to provide “free” contraceptive coverage. In a series of debates, these opposing advocates examine whether for-profit corporations can assert religious-exercise claims under federal law, whether businesses (or their owners/directors/officers) with religious objections should be exempt from coverage requirements, and what the consequences would be if the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby. The Court’s decision will be discussed for years and this spirited debate will provide fascinating and informative food for thought for scholars, students, and the public as they grapple with fundamental questions of corporate personhood, religious liberty, and health care policy. Please join us for a reprise of these debates, with commentary by the architect of the constitutional challenge to Obamacare’s individual mandate, Professor Randy Barnett. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Never in human history have people been more connected than they are today — nor have they been more thoroughly monitored. Over the past year, the disclosures spurred by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have drawn public attention to the stunning surveillance capabilities of the American intelligence community, and the unprecedented volume of data they collect from hundreds of millions of people around the world. But the growth of government surveillance is by no means restricted to spies: Even ordinary law enforcement agencies increasingly employ sophisticated tracking technologies, from face recognition software to “Stingray” devices that can locate suspects by sniffing out their cellular phone signals. Are these tools a vital weapon against criminals and terrorists — or a threat to privacy and freedom? How should these tracking technologies be regulated by the Fourth Amendment and federal law? Can we reconcile the secrecy that spying demands with the transparency that democratic accountability requires?This inaugural Cato Institute Surveillance Conference will explore these questions, guided by a diverse array of experts: top journalists and privacy advocates; lawyers and technologists; intelligence officials … and those who’ve been targets of surveillance. And for the more practically minded, a special Crypto Reception, following the Conference, will teach attendees how to use privacy-enhancing technologies to secure their own communications. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.