Cato Event Podcast

When the state offers money, licenses, or other benefits (such as reduced sentences) with “strings” attached, that’s a powerful method of government control. The federal government increasingly uses this method to induce states, localities, and private parties to submit to conditions of its choosing. And yet this formidable power can enable it to sidestep vital limits that would otherwise apply to its authority. For example, it can secure submission to rules that it would lack the constitutional power to order directly or that would otherwise be subject to the checks and balances of the political process.Courts and lawyers have brought to bear on this problem the theory of “unconstitutional conditions,” but in Purchasing Submission, renowned legal scholar Philip Hamburger argues that a broader critique is needed if we are to protect liberty and rein in the danger of arbitrary power. Please join us for a lively discussion of a new book by one of today’s preeminent constitutional thinkers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who should supply the nation with digital currency? Should the Fed do it, should the private sector do it, or should it be provided by some combination of the two? Join us on November 2 for a conversation with J. Christopher Giancarlo, former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Dante Disparte, Circle’s chief strategy officer and head of global policy. The event will be moderated by Cato’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives director emeritus George Selgin, during which Giancarlo and Disparte will discuss the merits of digital currency, both public and private. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This conference, part of Cato’s Project on Poverty and Inequality in California, will bring together a diverse group of political, business, and academic leaders to discuss regulatory and other barriers to rebuilding economic opportunity in poor and minority communities ravaged by COVID-19.Full event: A New Agenda for Fighting Poverty and Inequality in California (Los Angeles) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beginning in the 19th century with Anthony Comstock, America’s “censor in chief,” The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder explores how censors operate and why they wore out their welcome in society at large. This book explains how the same tactics were tried and eventually failed in the 20th century, with efforts to censor music, comic books, television, and other forms of popular entertainment. The historic examples illustrate not only the mindset and tactics of censors but also why they are the ultimate counterculture warriors and why, in free societies, censors never occupy the moral high ground. This forum and book will interest anyone who wants to know more about why freedom of speech is important and how protections for free expression became part of the American identity.Please join us for a lively discussion of a major new work by one of America’s leading advocates for freedom of speech. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This conference, part of Cato’s Project on Poverty and Inequality in California, will bring together a diverse group of political, business, and academic leaders to discuss regulatory and other barriers to rebuilding economic opportunity in poor and minority communities ravaged by COVID-19.Full event: A New Agenda for Fighting Poverty and Inequality in California (Sacramento) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.