Cato Event Podcast

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.

The idea of regional or state-based visas is not a new one. Indeed, Canada and Australia have each implemented successful variations that provide some valuable lessons and hint at the major economic benefits possible for us in the United States. Adoption of a state-based visa program in America would permit our 50-state governments to craft rules for work visa programs that are more adaptable to local economic conditions than the present one-size-fits-all system run from Washington, D.C. While state governors and state and federal lawmakers are warming to the idea, all that stands in the way here is congressional approval.Join us as we discuss the merits of such a plan, the implications for federalism, immigration, and labor markets, and the possibility of it gaining traction in this Congress. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Unlike most other people around the world, even in democracies such as Canada and England, we Americans are free to speak our minds without government approval or oversight. The Constitution’s First Amendment and the law that has grown up under it ensures that right, even when the speech is politically controversial or otherwise offensive. Yet the battle to protect free speech is never finally won, as our campuses and courtrooms attest. And no one has done more in that battle to defend that right than Floyd Abrams, who has gone before the Supreme Court in cases ranging from the struggle over the Pentagon Papers to Citizens United and more, much more. With this new, accessible book, The Soul of the First Amendment, Abrams draws on a lifetime of experience defending our right to speak freely. Please join us for a discussion of this bedrock principle in our constitutional order. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is it time to end the U.S. Department of Education? With bipartisan support, the Every Student Succeeds Act curbed much of the federal control that reached its apogee with the No Child Left Behind Act, Race to the Top, and NCLB waivers. Now, with the Trump administration considering federal influence to spread school choice, even many of the biggest advocates of a robust federal role may be rethinking federal power. Join us as we debate whether it is time, politically and educationally, to eliminate the Department of Education, and if so, what should happen to its programs and functions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is a growing consensus that America imprisons too many people.  Americans constitute 5 percent of the world’s population and yet we hold nearly one quarter of its prisoners. In his new book, Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration and How to Achieve Real Reform, law professor John Pfaff argues that the War on Drugs and other federal policies receive outsized attention in the popular movements for criminal justice reform while local institutional actors go virtually unmentioned. According to Pfaff, the charging decisions of local prosecutors have been a key driver of prison growth since the early 1990s. Please join us for a lively discussion about police, prosecutors, sentencing, and our burgeoning prison population. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 2016 presidential campaign represented a break from the past in many ways, perhaps nowhere more so than in foreign policy. Donald Trump’s insurgent campaign did not draw advisers from the established foreign policy community — the voices that Barack Obama once disparagingly referred to as "the Blob" — and the candidate himself often seemed willing to challenge foreign policy orthodoxy, from NATO spending to U.S. Middle East interventionism.As such, the Trump administration offers a unique opportunity for voices outside the traditional Washington foreign policy community. Thus far, the incoming administration has engaged leaders in the business world and recruited from the military and the corporate sector for key posts. Yet foreign policy and international relations researchers at universities around the country form another untapped pool of expert knowledge on foreign affairs. From grand strategy to cybersecurity, and nuclear posture to democratic stability, political scientists study the key questions animating today’s most important political debates.Join the Bridging the Gap Initiative and the Cato Institute for a discussion of the ways in which international relations scholars and academics can influence policy during the Trump administration. Our panelists will highlight key foreign policy issues facing the new administration and explore how political science research can help to shape the course of the next four years.Join the conversation on Twitter using #CatoFP. Follow @CatoEvents on Twitter to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

National decline often arises from special interests corrupting a country’s institutions. Such narrow interests include crony capitalists, consumer activists, economic elites, and labor unions. Less attention is given to government insiders — rulers, elected officials, bureaucrats, and public employees. In autocracies and democracies, government insiders have the motive, means, and opportunity to co-opt political power for their benefit and at the expense of national well-being. Many storied empires have succumbed to such inside jobs. Today, they imperil countries as different as China and the United States. Democracy — government by the people — does not ensure government for the people. Understanding how government insiders use their power to subvert the public interest — and how these negative consequences can be mitigated — will be front and center at this intriguing book forum. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.