Cato Event Podcast

In 1993, when Jonathan Rauch's landmark book Kindly Inquisitors was first published, the idea that minorities need special protection from discriminatory or demeaning speech was innovative. Today, it's standard operating procedure--routinely enforced by universities, employers, foreign governments, and even international treaties. In a newly expanded electronic edition of his book, Rauch, an openly gay advocate of same-sex marriage and of gay equality generally, argues that suppressing hateful speech does minorities more harm than good, and that the gay civil rights movement of the past two decades dramatically illustrates the point. Join us as the author explains why gays and other minorities are better off if government protects bigoted speech than if government protects them from it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The rise in economic freedom in countries across the globe in recent decades has led to greater prosperity and improvements in the well-being of hundreds of millions of people. Economic Freedom in Action: Changing Lives profiles inspiring entrepreneurs from some of those countries and shows how increased opportunity has allowed them to build better futures for themselves and their communities. Join us to see a segment of the documentary from the Free to Choose Network, which will air on public television this fall. Michael Walker, founder of the Fraser Institute and originator of its annual Economic Freedom of the World report upon which this film is based, will comment on the impact of the report. Film host Johan Norberg will discuss the transformative power of economic freedom. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

President Obama recently voiced his ambition to reduce the U.S. nuclear arsenal to as few as 1,000 deployed warheads. Yet while the United States has cut the arsenal's size greatly since the Cold War's end, its missions and composition have barely changed. Around 1,600 deployed nuclear weapons remain tied to a triad of systems — bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles — that are designed for preemptive strikes against enemy arsenals. Current plans call for modernizing all three systems, which could cost taxpayers over $100 billion. A new Cato White Paper — The End of Overkill? Reassessing U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy — argues for getting rid of the triad by basing U.S. nuclear weapons exclusively on submarines. It explains how the triad came from bureaucratic compromises, not strategic necessity; punctures the myths that sustained it; and shows how its burden on taxpayers is increasingly unjustified.Please join us for a discussion of these issues at a forum featuring the paper's authors and two leading experts on U.S. nuclear policy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is the role of government in society? Different answers to this question have important consequences. Such disagreement recently led to the partial shutdown of the U.S. government. Thinkers from Aristotle to the American Founders to Ron Paul have argued that a crucial role of government is to protect individuals’ liberty to pursue happiness. While other thinkers have challenged this view, deeming it simplistic or unambitious in its pursuits, the Millennial generation has widely adopted the mantra “live and let live.” These arguments about liberty imply other questions. What are the benefits of a political system based on liberty? What are the implications of limiting individual liberty in pursuit of collective goals, whether on the Right or the Left? And how will the appeal of liberty to young people change the way the world views government? Please join us on October 14 at 6:00p.m. for an exploration of these ideas and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since June, news reports based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have revealed the depth and breadth of NSA surveillance activities. The NSA scandal’s many dimensions include: mass domestic surveillance of telephone call information; allegations that officials deceived Congress, the courts, and the public about the nature of the NSA’s programs; alleged access to the Internet’s backbone and the traffic of major Internet companies; and systematic efforts to undercut the use of the encryption that secures communications and financial information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since June, news reports based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have revealed the depth and breadth of NSA surveillance activities. The NSA scandal’s many dimensions include: mass domestic surveillance of telephone call information; allegations that officials deceived Congress, the courts, and the public about the nature of the NSA’s programs; alleged access to the Internet’s backbone and the traffic of major Internet companies; and systematic efforts to undercut the use of the encryption that secures communications and financial information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since June, news reports based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have revealed the depth and breadth of NSA surveillance activities. The NSA scandal’s many dimensions include: mass domestic surveillance of telephone call information; allegations that officials deceived Congress, the courts, and the public about the nature of the NSA’s programs; alleged access to the Internet’s backbone and the traffic of major Internet companies; and systematic efforts to undercut the use of the encryption that secures communications and financial information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since June, news reports based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have revealed the depth and breadth of NSA surveillance activities. The NSA scandal’s many dimensions include: mass domestic surveillance of telephone call information; allegations that officials deceived Congress, the courts, and the public about the nature of the NSA’s programs; alleged access to the Internet’s backbone and the traffic of major Internet companies; and systematic efforts to undercut the use of the encryption that secures communications and financial information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since June, news reports based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have revealed the depth and breadth of NSA surveillance activities. The NSA scandal’s many dimensions include: mass domestic surveillance of telephone call information; allegations that officials deceived Congress, the courts, and the public about the nature of the NSA’s programs; alleged access to the Internet’s backbone and the traffic of major Internet companies; and systematic efforts to undercut the use of the encryption that secures communications and financial information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since June, news reports based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have revealed the depth and breadth of NSA surveillance activities. The NSA scandal’s many dimensions include: mass domestic surveillance of telephone call information; allegations that officials deceived Congress, the courts, and the public about the nature of the NSA’s programs; alleged access to the Internet’s backbone and the traffic of major Internet companies; and systematic efforts to undercut the use of the encryption that secures communications and financial information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.