Cato Event Podcast

Daniel Ellsberg. Edward Snowden. Elin Baklid-Kunz. Lynn Stout. Diane Roark. Franz Gayl. They and others like them come from all across the country. Some worked for the federal government; others worked in the private sector. All have one thing in common: in the organizations for which they worked, they saw things they knew were morally and legally wrong. Each made a life-altering decision to do something about it.In his new book, Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in an Age of Fraud, journalist Tom Mueller takes us into the world of the whistleblower. What makes them different? Why did they elect to act when others would not? Do the pathologies in large organizations — whether in government or the private sector — inevitably produce whistleblowers? Is Congress serious about protecting whistleblowers? How do protections for federal whistleblowers differ from agency to agency and from the private sector? Are new federal “insider threat” programs just a bureaucrat smokescreen for cracking down on internal diss

Naloxone—an opioid antagonist that reverses overdoses—is a safe, effective, critical tool for preventing opioid-overdose deaths. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration nevertheless continues to require a prescription for each naloxone purchase, an unnecessary requirement that limits access to this life-saving drug.On October 2, the Cato Institute will hold a two-part Capitol Hill Briefing to discuss how naloxone can save even more lives. First, Cato senior fellow Jeffrey A. Singer and Cato adjunct scholar David A. Hyman will discuss the effectiveness of naloxone and the effect of, and reasons for, the FDA’s prescription requirement. Second, the Washington, DC, Department of Health will conduct naloxone training for all willing adult attendees and will distribute easy-to-use Narcan, a nasal-spray version of naloxone, to those who complete the training.Attending this event could help you save a life. We encourage each congressional office to designate at least one staffer to attend this event, train in naloxone

In his forthcoming book How to Be a Dictator, Frank Dikötter examines the cults and propaganda surrounding twentieth-century dictators, from Hitler and Stalin to Mao Zedong and Kim II Sung. These men were the founders of modern dictatorships, and they learned from each other and from history to build their regimes and maintain their public images. Their dictatorships, in turn, have influenced leaders in the 21st century, including Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Data are the lifeblood of public policy analysis. In criminal justice policy, crime data can be used to determine whether crime victimization is trending up or down in a given area or whether an innovative type of policing is effective. But how data are analyzed can have extraordinary effects on policy outcomes and future recommendations.In his re-released award-winning book, The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America (Harvard University Press, 2019), Khalil Gibran Muhammad details the history of how crime data became evidence of racial inferiority that helped shape criminal justice policy and American thought for more than 100 years.While urban elites viewed crime committed by European immigrants as a call for palliative social remedy, crime by black migrants from the American South was considered racially endemic and thus was to be dealt with punitively. Condemnation of Blackness is essential reading to understand how ideas of black dangerousness and criminality are l

American higher education is in a bad place: public confidence is dropping, prices are daunting, and presidential candidates are clamoring to fundamentally change how it’s funded. Join us to hear U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) discuss his interest in finding solutions to the many problems with higher education policy. Attendees will then hear from the authors and editors of three new books tackling higher education’s myriad ailments and how to fix them. Many things must change in the ivory tower, and you’ll hear clear, grounded ideas about what those should be. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

James Grant’s new book,Bagehot: The Life and Times of the Greatest Victorian, tells the story of Walter Bagehot — a 19th century banker, an essayist, and a former editor ofThe Economist. Born in a small town in late-Georgian England, Bagehot became one of the most influential figures in Victorian-era finance and politics. Indeed, thanks to his celebrated 1873 treatise,Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market, Bagehot remains influential today, not just in England but in financial centers everywhere.Lombard Streetis a work to which all modern central bankers pay homage, even if they often fail to heed its advice. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

An Introduction to Constitutional Lawwill teach you the narrative of constitutional law as it has developed over the past two centuries. All readers — even those unfamiliar with American history — will learn the essential background for grasping how this body of law has come to be what it is today. The accompanying online video library brings to life the Supreme Court’s 100 most important decisions; the videos are enriched by photographs, maps, and even audio from Supreme Court arguments. More importantly, this multimedia work is accessible to all: students in law school, college, high school, and homeschool, as well as lifelong learners pursuing independent study. Law students can read and watch these materials to prepare for class or use the platform after class to fill in any gaps in their notes. Come exam time, students can binge-watch the entire canon of constitutional law in about 12 hours. Please join us to learn about this innovative project, with comment by a prominent federal judge and a leading Sup

Has the spread of capitalism been a net positive or a net negative for women around the world? Is capitalism an inherently exploitative, oppressive, and patriarchal economic system entwined with the subjugation of women? Or has it helped to empower women, enhancing their material well-being and fostering gender parity? Advocates of women’s welfare disagree on these important questions. As a result, they seek to advance very different economic policies despite a shared goal of promoting female empowerment. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On September 11, 2001, al Qaeda terrorists killed nearly 3,000 innocent men, women, and children in four coordinated attacks, the deadliest such incident in history and the bloodiest day on American soil in over a century. Since that time, the Pentagon says more than 7,000 Americans have been killed in the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Greater Middle East, as well as in other military operations associated with the War on Terror.Many Americans still recall the trauma of 9/11 and are aware of the scale of death and destruction wrought that day. Some have a sense of the numbers of U.S. troops killed in wars since. Very few, however, are aware of the others who have died in these wars. For example, the Costs of War Project counts at least 244,000 civilian deaths in just three countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Much higher estimates may be derived from episodic reporting of incidents involving noncombatants killed as a result of U.S. military action worldwide.At this special policy forum, a distingu

Economist Emily Oster’s new book,Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool, cuts through the alarmist rhetoric and fearmongering that surrounds modern-day parenting with a cool-headed look at the data. Oster’s book argues there is no single optimal set of child-rearing decisions. Rather, she applies economic thinking to help parents evaluate the available choices for themselves. She also shows that many widely held views and official government recommendations for parents are not backed up by evidence. Join us to hear Oster and Julie Gunlock discuss the ”dismal science”, statistical literacy, and how to make parenting decisions in the face of an alarmist parenting culture. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Libertarians and conservatives alike claim to be advocates of individual liberty, limited government, and free markets. In some policy spheres, these shared values lead libertarians and conservatives to similar conclusions about public policy. As a result, popular political discourse often conflates libertarianism with conservatism, and proponents of "fusionism" go so far as to regard a libertarian-conservative alliance as being both natural and politically useful.However, the differences between the two political philosophies are at least as significant as the similarities. On matters such as national security and foreign policy, immigration, criminal justice, drugs, surveillance, marriage and the family, and the role of religion in public policy, libertarians and conservatives often clash with one another.Despite whatever similarities they may have, libertarianism and conservatism are substantially different political philosophies. So which one provides better answers to today's most important political que

Socialism has failed every time it has been tried, yet it still appeals to parts of the American public that have little or no experience with it. Irreverent but honest economists Robert Lawson and Benjamin Powell will describe what they saw when they visited real-life examples of socialism in Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela and other countries that are living with the socialist legacy. Using anecdotes and informed by scholarship, they will explain why socialism is often catastrophic, why Sweden is not an example of socialism, and why many of the claims of socialist politicians in America are so wrong-headed. Matt Kibbe will describe how young Americans’ views on socialism have evolved in recent years. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Six months after Nicolás Maduro was declared a “usurper” by Venezuela’s National Assembly and Juan Guaidó was sworn in as interim president, political gridlock has set in. The ongoing talks in Barbados between the regime and representatives of the democratic forces do not hold the promise of a swift solution to the crisis engulfing Venezuela. Luis Almagro, secretary general of the Organization of American States, will describe what’s at stake and discuss international efforts that can be made to put pressure on Maduro’s regime. María Corina Machado, former member of the National Assembly and prominent leader of the opposition, will assess the process of restoring democracy so far and offer a strategic vision. Pedro Urruchurtu will briefly explain how Venezuela got to this point. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Since the 2016 election, college campuses have erupted in violent protests and demands for safe spaces and the silencing of views that activist groups find disagreeable. Who are the leaders behind these protests, and what do they want? In Panic Attack, libertarian journalist Robby Soave answers these questions by profiling young radicals from across the political spectrum.Soave documents a multitude of competing post-liberal political views among the young, from the Democratic Socialists of America to Turning Point USA. He explicates the ideologies and social conditions that have fostered these nascent movements, paying special attention to the identarian concerns that often animate Generation Z activists. Although these budding radicals are politically inexperienced and often poorly organized, they have already redrawn the lines of political debate around speech and censorship, and their break from the strictures of postwar party politics has the potential to permanently reshape America’s political land

The ancient Greeks believed that the mythical Gorgon could turn those who stared at it to stone. The Pentagon’s surveillance technology named after this creature, Gorgon Stare, has used its aerial near-panopticon surveillance capabilities to turn Salafist insurgents into targets. But should such a powerful, virtually all-seeing aerial spying system be allowed to operate over American communities? Arthur Holland Michel, Deputy Director of the Center for the Study of the Drone, tackles this question in his new book, Eyes in the Sky: The Secret Rise of Gorgon Stare and How It Will Watch Us All. Join us on June 25 at 1:00 p.m. as an expert panel talks with Michel about his book and about Gorgon Stare’s implications for the constitutional rights of Americans. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For many Americans, the distinction between military policy and domestic law enforcement is clear: the U.S. military is deployed abroad and tasked with defense of vital national interests, while at home police officers protect life, liberty, and property by investigating and deterring crimes. But as Christopher Coyne and Abigail Hall explain in their book Tyranny Comes Home: The Domestic Fate of U.S. Militarism, years of policy decisions at home and abroad have eroded this distinction.Military equipment and tactics often find their way to police departments thanks to what Coyne and Hall call the “boomerang effect,” which can result in needlessly aggressive policing and violations of civil liberties. What are the origins of the boomerang effect? Can police militarization be reversed? Does modern policing require military-grade surveillance equipment? Join us for a book forum featuring Coyne and Hall, who tackle these and other pressing questions. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Congress reformed America’s legal immigration system nearly three decades ago. Since that time, the system’s outdated and arbitrary immigration quotas have doubled wait times for green cards for legal immigrants. At the border, a new challenge has emerged in the form of illegal immigration and asylum seekers from Central America. Wide bipartisan agreement exists that both temporary and permanent immigration policies need to be reformed, yet Congress and the administration have failed to settle on the best approach. As the debate continues in Congress, join us as our speakers explain the problems with and solutions for America’s legal immigration system. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.