Cato Event Podcast

Richard Gamble's book, In Search of the City on a Hill: the Making and Unmaking of an American Myth, helps make sense of exceptionalism's evolution. Gamble traces the “city on a hill” metaphor, from Puritan leader John Winthrop, who took it from the gospels, to its reincarnation in the 20th century as an explicitly political idea at the heart of foreign policy debates. Historians Walter McDougall, the author of Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter with the World since 1776, and Derek Leebaert, the author of Magic and Mayhem: The Delusions of American Foreign Policy from Korea to Afghanistan, will provide commentary.

The Supreme Court's ruling last June was only the end of the beginning as far as Obamacare litigation is concerned. Myriad lawsuits unrelated to the individual mandate have continued and — following Nancy Pelosi's advice to dig deeper into what's in the law — others have been filed based on new developments. Issues range from employer mandates to the constitutionality of Chief Justice John Roberts's health insurance nonpurchase tax, from infringement on religious beliefs to a separation-of-powers challenge against the Independent Payment Advisory Board. We're even starting to see lawsuits regarding the implementation of the law, as a host of agencies promulgate rules that often go beyond even the legislation's expansive text. We will bring the lawyers leading two of these cases here to discuss them — one of whom is an intellectual godfather of a fascinating challenge to new IRS regulations. Please join us to learn what we can expect from this new round of Obamacare litigation.

As part of the immigration reform negotiations, politicians are fighting over how best to legalize the unauthorized immigrants here, reform border and work site immigration enforcement, and increase lawful migration going forward. Immigration reform, if done right, holds enormous promise for liberalizing international labor market and increasing economic growth in the United States. Cato policy analyst Alex Nowrasteh will provide an update on what's happening in Washington and how increasing lawful migration and immigration going forward is the most important and overlooked part of reform.

Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business

How Should Schools Respond to America’s Growing Diversity?

The Pivot to Asia and the Future of U.S.-China Relations

In response to the horrific killing of school children in Connecticut last month, the Obama administration is now advancing a series of executive orders and legislative proposals that the Washington Post is describing as "the most expansive gun-control agenda in generations." Tim Lynch, who directs Cato's Project on Criminal Justice, will critique the president’s response to this recent tragedy, provide an update on what's happening in Washington, and evaluate the likely consequences for the Second Amendment.

A Rational Response to the Privacy 'Crisis'

Campaign Finance after Citizens United: What Happened? What Now? Panel 2: The Future of Campaign Finance Regulation

Campaign Finance after Citizens United: What Happened? What Now?Panel 1: After Citizens United: Did Elections Change?

Madmen, Intellectuals and Academic Scribblers

Failing Law Schools

Living with Guns: A Liberal's Case for the Second Amendment

As part of the "fiscal cliff" negotiations, politicians are fighting over how to extract more money from the productive sector to finance bigger government. This is bad news for fiscal policy, particularly since the fallback option is to dive off the cliff with automatic tax increases. Cato senior fellow Dan Mitchell will provide an update on what's happening in Washington and explain what should be done to block class-warfare tax policy and restrain the growing burden of government spending.

Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate