Cato Events Podcast

By Cato InstituteNews Government News Commentary Politics

Cato Events Podcast episodes

July 29, 2017 Cato University 2017: Adam Smith on Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations
From Cato University 2017: Summer Seminar on Political Economy
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
1 hr 9 min
July 28, 2017 Cato University 2017: Documentary Screening and Discussion: The Human Costs of Welfare Policies
From Cato University 2017: Summer Seminar on Political Economy
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
14 min
July 28, 2017 Cato University 2017: Rational Choice and Public Policy Analysis
Public choice has emerged to explain behavior in both markets and politics. To what extent do voters and consumers behave rationally, and how can a science largely germinated in the study of market exchange help to explain politics?
From Cato University 2017: Summer Seminar on Political Economy
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
1 hr 7 min
July 28, 2017 Cato University 2017: Spontaneous Orders
Most of the order in human life wasn't consciously foreseen, designed, or imposed; it just grew. Free societies include many islands of conscious planning, but the overall order of a free society isn't planned. Organizations have purposes, but society has no one purpose.
From Cato University 2017: Summer Seminar on Political Economy
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
1 hr 13 min
July 27, 2017 Cato University 2017: The Economics of Liberty and Prosperity
Modern widespread prosperity is made possible by respect for individual freedom — to think, to plan, to challenge old ways of doing things, to introduce new products and services, to be enterprising. How are liberty and shared prosperity closely connected?
From Cato University 2017: Summer Seminar on Political Economy
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
52 min
July 27, 2017 The Future of Surveillance: Reform, Repeal, or Renewal for Section 702?
One of the most potent and controversial tools in the American intelligence community’s arsenal is set to lapse at the end of this year. Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 allows the government to intercept the communications of foreign targets as they cross U.S. soil—including conversations with American citizens. Spy agencies claim it’s a vital weapon against terrorists and should not only be reauthorized but also made permanent. Civil libertarians, however, worry that the law’s incredible scope—targeting some 100,000 people and hauling in hundreds of millions, if not billions, of communications each year—makes it ripe for abuse without significant reform.
Among the law’s most vocal critics have been two senators from opposite sides of the political spectrum: Ron Wyden and Rand Paul. At this Cato forum, they’ll explore how section 702 works and whether it needs stronger safeguards to protect Americans’ privacy. Should a warrant be required to search for citizens’ communications in the vast 702 database? Is it feasible to demand an estimate of how many Americans have been “incidentally” caught up in 702 surveillance—a number that the intelligence community has said it’s unable to provide? And does the foreign backlash against 702 surveillance threaten global Internet commerce? We’ll delve into these questions in a wide-ranging discussion.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
52 min
July 27, 2017 The Future of Surveillance: Reform, Repeal, or Renewal for Section 702?
One of the most potent and controversial tools in the American intelligence community’s arsenal is set to lapse at the end of this year. Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 allows the government to intercept the communications of foreign targets as they cross U.S. soil—including conversations with American citizens. Spy agencies claim it’s a vital weapon against terrorists and should not only be reauthorized but also made permanent. Civil libertarians, however, worry that the law’s incredible scope—targeting some 100,000 people and hauling in hundreds of millions, if not billions, of communications each year—makes it ripe for abuse without significant reform.
Among the law’s most vocal critics have been two senators from opposite sides of the political spectrum: Ron Wyden and Rand Paul. At this Cato forum, they’ll explore how section 702 works and whether it needs stronger safeguards to protect Americans’ privacy. Should a warrant be required to search for citizens’ communications in the vast 702 database? Is it feasible to demand an estimate of how many Americans have been “incidentally” caught up in 702 surveillance—a number that the intelligence community has said it’s unable to provide? And does the foreign backlash against 702 surveillance threaten global Internet commerce? We’ll delve into these questions in a wide-ranging discussion.
52 min
July 26, 2017 School Choice and Democracy: Friends or Foes?
One of the fundamental historical arguments for traditional public schooling is that compulsory common schools are necessary for a stable democratic society. Horace Mann, the father of American public schooling, argued that common schools would force children from diverse backgrounds, religions, and races to interact with one another and receive instruction on proper virtues. Other people, however, believe that allowing parents to choose the schools they think best for their children could improve essential democratic outcomes by forcing schools to compete and to teach more effectively.

Which system is best to strengthen tolerance and civic engagement in our society? Which theories have the most merit? What does the scientific evidence say?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
1 hr 30 min
July 26, 2017 School Choice and Democracy: Friends or Foes?
One of the fundamental historical arguments for traditional public schooling is that compulsory common schools are necessary for a stable democratic society. Horace Mann, the father of American public schooling, argued that common schools would force children from diverse backgrounds, religions, and races to interact with one another and receive instruction on proper virtues. Other people, however, believe that allowing parents to choose the schools they think best for their children could improve essential democratic outcomes by forcing schools to compete and to teach more effectively.
Which system is best to strengthen tolerance and civic engagement in our society? Which theories have the most merit? What does the scientific evidence say?
1 hr 30 min
July 24, 2017 A Debt Against the Living: An Introduction to Originalism
Thomas Jefferson famously wrote that the earth belongs to the living. His letter to James Madison is often quoted for the proposition that we should not be bound to the “dead hand of the past,” suggesting that the Constitution should instead be interpreted as a living, breathing document. Less well known is Madison’s response, in which he said that the Constitution forms a debt against the living, who take the benefit of it. This debt, Madison claimed, could only be discharged by a kind of originalism. Who is right? Thomas Jefferson or James Madison? Please join us for a conversation with Ilan Wurman, author of the forthcoming book A Debt Against the Living: An Introduction to Originalism, to discuss this and many other questions. Stanford law professor and former federal judge Michael W. McConnell has described the book as the first “to explain to the ordinary citizen—free from what the late Justice Antonin Scalia called ‘jiggery pokery’—what it means to understand the Constitution as enduring law rather than politics by a different name.” All are welcome, but interns, law students, and potential law students may be particularly interested.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
1 hr 3 min

About Cato Events Podcast

From the publisher's feed

The Cato Events Podcast brings you live recordings from the Cato Institute's events, where leading scholars, policymakers, journalists, and experts come together each week to discuss the ideas and…