The Soho Forum Debates

Princeton University professor Paul Frymer and Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley debate the resolution, "The U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision to dismantle affirmative action in American higher education marked a significant regression in the pursuit of racial equality."

Arguing for the affirmative is Frymer, a professor of politics at Princeton. He's the author of Uneasy Alliances: Race and Party Competition in America and Black and Blue: African Americans, the Labor Movement, and the Decline of the Democratic Party.

Arguing against the resolution is Riley, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He's also the author of several relevant titles, including The Affirmative Action Myth: Why Blacks Don't Need Racial Preferences To Succeed and Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed, False Black Power.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein.

The post Should Affirmative Action End? appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Drug policy scholar Kevin Sabet and Reason's Zach Weissmueller debate the resolution, "The failure of Oregon's experiment in decriminalizing all drugs is compelling evidence that other attempts at complete decriminalization will fail just as badly."

Arguing for the affirmative is Sabet, the director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida, and the co-founder and president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. He is the author of Reefer Sanity: Seven Great Myths About Marijuana.

Arguing against the resolution is Weissmueller, a senior producer at Reason, who has been covering the drug war for well over a decade. He recently produced a documentary on why Oregon re-criminalized drugs.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein.

The post Is Oregon Proof That Drug Decriminalization Will Fail? appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Melanie Thompson of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women and Kaytlin Bailey of Old Pros debate the resolution, "Paying for sex should be a crime."

Thompson is arguing in favor of the resolution. She is the chief advocacy and outreach officer at the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women International, an organization working against the trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls.

Bailey is arguing against the resolution and is the founder and executive director of Old Pros, a non-profit media organization that uses storytelling to advocate for sex workers' rights. She is also the host of The Oldest Profession Podcast.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein.

The post Should Paying for Sex Be a Crime? appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Glenn Greenwald and Anna K. Gorisch debate the resolution, "President Trump's deportation policies generally violate key civil liberties as set forth in the U.S. Constitution."

Arguing in favor of the resolution is Greenwald, a journalist and podcaster who won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the National Security Agency–Edward Snowden revelations. He left The Intercept in 2020 to become independent and is now the host of System Update nightly on Rumble.

Opposing the resolution is Gorisch, an immigration attorney at Kendall Immigration Law, PLLC, in Austin, Texas, focusing on employment-based immigration.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

The post Are Trump's Deportations Constitutional? appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Jacob Hacker and David Goldhill debate the resolution: "The government should offer to all Americans a health insurance plan that would compete with private insurance plans."

Jacob Hacker is arguing for the affirmative. He's a professor of political science at Yale University and codirects the Ludwig Program in Public Sector Leadership at Yale Law School. He is a resident fellow at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies.

For the negative is David Goldhill, CEO and cofounder of Sesame, an online marketplace for discounted health services. He is also the author of Catastrophic Care: Why Everything We Think We Know About Health Care Is Wrong.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

The post Should the U.S. Have a Public Health Insurance Plan? appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Hal Brands and Gareth Porter debate the resolution, "The Cold War was a necessary response by the United States to a Soviet and Chinese threat to the global balance of power."

Hal Brands, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, defends the resolution. He has authored multiple books on the Cold War, including The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us About Great-Power Rivalry Today.

Arguing against the resolution is Gareth Porter, an award-winning journalist and historian who authored The CIA Insider's Guide to the Iran Crisis: From CIA Coup to the Brink of War.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein.

The post Was the Cold War a Deception? appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Dave Smith and Alex Nowrasteh debate the resolution, "Government restrictions on the immigration of peaceful and healthy people make sense from a libertarian standpoint, especially in present-day America."

Comedian and host of the podcast, Part of the Problem, Dave Smith defends the resolution. Taking the negative is Alex Nowrasteh, the Vice President for Economic and Social Policy Studies at the Cato Institute. He's the coauthor (with Benjamin Powell) of Wretched Refuse? The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions.

The debate is moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

The post Dave Smith and Alex Nowrasteh Debate Immigration appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Eric Brakey and Andrew Heaton debate the resolution, "Libertarians should focus on building liberty-for-real societies like the Free State Project, rather than reforming an ever-expanding, uncontrollable federal government."

Eric Brakey, executive director of the Free State Project and former Maine state senator, argued in favor of the resolution. Andrew Heaton, comedian, author, and host of The Political Orphanage podcast, argued against it.

The debate was moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

Because of major technical problems during the recording of this event, the audio quality is well below Reason's standards.

The post Should Libertarians Prioritize Their Own Communities? appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Jewish Currents' editor-at-large Peter Beinart and American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Michael Rubin debate the resolution, "The oppression of Palestinians in non-democratic Israel has been systematic and profound."

Arguing for the affirmative is Beinart, a professor of journalism and political science at the Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York. He's a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, editor-at-large for Jewish Currents, and a political commentator for MSNBC. Beinart has authored several books, including Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning, which was released in January of this year.

Arguing for the negative is Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he specializes in the Middle East and Africa, and director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum. He's the author of Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes.

The debate was moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein.

The post Are the Palestinians Systematically Oppressed? appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Scott Horton of The Libertarian Institute and Eli Lake of The Free Press debate the resolution, "The United States started the new Cold War with Russia and provoked Russia's invasion of Ukraine."

Taking the affirmative is Horton, the director of The Libertarian Institute and the editorial director of antiwar.com. He recently published a book on the debate subject called Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine.

Arguing for the negative is Lake, a columnist for The Free Press and contributing editor for Commentary magazine, whose longtime beat has been foreign affairs and national security.

The debate was hosted at Dartmouth College by the Dartmouth Political Union and moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein.

The post Did the U.S. Provoke Russia's Invasion of Ukraine? appeared first on Reason Magazine.