Politics and Culture webinars

An Objectivist Guide to Evaluating Candidates (February 27, 2012)  Every election year Objectivists and friends of freedom must decide: “For whom should I vote, if anyone?” “To whom should I contribute?” “For whom should I campaign?” The strength of candidates' declared adherence to principles of liberty is an important criteria but not the only one. Hear The Atlas Society's Ed Hudgins offer a guide for making these choices. Hear Hudgins’s criteria and his evaluation of the 2012 crop of presidential candidates, including Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum.

Progressives: Are They for Progress? (December 19, 2011)
Today the term “Progressive” is represented by the Occupy Wall Street/occupy anywhere movement and by the left wing of the Democratic Party. In this interactive webinar, William R Thomas examines the history and values of the Progressive movement.  He considers what “progress” means and how the idea of progress relates to the secular, statist, environmentalist, egalitarian, and pro-happiness aspects of today's Progressivism.

Conservatism and Elections: Untangling the Philosophy (December 12, 2011)Conservatives for decades have dominated the Republican Party. Yet American political conservatism has consisted of an uneasy and often conflicting coalition concerned with economic, social, and foreign policy. This reflects internal problems within the conservative philosophy itself. Ed Hudgins gives an overview of the evolution and tenets of conservatism. He goes on to discuss the political and social challenges that it has sought to address and the state of conservatism today in light of the upcoming 2012 elections.

Justice in War: Foreign Policy 2 (November 17, 2011)
William R Thomas discusses justice in the context of war-fighting. Should there be restrictions on weapons or tactics? Is there a workable distinction between combatants and non-combatants? To answer these questions we need to ask what the goals of war-fighting are and how justice in wartime differs from justice in the normal context of life. Sixty-four minutes.

Free World Order: Objectivist Foreign Policy 1 (November 9, 2011)
Explore the basic structure and goals of foreign policy on Objectivist premises in this webinar. With the Iraq war winding down and NATO victorious in Libya, how should we be looking at foreign policy in the 21st century? Is there a free world as opposed to an unfree world? Does it matter that even the most free countries have mixed political/economic systems that restrict freedom? Should a free country even have a government diplomatic corps?  How can free countries best deal with each other and how can they best deal with tyrannical or oppressive foreign governments? Fifty-two minutes.

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