Heritage Events Podcast

No book was more accessible or familiar to the American Founders than the Bible, and no book was more frequently alluded to or quoted from in the political discourse of the age. Shedding new light on some of the most familiar rhetoric of the founding era, Daniel Dreisbach analyzes the Founders' diverse uses of scripture, ranging from the literary to the theological. He shows that they looked to the Bible for insights on human nature, civic virtue, political authority, and the rights and duties of citizens, as well as for political and legal models to emulate. Ignoring the Bible's influence on the Founders, Dreisbach warns, produces a distorted image of the American political experiment and of the concept of self-government on which America is built. Daniel L. Dreisbach is a professor in the Department of Justice, Law, and Criminology at American University in Washington, D.C. He has written extensively on the intersection of religion, politics, and law in the American Founding and is the author of Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State (New York University Press, 2002), and coeditor of The Sacred Rights of Conscience (Liberty Fund, 2009) and The Forgotten Founders on Religion and Public Life (University of Notre Dame Press, 2009).

America's defense manufacturing industrial base has enabled the United States to design and build an advanced array of weapons systems and platforms – a capability critical to the preservation of our nation’s military strength and sustainment of the U.S. technological edge. In July 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing a multi-agency review of the health and resiliency of the defense industrial base. However, the review appears to assess only the strength of domestic industries, and if caution is not exercised, has the potential to encourage protectionism, while overlooking the benefits from trade and cooperation among friendly nations. How can the U.S. best support the long-term health and resilience of the defense industrial base, and where are the risks and vulnerabilities? Please join us as a panel of experts discusses not only the status of the U.S. defense industrial base and supply chains, but also recommendations to maintain a strong national defense.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) will discuss how he and the Committee – working together with President Trump and the House and Senate – are moving forward on transformational tax reform that will help middle-class Americans throughout their lives. His remarks will focus on creating Main Street jobs, growing middle-class paychecks, making taxes fairer, and helping hardworking Americans – not Washington special interests. Join us as Chairman Brady details how tax reform can help middle-class families and workers.

Although the political reality of “movement conservatism” is now sixty years old and three generations deep, it remains “a mystery, inside an enigma” to many academic and media commentators. As a central figure in the conservative movement for the past fifty years, Arnold Steinberg unwraps this mystery in a comprehensive personal memoir. His entertaining and informative five-decade history of American politics produces an encyclopedia of modern conservatism. Not only explained are the principles underlying most of modern conservatism, both theoretical and applied, but also the principal figures, the educational and activist organizations as well as many of the operational techniques that have been used to create winning political coalitions. Then, with an eye to the future, Whiplash! concludes with an examination of both the “why” of the “whiplash” of the 2016 presidential election and what the Trump upset may mean for the future of American politics.

Central banks do not print growth.  The financial crisis was much more than the result of an excess of risk. The same policies that created each subsequent bust are the ones that have been implemented in recent years. In Escape from the Central Bank Trap, Dr. Daniel Lacalle offers solutions for the threat of zero-interest rates and excessive liquidity. He argues that the United States needs to take the first step, defending sound money and a balanced budget, recovering the middle-class by focusing on increasing disposable income. The rest will follow. Our future should not be low growth and high debt. Cheap money becomes very expensive in the long run.     Dr. Lacalle also analyzes the many fallacies associated with modern, activist, inflationist central banking and misguided economic policies more generally.

Sex is cheap. Ease in sexual access has created an earthquake in the contemporary “mating market.” The fall-out – failed relationships, wasted time, and a longer and more uncertain pathway to marriage – was made possible by our shared technologies more than by fissures in politics or religion. Drawing on survey and interview data, University of Texas professor Mark Regnerus scrutinizes the American mating market, describing how men’s interests have come to dominate it, even while their marriageability is receding. Drawing upon surveys, interviews, and scholars ranging from evolutionary psychologists to gender theorists, what emerges is a fascinating story about technological breakthroughs, and the unintended consequences of women’s successes and men’s failures. No longer playing a supporting role in enduring relationships, sex has emerged as a central priority in relationship development and continuation. But unravel the layers, and it is obvious that this new “industrial sex” is far more a reflection of men’s interests than women’s. Join us for a discussion of Professor Regnerus’s new book.

Uniform Champions features the compelling stories of multiple funders and foundations that support veterans in a myriad of ways. There is a considerable gap between societal perception of veterans’ needs and how we can truly help people that are transitioning out of the Armed Forces. Many Americans believe that the Department of Veterans Affairs is a good enough solution for the problems faced by veterans. Nonetheless, this could not be farther from the truth. It only serves to alienate veterans from society. Uniform Champions looks at a dozen cases of philanthropists that are making a difference in veterans’ lives and filling the gap left by the government. Thomas Meyer’s work focuses on developing strategies for philanthropists seeking to initiate or increase effective giving in the veterans’ services field. He is the author of The Philanthropy Roundtable guidebooks Serving Those Who Served and Uniform Champions and the Philanthropy Magazine articles “Real Opportunities for Veterans” and “Labeled Disabled.”

The present moment is a pivotal time for police and the communities they serve nationwide. The Trump Administration is setting new law enforcement priorities, including establishing a new Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety focused on reducing violent crime and supporting police. In recent decades there have been major successes and innovations in law enforcement across the country as well as long-term declines in crime rates. However, the last two years have brought an array of challenges to the law enforcement community: Crime rates increased in major cities across the country, immigration concerns grew more complex, and violence against police officers spiked. Join us for the release of Heritage’s special report, Policing in America: Lessons from the Past, Opportunities for the Future and a frank discussion with some of America’s foremost law enforcement professionals.

John Von Kannon was a prolific and accomplished fundraiser, always willing to share his insights and expertise. In The 10 Laws of Fundraising, we uncover John’s timeless principles behind his fundraising success, learn relationship-building skills, understand his passion for his profession, and, of course, find his ever-present, quick wit.

Refugee policy is a vigorously debated issue under the Trump Administration. Given the many refugee crises plaguing the world including the Syrian Civil War, ethnic cleansing in Burma, and continuing violence and famine in South Sudan, effective U.S. refugee resettlement policies are essential to meeting these challenges. With the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) under review as a result of Executive Order 13780, policymakers have an opportunity to reform parts of USRAP, thereby ensuring that it continues to serve American interests. The Heritage Foundation’s recent report, The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program: A Roadmap for Reform, offers a number of recommendations to accomplish just that. Join us for a discussion of the strengths, weaknesses, and ideas for reform of the U.S. Refugee Admission Program.

The Supreme Court’s 2016 term saw a number of compromise decisions while the Court operated without a ninth justice – including important rulings dealing with religious freedom, legislative redistricting, property rights, and free speech, among others. When the justices return for their 2017 term with a 9-member court, they will hear challenges involving President Trump’s travel ban, New Jersey’s legalization of sports betting, the warrantless use of cell phone location records, Ohio’s attempt to clean up its voter rolls, and the showdown between religious freedom and gay rights in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case. The Supreme Court will add even more to the docket in the coming months. Paul Clement served as the 43rd Solicitor General of the United States and has argued more than 85 cases before the Supreme Court. Pratik Shah has argued 13 cases before the Supreme Court during his time as an Assistant to the Solicitor General and in private practice. Join us as these distinguished experts discuss what is likely to unfold in the next Supreme Court term.

The challenges to American security in the Western Pacific, the seas that surround Europe, and the Persian Gulf are growing. At the same time, U.S. military commanders seek more naval forces to protect America's interest in the safe transit of American goods, deterrence in a proliferating world, and the defense of our key allies. All at the same time U.S. defense budgets are shrinking. American seapower has not been as small as it is today since before World War I. Unless reversed, U.S. seapower will continue its decline into the indefinite future as politicians ignore the widening gulf between the cost of modernizing and expanding American seapower, and the resources devoted to this most strategic arm of the nation's defense. In Seablindness, Seth Cropsey examines the dilemma. He looks at the consequences of neglect – the effect of increased deployments on families, global scenarios set in the immediate future, the views of America's most knowledgeable military officers, anxious reactions of American allies and more. The hard facts show how a lack of political will is dismantling our nation's global reach and with it, our position as the world's great power. Seth Cropsey served as Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. He was an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1985 to 2004. Cropsey is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC and Director of Hudson's Center for American Seapower. His previous book, Mayday, published in 2014, examines the history of U.S. naval power, the fate of other maritime states that have given up or lost their power at sea, and policy options for the future.

Freedom of religion and speech are America’s foundation. Now, these fundamental rights are being challenged by sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) non-discrimination statutes and policies. The Supreme Court will soon hear the case of cake designer Jack Phillips. The State of Colorado ordered him to create a custom wedding cake for a same-sex wedding. Jack serves all customers, but his conscience won’t allow him to express all messages. Join us to hear Jack and others talk about the challenges of creating art and doing business in keeping with conscience in the 21st Century.

For the past six years, the Department of Defense has repeatedly asked for authorization to conduct a new round of base realignment and closure (BRAC). Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has described BRAC as the “cornerstone” of DoD’s efficiency program and DoD has stated that it has at least 20% excess infrastructure. Yet, citing various concerns, Congress has seen fit to deny authorization for BRAC every single year. The fate of BRAC in the 2018 authorization and appropriation bills is still up in the air. What’s the case for a new round of BRAC? What are the arguments against BRAC and do they have any validity? And are there changes that should be made to the BRAC process, and if so, what are they?

Since the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, Tehran has continued its malign policies in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Iran’s expanding influence in these war-torn countries has been facilitated by the strategic dividends and sanctions relief provided by the nuclear deal. How should the United States respond? What should be done about the flawed nuclear agreement? How can the United States target the Iranian regime's repression at home? A panel of experts will examine these and other issues.