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AIER's Bastiat Society program in Washington, DC will hosted a virtual panel discussion with attorneys Robert Barnes and Patrick Wright, moderated by chapter director Steve Dewey. This discussion provides an overview of the civil liberties that Americans have historically enjoyed under the US Constitution in the face of national emergencies, including past epidemics, and the recent violation of these liberties under the unprecedented use and scope of executive orders by state governments in responding to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion also examines the recent court cases and latest legal developments challenging the constitutionality of particularly egregious executive orders in the state of Michigan and other states.

AIER's Bastiat Society program in Washington, DC hosted a virtual event with Dr. Lawrence H. (Larry) White, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Mercatus Center, and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. Professor White discusses the historical evolution of monetary systems, from gold-based currencies to government-controlled fiat currencies and the recent development of market-driven cryptocurrencies. He also examines the reasons for the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913, its record of performance, and whether market alternatives for money and banking should now be considered over the Federal Reserve System and other central banking authorities. Professor White makes the case for free-market money and banking.

AIER's Bastiat Society program in Washington, DC hosted a virtual event with Dr. Steve Hanke, Professor of Applied Economics and Founder & Co-Director of the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the United States in March 2020, federal and state governments have responded with varying levels of new and prolonged restrictions on human activity as well as unprecedented deficit spending by the federal government and money creation by the Federal Reserve. Professor Hanke examines the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns across the United States over the past 15 months and how they have exacerbated the “Ratchet Effect” of ever-increasing government activity and control, i.e. once government gains new authorities, it doesn’t give them up.

AIER's Bastiat Society program in Washington, DC hosted a virtual event with Dr. Richard Ebeling, the BB&T Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Free Enterprise Leadership at The Citadel. Over the past year, the Federal Reserve has engaged in unprecedented intervention in the financial markets with its balance sheet expanding by almost 80% to a record $7.5 trillion and the M2 money supply growing by 26%. Given the ever-increasing involvement of the Federal Reserve in the economy with record government budget deficits, Richard Ebeling examines the historical experience of the Federal Reserve and government-controlled monetary systems, including the gold-based monetary systems of past centuries. Dr. Ebeling makes the case that the superiority of free markets over government control is no different with money and banking and that the United States and the rest of the world would be better off with free-market money and competitive free banking.

AIER's Bastiat Society program in Washington, DC and Grove City College’s Institute for Faith & Freedom will co-sponsor a special virtual event with Dr. Paul Kengor, professor of political science at Grove City College and Senior Director & Chief Academic Fellow at the college’s Institute for Faith & Freedom, moderated by Bastiat Society of Washington, DC chapter director Steve Dewey. Paul Kengor is a leading scholar on the history of communism and the ideology of Marxism. In his latest book, “The Devil and Karl Marx” (August 2020), Dr. Kengor examines the connection between Karl Marx's fascination with the Devil and its possible influence on the Communist Manifesto. Marx's communist ideology has led to the deaths of well over 100 million innocent people to the present day. Dr. Kengor discusses how communist ideology has been able to capture the minds of so many people around the world and what can be done to stop its destructive influence.

AIER's Bastiat Society program in Washington, D.C. hosted a virtual event with Robert L. (Bob) Woodson, Founder and President of The Woodson Center and 1776 Unites, moderated by Washington, DC chapter director Steve Dewey. Bob Woodson created the 1776 Unites movement in February 2020 to counter the radical and divisive 1619 Project developed by The New York Times in 2019. In his talk, Mr. Woodson discussed 1776 Unites as an effort to speak for Americans of all races, creeds, and political convictions who oppose the efforts to demoralize and demonize the United States and its foundations from within and to turn its people against one another with false history and grievance politics. Mr. Woodson elaborated on the 1776 Unites movement as an alliance of nonpartisan writers, scholars, entrepreneurs, and grassroots activists focused on achieving solutions to America’s greatest challenges in education, culture, and upward mobility based on America’s founding principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.