Grappone Conference Center

70 Constitution Ave Concord, NH 03301

Moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

For the affirmative:

Eric Brakey is the executive director of the Free State Project. He served as a Maine state senator for three terms and was the Maine state director for the 2012 Ron Paul presidential campaign.

For the negative:

Andrew Heaton is a comedian, author, and political satirist. He hosts The Political Orphanage podcast and is the author of Tribalism is Dumb: Where It Came From, How It Got So Bad, and What to Do About It.

The Sheen Center

18 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10012

Doors open at 6:00 PM
Meeting Convenes on the Main Stage: 6:30 PM
Reception offsite: 8:00 PM

Moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

For the affirmative:

Dave Smith is a comedian, political commentator, and media personality. He is the host of the Part of the Problem podcast and is a regular guest on Gutfeld! and The Joe Rogan Experience. His most recent stand-up special, 30 Minutes with Dave Smith, is available on YouTube.

For the negative:

Alex Nowrasteh is the vice president for economic and social policy studies at the Cato Institute. He has been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The Washington Post, and regularly appears on Fox News, MSNBC, Bloomberg, and NPR. He is the coauthor of Wretched Refuse? The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions.

The Sheen Center

18 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10012

Doors open at 6:00 PM
Meeting Convenes on the Main Stage: 6:30 PM
Reception offsite: 8:00 PM

Moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

For the affirmative:

Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger distinguished professor of global affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. Brands graduated from Yale University with a Ph.D., M.A., and M.Phil. in history, and has authored books on the Cold War and post-Cold War history, including What Good Is Grand Strategy?: Power and Purpose in American Statecraft From Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush and Latin America’s Cold War.

For the negative:

Gareth Porter is an American historian, investigative journalist, author, and policy analyst specializing in U.S. national security issues. With a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian studies from Cornell University, he has published several books on the Vietnam War, including Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam and Vietnam: The Politics of Bureaucratic Socialism. He is a winner of the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism.

The Sheen Center

18 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10012

Doors open at 6:00 PM
Meeting Convenes on the Main Stage: 6:30 PM
Reception offsite: 8:00 PM

Moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein.

For the affirmative:

Jacob Hacker is the Stanley Resor Professor of political science at Yale University, the codirector of the Ludwig Program in public sector leadership at Yale Law School, and a resident fellow of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. His 2002 book, The Divided Welfare State: The Battle Over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States, was awarded the Aaron Wildavsky Enduring Contribution Award by the American Political Science Association.

For the negative:

David Goldhill is the CEO and cofounder of Sesame, an online marketplace for discounted health services, and chair of the board of directors at the Leapfrog Group, an independent organization for hospital and medical safety. He was the president and CEO of the Game Show Network and president of TV at Universal Studios, and his 2013 book, Catastrophic Care: Why Everything We Think We Know about Health Care Is Wrong, catapulted David to a leading voice for health care advocacy.