Drug abuse is a serious problem, but the “War on Drugs” shows no sign of being won and has come with a heavy price tag. Critics say that its side effects- increased taxes, increased crime and corruption here and abroad, loss of civil liberties, decreased health, prison overcrowding, discrimination against African Americans and other groups, and the diversion of resources away from other problems- are even worse for society than the drugs themselves. Many public officials share this sentiment but fear political reprisals if they speak out. However, Judges James Gray and Vaughn Walker, having witnessed the Drug War up close, believe that the time has come to testify publicly about its ill effects- and to outline bold, new approaches to the drug problem.

With the recent school massacre in Littleton, Colorado; the shootings of Jewish children in Los Angeles; and rampant drive-by shootings and other atrocities, what can and should be done to protect the innocent against violence in American society? Can government protect the citizenry against gun-related violence? What is the record of individual self-defense against violence in Britain and the U.S.? In this very timely Independent Policy Forum, acclaimed historian Joyce Lee Malcolm and civil rights attorney Don Kates will examine gun laws, violence, and rights.

Walter E. Williams is one of America's best known and insightful commentators on current affairs, politics, and the economy. Millions have read his syndicated newspaper columns or heard his stints as guest host of "The Rush Limbaugh Show." In this special Independent Policy Forum, Professor Williams will examine the results governmental bureaucracies have achieved when attempting to address such problems as health, education, crime, housing, civil liberties, and transportation. His analysis will show how government today is a more of a usurper of rights than it is a protector, and that innovative, free market approaches offer the best hope of solving major social problems.

Stephen Goldsmith

Mayor, City of Indianapolis, Indiana

Author, "The Twenty-First Century City"

"Dependence” on government has grown at unprecedented rates over the past 70 years. This ominous trend has coincided with the growth of centralized government power, which at its own discretion is used to regulate, manipuate, or prohibit. Driven by bipartisanship, bureaucracies, and interest groups, and accelerated by presidential ambitions, this trend has been so profound that few today can imagine life without government control. Economist and historian Charlotte Twight, one of the leading experts on politics and privacy, showed how special-interest politics created the income tax, Social Security, Medicare, surveillance of ordinary citizens, and other linchpins of the “dependence-state,” which in turn have made opposition to centralized control seemingly futile. She will then offer a strategy to reverse this trend in order to fulfill the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Economics is never the "dismal science" when discussed by Nobel Laureate economist Gary S. Becker and his wife, the historian Guity Nashat Becker. In this Independent Policy Forum and based on their book, The Economics of Life: From Baseball to Affirmative Action to Immigration, How Real-World Issues Affect Our Everyday Life, the Beckers will examine the "war on drugs," healthcare, education, marriage and divorce, the homeless, immigration, corporate leadership, religion, baseball, affirmative action, the minimum wage, Social Security, crime, and much more.

Many people have wondered how technological progress will affect political, economic, and civil freedoms. With the rise of encryption software, the National Security Agency's Echelon worldwide surveillance system, and the FBI's Carnivore e-mail snooping program, this subject is no longer the exclusive domain of speculative thinkers or futurists, it is the subject of intense public-policy debate. Will privacy-enhancing technology improve faster than privacy-threatening technology? Should the government mandate privacy standards? Should it enforce contracts in cyberspace, or would private law do a better job? Economist, physicist, and legal scholar David Friedman discussed these and related questions about technological change and the case for and against government involvement.

The 20th Century has witnessed state-sponsored carnage on an unprecedented scale. What made this era so susceptible to Hitler’s “Final Solution,” Stalin’s Gulag, Mao’s “Great Leap Forward,” Pol Pot’s killing fields, and other atrocities? Does the answer lie in the rogue ideologies that found acceptance among society’s intellectual elites—“isms” that elevated the dictates of the State over the rights of the individual and the institutions of civil society? Celebrated historian Robert Conquest discusses the rise of these ideologies—and how to protect the 21st Century from their destructive grip.