The Future of America: Menlo Park Panel & Reception

June 23, 2026

Menlo Park, CA

Video
The Future of America: Menlo Park Panel & Reception
By Matthew B. Crawford

May 19, 2026

When xxxxx

June 23, 2026

Tuesday, June 23, 2026
5:30 pm: Guest Arrival and Welcome
6:00 pm: Program and Q&A
7:00 pm: Networking Reception

Location

Menlo Park, CA

When

Tuesday, June 23, 2026
5:30 pm: Guest Arrival and Welcome
6:00 pm: Program and Q&A
7:00 pm: Networking Reception

Where

Park James Hotel
1400 El Camino Real,
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Map and directions

Join us for an exclusive evening panel and reception in Menlo Park, as the Independent Institute presents a special Liberty at 250 conversation marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.

Hosted at Park James Hotel, located in Silicon Valley that is synonymous with American  innovation and entrepreneurship, the evening will begin with a welcome reception featuring an open bar and hors d’oeuvres. This exclusive panel will explore the themes of the upcoming The Independent Review special supplement, The Future of America, examining the challenges and possibilities facing the nation in the years ahead.

Featuring Matthew Crawford, Talbot Brewer, and T. J. Jackson Lears, the discussion will reflect on the future of liberty, American identity, culture, ethics, and the enduring principles that continue to shape the nation’s political and intellectual life. The evening will begin with a reception, followed by the panel discussion and audience Q&A.

This event is part of the Independent Institute’s Liberty at 250 project, which explores the ideas of liberty that shaped the nation’s founding and continue to inform debates about freedom, governance, and American identity today.

Featured Speakers

Matthew B. Crawford

Matthew B. Crawford is a Future of Freedom Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, and Senior Fellow with the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. During 2025 and 2026, Crawford is a key voice in Independent’s Semiquicentennial “Liberty at 250” initiative, masterminding a special supplement on the future of liberty to be included with the fall 2026 issue of The Independent Review. Crawford is known for unexpected and penetrating books including the New York Times best seller Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work (Penguin, 2009), Why We Drive: Toward a Philosophy of the Open Road (HarperCollins, 2020), and The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2015). Crawford’s books have been translated into seven languages.

Talbot Brewer

Talbot Brewer is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia specializing in ethics, political philosophy, moral psychology, and Aristotelian ethics. He is the author of numerous influential essays and the book The Retrieval of Ethics and has presented his work internationally at leading universities and conferences.

T. J. Jackson Lears

T. J. Jackson Lears is an American cultural and intellectual historian and Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University. His work explores American culture, religion, folklore, literature, and the pursuit of happiness, and he is widely recognized for his influential scholarship on the moral and cultural foundations of American life.

Featured Publication

Liberty at 250: The Birth of America

A Special Supplement to The Independent Review

This first of two special supplements, “The Birth of America,” will be published with the Summer 2026 issue of The Independent Review. Drawing inspiration from the Declaration of Independence, historians will consider its language, meaning, and purpose anew. What makes this document so unique and historically important? Subscribe today.