Voices of Freedom – Details, episodes & analysis

An Interview with Peter Berkowitz

The US Constitution is one of the greatest governing documents in history. No other charter has so deliberately advanced the belief that the government's main purpose is to protect the individual rights of its citizens. The founders, recognizing the natural rights of mankind, created a seminal document that protects an individual's unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  

Despite the exceptionalism of the Constitution and its battle-tested endurance, there are grave threats that could severely undermine and weaken it. 

As we continue our 20th anniversary celebration of Bradley Prize winners, our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is Peter Berkowitz, one of the country's leading political thinkers and Constitutional scholars. Berkowitz warns that a decades long movement to distort the meaning of rights, the weaponization of the legal system, and a general lack of understanding of our rights, pose serious challenges to the preservation of the Constitution.    

Topics Discussed on this Episode: 

·         What drew Berkowitz to the study of the Constitution and America's founding principles 

·         Current threats to the Constitution 

·         Politicization of the Supreme Court 

·         Expansion of the administrative state 

·         Differences on the right about the role of government and foreign policy 

·         America's role in the world 

·         Pro-Palestinian protests and anti-American sentiment 

·         Opportunity for higher education reform 

·         Will the Constitution endure? 

Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He previously served as the Director of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff, executive secretary of the department's Commission on Unalienable Rights, and senior adviser to the Secretary of State. Berkowitz is a columnist for RealClear Politics and is a 2017 Bradley Prize winner. 

America's founders are revered for creating a structure of governance that values individual rights and promotes human flourishing. Nearly 250 years after they took the first steps toward creating a more perfect union by drafting and adopting the US Constitution, the nation continues to be a beacon of hope and opportunity around the world.

That the Framers could so eloquently articulate the principles of ordered liberty that guide us today results in part from their own careful examination of the great thinkers of the 17th and 18th century.  

Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is Dr. William Barclay Allen. A 2024 Bradley Prize winner, he has dedicated his life's work to studying the Founders and the philosophers who influenced the Western tradition. He is also committed to instilling an understanding and appreciation of that tradition among the next generation. 

Allen is the Emeritus Dean of James Madison College and Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University. He is a former member and chairman of the US Commission on Civil Rights and has been a Kellogg National Fellow, Fulbright Fellow, and a member of the National Council on the Humanities.

Topics discussed on this episode: 

• How Allen's experience growing up in the segregated south influenced his life's path
• The story of his intellectual journey
• Why Allen translated Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws
• His decision to focus on America's founders and the US Constitution
• Why Allen believes Washington is the most important founder and America's first progressive
• Teaching history in a way that reflects the words and experiences of those who lived it
• Advice to young scholars who are just starting out
• What it means to Allen to win a Bradley Prize 

Religious freedom protects far more than the right to practice one's faith. It also shields people from being compelled by the government to participate in activities that are not in accordance with their religious beliefs.

Given the fierce battles over culture and politics today, it's not surprising that religious freedom has been significantly challenged. Perhaps what is surprising is the state of religious freedom, given the current environment.

Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is Mark Rienzi, one of the country's leading defenders of religious freedom. He shares his thoughts on why religious liberty is one of our most important rights, how it's faring amidst significant legal challenges, and more.

Topics discussed by Mark Rienzi and Rick Graber, President and CEO, The Bradley Foundation, include:

·         How Becket decides which cases to take

·         Whether Americans' value of religious freedom has diminished over time

·         The state of religious freedom in America

·         The administrative state's impact on religious liberty

·         How geopolitical events affect religious freedom at home

·         How religious freedom fared during the U.S. Supreme Court's last term and how they may rule on religious liberty cases in the current term 

Mark Rienzi is the President and CEO of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit public interest law firm with a mission to protect the free expression of all faiths. He is also a Professor of Law at the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, where he is co-director of the Center for Religious Liberty and has served as a Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. 

The ubiquitous smartphones that are a staple of modern life provide access to nearly every good or service that one could possibly imagine. We can have food delivered within minutes, book our next vacation, pay a bill, and order our children's hot lunch all with a swipe of our fingers.

We often don't consider that our numerous digital transactions, saving time and energy, are possible because of free enterprise. The same is true of the countless innovations that make our lives easier. Instead, many today are apt to criticize economic freedom, believing it causes inequity.

Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is Anne Bradley. Through research, education and teaching, Anne brings the marvels of free markets to life, with the goal of ensuring that the next generation is prepared to preserve an economic system that creates opportunity and vastly improves lives. 
  
Topics discussed by Anne Bradley and Rick Graber, President and CEO, The Bradley Foundation, include:

• Finding the economic angle in everything from income inequality to the political economy of terrorism.
• Teaching economic concepts in a way that's relatable and accessible.  
• The link between markets and morality; why the free-market system is the most humane economic system.
• Markets and the acceleration of materialism.
• The myth that economic freedom creates and exacerbates income inequality.
• Industrial policy's consequences.
• Where to turn for thoughtful, accurate economic analysis and commentary. 

Anne Bradley is the George and Sally Mayer Fellow for Economic Education and vice president of academic affairs at The Fund for American Studies, where she enhances the impact and reach of economic education programs, oversees the development of economics curriculum and teaches economics courses. She is the author of several books on the intersection of theology and economics and is working on a book about the political economy of terrorism.  

The movement to expand parental freedom in education continues to experience momentum, an encouraging sign that families are demanding more choices for their children. Dozens of states have passed laws to open K12 opportunities over the last few years, and even more are considering doing the same. Yet many families still don't send their children to a school that best fits their needs even after these laws are passed because they are unaware of their new education options.

Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is Brandon Detweiler.  Brandon's work focuses on ensuring that information about a family's K12 opportunities is literally at their fingertips. 

Topics discussed by Brandon Detweiler and Rick Graber, President and CEO, The Bradley Foundation, include:  

·         Obstacles that prevented education freedom from taking off earlier

·         The development of Schoolahoop, an app that informs families about their K12 options

·         Lessons learned from the initial launch of Schoolahoop, including feedback from parents and the education community

·         Outreach efforts to inform families of educational opportunities, including scholarships

·         The implementation measures that parental choice advocates should consider as they try to advance education opportunity in their states

Brandon Detweiler is the head of product at the Foundation for American Innovation. He has a background in edtech, online learning, and e-commerce at Veritas Press, where he helped lead and grow the largest and oldest online classical Christian school in the country and launched the Phonics Museum Reading App. 

The free exchange of goods and services has profoundly improved living conditions throughout the world. In the past two decades alone, free markets have helped reduce the child mortality rate by almost half and have lifted 130,000 people out of extreme poverty. 

Yet according to a recent poll, twice as many people believe that socialism, rather than the free market system, can best meet everyone's basic needs. Breaking it down further, men are far more likely to have a favorable view of free markets than women (68% vs. 48%). 

Carrie Lukas is our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom. She is working to change the way women think about free markets, and to promote a better understanding of how liberty-oriented policies open opportunity for individuals and families.

Topics discussed by Carrie Lukas and Rick Graber, President and CEO, The Bradley Foundation, include:  

• Debunking the myth that free markets are incompatible with compassion
• What conservatives can do to show women how their policies advance opportunity
• The impact that federal paid family leave would have on parents
• Solutions to the issue of childcare affordability and accessibility
• The reasons for the pay gap between men and women
• Whether DEI policies have their intended effect
• How efforts to redefine gender are harming society

Carrie Lukas is the president of Independent Women's Forum, vice president of Independent Women's Voice, and a member of Independent Women's Network. She is the author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex, and Feminism, Checking Progressive Privilege, and Liberty Is No War on Women.  Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, and numerous other outlets.  

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Free speech is a bedrock principle that has helped to sustain democracy and catalyze tremendous growth and prosperity in America. At the same time, it's a right that is often misunderstood or taken for granted. The pervasiveness of technology and increased political polarization has only made free speech issues more complex and often controversial.

Greg Lukianoff and Darpana Sheth are our guests on this episode of Voices of Freedom. They discuss the fundamentals of free speech and make the case for why it's important to protect all speech.

Topics Discussed

• Free speech protections under the First Amendment
• FIRE's updated mission and why it chose to expand its focus
• Why free speech must be preserved on college campuses
• California's law to compel professors to adopt certain views and Florida's law prohibiting professors from expressing certain views
• How to ensure that books remain protected speech and are age appropriate in school libraries
• The impact of Section 230 and whether it should be reformed
• The future of free speech in America

Lukianoff is the president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), an attorney, and the author of Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate, Freedom From Speech, and FIRE's Guide to Free Speech on Campus. Most recently, he co-authored The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure with Jonathan Haidt.

Sheth is an attorney and Vice President of Litigation for FIRE. Darpana joined FIRE after 10 years with the Institute for Justice, where she litigated cutting-edge constitutional cases to protect property rights, economic liberty, and other individual liberties in federal court.

Universities, more than most institutions, should be places that welcome the free exchange of ideas. Critical thinking is sharpened when one's beliefs are challenged, and new ideas and perspectives are introduced. This is especially crucial for young people as they prepare to enter an increasingly complex world.

Yet today's college environment is one in which students and faculty who hold certain viewpoints must find the courage to speak freely. In many cases when they do, they suffer the consequences.

Ilya Shapiro is our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom. He is not only an expert on constitutional rights but has firsthand experience of what it's like to be a target of the cancel culture movement.

Topics Discussed

• Cancel culture's impact on higher education and what it's like to experience it firsthand
• The drivers behind efforts to suppress free speech at universities
• Why university leadership should do more than adopt free speech policies
• The undercurrent of censorship in our institutions
• U.S. Supreme Court's last term and the overall state of the court

Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute. Previously, he was executive director and senior lecturer at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. Before that, he was a vice president at the Cato Institute and director of Cato's Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.

Families have more freedom in education than ever before, thanks in part to increased parental demand for K12 opportunities since the pandemic. In state after state, legislation has passed to expand educational options.

While there has been significant momentum, the groundwork for reform was laid long ago, starting with the vision of Milton and Rose Friedman. The Friedmans broke the mold of the traditional school model by proposing the concept of school choice in 1955. Nearly 70 years later, their revolutionary idea has become embedded in the education landscape, with more than half of the U.S. now having some form of educational choice.

Robert Enlow is our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom. Since 1996, he has been dedicated to carrying out the Friedmans' core belief that more education freedom creates greater opportunity for children.

Topics Discussed

• Evolution of education freedom, starting with the Friedmans' vision 
• Impact of school choice on underperforming schools
• Influence of parents on education freedom
• Legislative landscape of choice: opportunities and obstacles
• How to effectively implement education freedom legislation once it's passed
• U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Espinoza v. Montana 
• How the Friedmans would view the state of education today

Enlow is the president and CEO of EdChoice. Before its formation in 2016, he was an integral part of the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, serving as fundraiser, projects coordinator, vice president and executive director, prior to being named president and CEO in 2009.

Economic freedom unleashes creativity and innovation in a way that no other economic or political system has been able to match. The U.S. is the home of some of the most groundbreaking inventions in history precisely because its citizens have the right to engage freely in enterprise. Thomas Edison's light bulb, the Wright brothers' airplane, and Alexander Graham Bell's telephone are just a few examples of how economic freedom has advanced human progress and generated overall prosperity.

Despite the undeniable benefits of economic freedom, movements from within both the left and the right are increasingly inclined to give government more power to intervene in business and displace competition by expanding entitlements.

Dr. M. Scott Niederjohn is our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom. His life's work has centered around teaching people about the benefits of economic freedom and elevating free enterprise.

Topics Discussed:

• How to incorporate economics into lesson plans, including U.S. history
• Critical race theory's impact on economic freedom
• Economic mobility vs equity
• Advancing the case for economic freedom and free enterprise
• States that are the most economically competitive
• Economic challenges of civic leaders
• The future of economic freedom in the U.S.

Niederjohn is Professor of Economics and Director of the Free Enterprise Center at Concordia University in Mequon, WI. He has worked in academia for nearly two decades, serving as professor, department chair, college dean, and senior vice president. He is a widely known scholar and prolific researcher in the areas of economic education and public policy analysis. In 2013, Niederjohn was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach at the University of Luxembourg.