The 112th Congress and The New Promise of American Life: Less from Washington, More of Ourselves

December 2010

Past Event

The 112th Congress and The New Promise of American Life: Less from Washington, More of Ourselves

Past Event

Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters

December 03, 2010

December 2010

Past Event

1015 15th Street, N.W., 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

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Speakers:

Kenneth R. Weinstein,

Hudson Institute President & CEO

Lamar Alexander,

United States Senator (R-TN)

Kate O'Beirne,

President of the National Review Institute

Christopher DeMuth,

D.C. Searle Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Chester Finn, Jr.,

Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution

William Kristol,

Editor, the Weekly Standard

William Schambra,

Hudson Senior Fellow and Director, Bradley Center for Philanthropy & Civic Renewal

In 1995, Lamar Alexander, then a former Governor and cabinet secretary preparing a run for the presidency, and Chester Finn, then a Hudson Institute Senior Fellow, published The New Promise of American Life (Hudson Institute Press). The critically acclaimed volume examined how the expansion of the federal government—which began during the Progressive Era and continued through World War II and Vietnam—might be reversed through a devolution of power to states, localities, and civil society; and through a renewed culture of voluntarism and entrepreneurship.

Fifteen years later, as the 112th Congress prepares to take office, Hudson Institute hosted a conference to re-examine the themes of The New Promise of American Life, to examine why this vision got derailed post-1995, and how it is even more urgent post-2010. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), now the Chair of the Senate Republican Conference, keynoted the event and offer his candid reflections on "Less from Washington, More of Ourselves."

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