The Soho Forum Debates

Dave Smith and Alex Nowrasteh debate the resolution, "Government restrictions on the immigration of peaceful and healthy people make sense from a libertarian standpoint, especially in present-day America." Comedian and host of the podcast, Part of the Problem [https://partoftheproblem.com/], Dave Smith [https://x.com/ComicDaveSmith] defends the resolution. Taking the negative is Alex Nowrasteh [https://www.cato.org/people/alex-nowrasteh], the Vice President for Economic and Social Policy Studies at the Cato Institute. He's the coauthor (with Benjamin Powell) of Wretched Refuse? The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions [https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1108702457/reasonmagazinea-20/]. The debate is moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein [https://reason.com/people/gene-epstein/]. The post Dave Smith and Alex Nowrasteh Debate Immigration [https://reason.com/podcast/2025/05/21/dave-smith-and-alex-nowrasteh-debate-immigration/] appeared first on Reason.com [https://reason.com].

Eric Brakey and Andrew Heaton debate the resolution, "Libertarians should focus on building liberty-for-real societies like the Free State Project, rather than reforming an ever-expanding, uncontrollable federal government." Eric Brakey [https://x.com/SenatorBrakey], executive director of the Free State Project and former Maine state senator, argued in favor of the resolution. Andrew Heaton [https://reason.com/people/andrew-heaton/], comedian, author, and host of The Political Orphanage podcast, argued against it. The debate was moderated by Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein [https://reason.com/people/gene-epstein/]. Because of major technical problems during the recording of this event, the audio quality is well below Reason's standards. * Editor: John Osterhoudt [https://reason.com/people/john-osterhoudt/] The post Should Libertarians Prioritize Their Own Communities? [https://reason.com/podcast/2025/05/02/should-libertarians-prioritize-their-own-communities/] appeared first on Reason.com [https://reason.com].

Jewish Currents' editor-at-large Peter Beinart [https://jewishcurrents.org/author/peter-beinart] and American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Michael Rubin [https://www.aei.org/profile/michael-rubin/] debate the resolution, "The oppression of Palestinians in non-democratic Israel has been systematic and profound." Arguing for the affirmative is Beinart, a professor of journalism and political science at the Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York. He's a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, editor-at-large for Jewish Currents, and a political commentator for MSNBC. Beinart has authored several books, including Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning [https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0593803892/reasonmagazinea-20/], which was released in January of this year. Arguing for the negative is Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he specializes in the Middle East and Africa, and director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum [https://www.meforum.org/]. He's the author of Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes [https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594037973/reasonmagazinea-20/]. The debate was moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein [https://reason.com/people/gene-epstein/]. CHAPTERS: * 00:00 Introduction * 00:15 The resolution reads… * 00:55 Beinart's opening statement * 11:36 Rubin's opening statement * 28:08 Beinart's rebuttal * 32:55 Rubin's rebuttal * 39:45 Q&A * 1:12:02 Beinart's closing statement * 1:15:22 Rubin's closing statement * 1:20:23 Announcements * 1:25:07 Results * Editor: John Osterhoudt [https://reason.com/people/john-osterhoudt/] The post Are the Palestinians Systematically Oppressed? [https://reason.com/podcast/2025/03/22/are-palestinians-systematically-oppressed/] appeared first on Reason.com [https://reason.com].

Scott Horton [https://libertarianinstitute.org/scott/] of The Libertarian Institute and Eli Lake [https://x.com/elilake] of The Free Press debate the resolution, "The United States started the new Cold War with Russia and provoked Russia's invasion of Ukraine." Taking the affirmative is Horton, the director of The Libertarian Institute [https://libertarianinstitute.org/] and the editorial director of antiwar.com [https://antiwar.com/]. He recently published a book on the debate subject called Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine [https://libertarianinstitute.org/books/provoked-how-washington-started-the-new-cold-war-with-russia-and-the-catastrophe-in-ukraine/]. Arguing for the negative is Lake, a columnist for The Free Press [https://www.thefp.com/w/eli-lake] and contributing editor for Commentary magazine [https://www.commentary.org/], whose longtime beat has been foreign affairs and national security. The debate was hosted at Dartmouth College by the Dartmouth Political Union [https://www.thedpu.org/] and moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein [https://reason.com/people/gene-epstein/]. * Post Production: John Osterhoudt [https://reason.com/people/john-osterhoudt/] The post Did the U.S. Provoke Russia's Invasion of Ukraine? [https://reason.com/podcast/2025/02/08/did-the-u-s-provoke-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/] appeared first on Reason.com [https://reason.com].

Peter Gietl of Blaze Media and Salvadoran journalist Ricardo Avelar debate the resolution, "President Nayib Bukele's crime-fighting policies in El Salvador provide a model for reducing violence in other Latin American countries." Arguing in favor is Gietl [https://www.theblaze.com/u/petergietl], the managing editor for Return [https://www.theblaze.com/return/] and Frontier magazine [https://www.theblaze.com/frontier/] for Blaze Media [https://www.theblaze.com/about]. In November of last year, Gietl published a lengthy photojournalistic essay chronicling his travels to El Salvador, titled "J'Adore El Salvador [https://www.theblaze.com/frontier/jadore-el-salvador]," which he concludes by asking: "Can we bottle [El Salvador's transformation] up and ship it back to America?" Taking the negative is Avelar [https://x.com/docAvelar], a senior journalist and presenter for the Central American news outlet Revista Factum [https://www.revistafactum.com/quienes-somos/]. In 2021, he co-directed a docuseries called 9F: The Return of [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-QidnOOfyrRxFSOWaSKTzicZxaUyr0c0] Rifles [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-QidnOOfyrRxFSOWaSKTzicZxaUyr0c0], which is about the "El Bukelazo [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Salvadoran_political_crisis]" events of February 9, 2020. The debate is moderated by Soho Forum director Gene Epstein [https://reason.com/people/gene-epstein/]. * Post Production: John Osterhoudt [https://reason.com/people/john-osterhoudt/] The post El Salvador's Bukele: Authoritarian or Model President? [https://reason.com/podcast/2025/01/27/el-salvadors-bukele-authoritarian-or-model-president/] appeared first on Reason.com [https://reason.com].