Inequality vs. Democracy

Description

Associated Program:
John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum
Speakers:
Tom Ashbrook
Chrystia Freeland
Martin Gilens
Alex Keyssar
Co-Sponsors:
HKS Ash Center

Chrystia Freeland, Liberal Party candidate for Canadian parliament, journalist, and author, Martin Gilens, Professor of Politics at Princeton University, and Alex Keyssar, Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government joined journalist and radio broadcaster Tom Ashbrook for a special broadcast of his radio program “On Point” from the JFK Jr. Forum. The speakers undertook the topic “Inequality vs. Democracy,” and addressed topics ranging from how to reconcile growth and equality to voter ID laws. The speakers further discussed issues such as how the concentration of money in a few hands might distort the decision making processes in legislative bodies, and ways through which inequality in America could be brought down to an “acceptable” level, touching the issue of what vision of equality was effective during the founding of the US. The audio of the Forum was broadcast by NPR.