Cato On Campus invites you to a Student Forum, titled 'Balancing Liberty and Security in an Age of Terrorism'. Featuring David Rittgers, Legal Policy Analyst of the Cato Institute and Michael German of the National Security Policy Counsel and American Civil Liberties Union.The discussion will be moderated byJoey Coon, Director of Student Programs, of the Cato Institute.

Every society must balance the tradeoff between the liberties of the individual and the security of the public. In America, society is based on a Constitution that acknowledges inherent liberties and rights. However, since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the tension between liberty and security has become pronounced. Public policy is often made at the expense of Constitutional freedoms, and the ratcheting effect of government threatens to make permanent these unconstitutional changes to our system of ordered liberty.

Continuing with the current trend in policy is the wrong path and will lead to less safety and less freedom for the American people. This Cato On Campus event, co-sponsored with the D.C. Forum for Freedom, will discuss how the protection of freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights may in fact be more efficient and more effective in countering the threats that terrorism presents to a free society.

Cato legal policy analyst David Rittgers will discuss the tradeoffs made and proposed in the name of terrorism, and how the threat of terrorism should not force us to abandon principles of individual liberty and fiscal restraint.

American Civil Liberties Union policy counsel Michael German will discuss the policy choices implied in the Bill of Rights and how application of constitutional standards serve not only to protect the rights of the individual but as an effective means of focusing counterterrorism resources.


Friday, September 24, 2010
4:00 p.m.
(reception to follow)
[http://www.uptilt.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=77z,1f99t,2tlm,eafo,347v,21s,ll4y]

Cato Student Forums are free of charge.
To register, visit http://www.cato.org/events/100924sf.html,
or call (202) 789-5229 by noon, Thursday, September 23.

If you can't make it to the Cato Institute, watch this Forum live online here.