Best Events of 2006

Governor Schwarzenegger has said that the top goal he will announce next year is to expand health insurance coverage to all Californians. This half-day conference was designed to provide him and others with fresh answers to the hard questions of how coverage expansion can be financed and how responsibility could be shared among families, employers, and government.

Presenters ranged from state officials, private employers, health policy advocates, as well as experts from academia, think tanks, and international consulting firms. California's… more

After watching first responder communications systems fail on 9/11 and after Hurricane Katrina, with tragic results, the vital importance of spectrum management for public safety communications has taken center stage in recent years. Congress recently passed legislation to reallocate 24 MHz of prime spectrum from TV to public safety in 2009, as part of America’s transition from analog to digital television. Currently, this new spectrum is set to be managed under the same assumptions and orthodoxies as current public safety… more

The safety net on which Americans once relied is fast unraveling. With retirement plans in growing jeopardy and health coverage eroding, more and more economic risk is being shifted away from government and business and onto the fragile shoulders of the American family. And no matter how well educated and hard working, many Americans fear that bankruptcy could be just one unexpected lay off or health crisis away.

In The Great Risk Shift: The Assault on American Jobs, Families, Health… more

This event -- hosted jointly by the New America Foundation and the Princeton Project on National Security -- was a major day-long conference on Capitol Hill probing panels of experts on the challenges of the 21st Century with regards to developing a grand strategy, maintaining economic security, and revamping institutional rules for new threats.

The conference was punctuated by remarks on national security from Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and closed by a discussion on democracy building… more

In the second of a series of sponsored conversations about the future of the employer-based health insurance system, Sens. Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) offered their perspectives on how the employer system can continue to provide coverage for American workers and their families, if appropriate bi-partisan policy actions are taken soon. Both senators are authors of legislation designed to encourage more small firms to offer insurance to their employees. Len Nichols, director of the Health… more

President Bush is likely to face in the not too distant future a “bleak binary choice” regarding Iran that juxtaposes two fundamental options that have profound geostrategic consequences. The first of these is to launch a military operation against Iran's perceived nuclear capacity, and the other is to acquiesce and adjust to Iran's eventual acquisition of nuclear weapons. These are the two framing options in the debate -- but concerned members of the foreign policy establishment are racing to construct… more

Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia presented a half-hour speech to over a hundred guests at the New America Foundation on Tuesday, July 25, 2006. Kaine described his views on the importance of early childhood education, which studies show can reduce the number of unprepared students entering kindergarten each year and reduce the number of elementary school children who fail to advance to the next grade at the end of the school year. Kaine noted that, in Virginia, 10,000 children… more

With the FCC dramatically increasing fines for indecency over broadcast TV -- and influential members of Congress threatening to extend decency standards to cable and satellite networks -- the debate over how best to protect children from inappropriate media has reached a fever pitch.

The problem is real: A plethora of studies show that repeated exposure to violence in the mass media increases aggression, desensitizes children to acts of violence and heightens their fears of becoming a victim of violence. Even… more

Rather than run for office, former Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon has decided to direct his energies toward re-engaging his home state and the nation in dialogue about common sense health care reform. Kitzhaber recently launched the Archimedes Movement (http://www.archimedesmovement.org), a new vision for health care in Oregon. His opening proposition is simple but profound: let Oregon re-direct current health spending to guarantee all Oregonians access to quality health care services. Accomplishing this will require waivers… more

With his usual candor, former Senator Gary Hart (D-CO) addressed the issues of security and military strategy -- the same issues he adopted while serving on Capitol Hill and which he explores in his new book The Shield and the Cloak: The Security of the Commons. His provocative remarks, delivered before a packed audience, offered a sobering assessment of America's security climate and a number of proposals to improve it.

Senator Hart -- noting that our Cold War-era military is… more