Programming note: Gene Healy is no longer able to join us for our originally scheduled lecture on executive power.

 

As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, join us in Carpenters’ Hall, where the First Continental Congress met to figure out how free people govern themselves, for a conversation on how constitutional principles endure and are advanced in our time. Building on the ideas enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the program will explore how those Founding principles continue to take shape today, and how we carry them forward in practice, in the institutions that uphold our republic and in the classrooms that shape its future.

This discussion brings together two people working on the front lines: Stephen Richer, adjunct scholar in Cato’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies and senior practice fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, and Allan Carey, director of Sphere Education Initiatives at the Cato Institute. Together, they represent both the culture and the conduct of a free society.

Stephen has experienced firsthand what it takes to protect democratic institutions and public trust as recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona—America’s fourth-largest county. He faced personal attacks for defending the integrity of the 2020 election and responded by spending four years strengthening transparency, countering false claims of election theft, and ensuring millions of Arizonans could trust that their votes were counted. Time magazine recognized his leadership in 2024, naming him one of 11 “Democracy Defenders.”

Allan leads Cato’s Sphere Education Initiatives, which has built an alumni network of more than 17,000 educators who collectively reach over 2 million students annually. Through the “America’s 250th” collection—with lesson plans ranging from the Declaration of Independence to the economic underpinnings of the American Foundation—he is working to shape the next generation’s understanding of America’s Founding ideals through civic education and civil discourse.

Harrison Moar, Cato’s vice president for development, will moderate this conversation and explore how the ideals that shaped America’s Founding continue to guide education, public trust, and civic life—250 years on.