PAST EVENTS
Meet & Greet: Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google
The Common Good hosted one of today’s greatest business leaders, Executive Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt.
The Common Good hosted one of today’s greatest business leaders, Executive Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt.
Since joining Google in 2001, Eric Schmidt has helped grow the company from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology. As executive chairman, he is responsible for the external matters of Google: building partnerships and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership, as well as advising the CEO and senior leadership on business and policy issues.
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Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street on Israel post U.S. Midterm Elections
The Common Good hosted J Street’s President and Founder, Jeremy Ben-Ami, on his analysis of their poll of Jewish Americans last week and what their findings mean for the President’s Middle East policies going forward.
The Common Good hosted J Street’s President and Founder, Jeremy Ben-Ami, on his analysis of their recent poll of Jewish Americans and what their findings mean for the President’s Middle East policies going forward.
Jeremy Ben-Ami is the founder and President of J Street, bringing to the role both deep experience in American politics and government and a passionate commitment to the state of Israel.
His political resume includes serving in the mid-1990’s as the Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor in the White House to President Bill Clinton and working on seven Presidential and numerous state and local campaigns. He was Howard Dean’s National Policy Director in 2004 and helped manage a Mayoral campaign in New York City in 2001.
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Matt Taibbi on Corruption, Fraud and Inequality
Do flaws in our justice system drive inequality in the United States? Journalist and two-time New York Times bestselling author, Matt Taibbi revealed his findings as an advocate journalist for the stories kept hidden, those of corruption and fraud. We heard Taibbi’s ideas about what is threatening our justice system and the power wealth has to tip the balance, as published in his recent book The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap.
Do flaws in our justice system drive inequality in the United States? Journalist and two-time New York Times bestselling author, Matt Taibbi, revealed his findings as an advocate journalist for the stories kept hidden, those of corruption and fraud. We heard Taibbi’s ideas about what is threatening our justice system and the power wealth has to tip the balance, as published in his recent book The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap.
In The Divide, Matt Taibbi takes readers on a galvanizing journey through both sides of our new system of justice—the fun-house-mirror worlds of the untouchably wealthy and the criminalized poor. He uncovers the startling looting that preceded the financial collapse; a wild conspiracy of billionaire hedge fund managers to destroy a company through dirty tricks; and the story of a whistleblower who gets in the way of the largest banks in America. On the other side of The Divide, Taibbi takes us to the front lines of the immigrant dragnet; into the newly punitive welfare system which treats its beneficiaries as thieves; and deep inside the stop-and-frisk world, where standing in front of your own home has become an arrestable offense. As he narrates these incredible stories, he draws out and analyzes their common source: “a perverse new standard of justice, based on a radical, disturbing new vision of civil rights.”
Matt Taibbi is a multi-talented author and journalist who has covered politics, media, finance and sports, and in 2008 received a National Magazine Award for his columns in Rolling Stone. In February of 2014, he penned a goodbye in Rolling Stone magazine and moved to Glenn Greenwald’s First Look Media, where is he assembling a team of top-notch journalists and helping to launch a new magazine.
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Midterm Elections Panel
The Common Good encouraged members to take a look beyond the numbers and the 24 hour news cycle for a dynamic and fascinating breakdown of the 2014 Elections with an incredible lineup of political experts: John Harwood, Patrick Caddell, Anna Greenberg, Carol E. Lee, Steve Kornacki, Jim McLaughlin, and Jefrey Pollock.
Democrats had to defend more seats in the Senate and the Republicans clearly had districting in their favor for the House. The Common Good encouraged members to take a look beyond the numbers and the 24 hour news cycle for a dynamic and fascinating breakdown of the 2014 Elections with an incredible lineup of political experts.
The moderator was John Harwood, Chief Washington correspondent for CNBC and political journalist for The New York Times.
The panelist included: Patrick Caddell, Former Presidential pollster and Fox News contributor; Anna Greenberg, AAPC’s 2014 ‘’Pollster of the Year’’; Carol E. Lee, White House correspondent for The Wall Street Journal in the Washington bureau; Steve Kornacki, Host of “Up with Steve Kornacki”; Jim McLaughlin, President of McLaughlin & Associates and a nationally recognized Republican political strategist; and Jefrey Pollock, President of Global Strategy Group, LLC (GSG).
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John Micklethwait on Political Revolution
John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist and acclaimed author lead The Common Good in discussion centered around his recently authored book, The Fourth Revolution.
The world is changing and new political and economic powerhouses are emerging overseas. With nations like China growing so quickly, now is the time for the U.S. to take a closer look at our long-standing methods in politics and ask the question, “Is business as usual sustainable?”
John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist, lead The Common Good in a discussion centered around his recently authored book, The Fourth Revolution.
From the bestselling author of The Right Nation, an argument is proposed that our current crisis in government is nothing less than the fourth radical transition in the history of the nation-state. In fact, there have been three great revolutions in government in the history of the modern world. The West has led these revolutions, but now we are in the midst of a fourth revolution, and it is Western government that is in danger of being left behind. The West’s debt load is unsustainable. The developing world has harvested the low-hanging fruits. Industrialization has transformed all the peasant economies it had left to transform, and the toxic side effects of rapid developing world growth are adding to the bill. From Washington to Detroit, from Brasilia to New Delhi, there is a dual crisis of political legitimacy and political effectiveness. The Fourth Revolution crystallizes the scope of the crisis and points forward to our future.
John Micklethwait is the Editor-in-Chief of “The Economist”. After studying history at Magdalen College, Oxford, he worked as a banker at Chase Manhattan between 1985 and 1987 before joining The Economist as a finance correspondent in 1987. His previous roles at The Economist include being the newspaper’s Business editor and United States editor. The Economist now has a weekly print circulation of around 1.5 million worldwide, with 100,000 digital subscribers.
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Evan Osnos On The New China
As China’s power and reach grows ever more rapidly; understanding this behemoth is critically important. The Common Good hosted a thoughtful discussion with Evan Osnos on China’s 35-year political and cultural transformation.
As China’s power and reach grows ever more rapidly, understanding the country is critically important. The Common Good hosted a thoughtful discussion with Evan Osnos on China’s 35-year political and cultural transformation.
Evan Osnos is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he served as the China correspondent from 2008 to 2013. He is the winner of two Overseas Press Club awards and the Asia Society’s Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism on Asia. Previously, he worked at the Chicago Tribune, where he was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 2008. He lives in Washington, D.C.
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Political Journalism with Jill Abramson
Where has the real news gone? Jill Abramson shed light on that topic, the rapidly changing landscape of political journalism and why important events and voices of our voters and country are getting less news focus.
Where has the real news gone? Jill Abramson shed light on that topic, the rapidly changing landscape of political journalism, and why important events and voices of our voters and country are getting less news focus.
Jill Abramson was the first female executive editor in the paper’s 160-year history. Abramson joined the New York Times in 1997, working as the Washington bureau chief and managing editor before being named as executive editor. She previously worked for The Wall Street Journal as an investigative reporter and a deputy bureau chief. In 2012, she was ranked number five on Forbes list of most powerful women. She was also named as one of the 500 most powerful people in the world by Foreign Policy. Abramson held the position of New York Times Executive Editor from September 2011 to May 2014.
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The Common Good Forum & The American Spirit Awards 2014
The Common Good honored individuals who have made exceptional contributions to democracy and changing the world with The American Spirit Awards: Arnon Milchan, Jose Antonio Vargas and Lilly Ledbetter.
As a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, The Common Good honored individuals who have made exceptional contributions to democracy and changing the world with The American Spirit Awards. In 2014 the honorees included Arnon Milchan, the producer of 12 Years a Slave, reform activist and documentary film maker, Jose Antonio Vargas and Lilly Ledbetter, whose tireless pursuit of economic justice led to the landmark Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.
To present our honorees we had an array of program presenters including; Darren Aronofsky, five time academy award-nominated director, Jonathan Capehart, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Maria Cuomo Cole, producer, director and political activist and finally, Soledad O’Brien, Emmy award-winning journalist.
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Meet & Greet: Senator John Walsh
Incumbent Democratic Senator John Walsh was bidding for a second term in the Treasure State in the 2014 elections. Despite primary opposition and a Republican opponent who was polling 14 points ahead, Walsh counted on the appeal of his career in uniform, experience as lieutenant governor, and recent role as appointed Senator.
Incumbent Democratic Senator John Walsh was bidding for a second term in the Treasure State in the 2014 elections. Despite primary opposition and a Republican opponent who was polling 14 points ahead, Walsh counted on the appeal of his career in uniform, experience as lieutenant governor, and recent role as appointed Senator.
This race was considered one of the most important of the 2014 election cycle, as Republicans mounted an aggressive, well-funded campaign to reclaim a Senate seat they have not held in a century.
As a battalion commander, John Walsh led more than 700 men and women overseas to Iraq in the largest deployment of Montana National Guard soldiers and airmen since WWII. During his time as adjutant general, John championed the Yellow Ribbon program, an initiative that provides valuable resources to National Guard members and their families at all stages of their deployment and ensures Guard members get their well-earned services and benefits when they return home.
After 33 years of distinguished service, John retired from the National Guard and was elected by the people of Montana to the office of Lieutenant Governor, serving with Governor Steve Bullock. As Montana’s 30th Lieutenant Governor, Walsh fought to balance the budget, enact tax cuts for small businesses, invest in Montana’s schools, and toughen laws against child abuse.
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Meet & Greet: NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton
As the largest city in the United States, New York faces serious threats on a daily basis. New York Police Commissioner William J. Bratton spoke about a wide range of topics from the controversial Stop and Frisk, to terrorist scares, the head of the NYPD offered his expert insight on the state of our city—and its safety.
As the largest city in the United States, New York faces serious threats on a daily basis. New York Police Commissioner William J. Bratton spoke about a wide range of topics from the controversial Stop and Frisk to terrorist scares, and offered his expert insight on the state of our city—and its safety.
Commissioner Bratton established an international reputation for re-engineering police departments and fighting crime in the 1990’s. As Chief of the New York City Transit Police, Boston Police Commissioner, and in his first term as New York City Police Commissioner, he revitalized morale and cut crime in all three posts, achieving the largest crime declines in New York City’s history. At the NYPD in 1994 and 1995, he led the development of Compstat, the internationally acclaimed command accountability system now in use by police departments nationwide. As Los Angeles Police Chief from 2002 to 2009 and in a city known for its entrenched gang culture and youth violence, he brought crime to historically low levels, greatly improved race relations, and reached out to young people with a range of innovative police programs. He is the only person ever to lead the police agencies of the nation’s two largest cities.
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The Civil Rights Act with Todd Purdum
On the fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, acclaimed Vanity Fair and Politico journalist Todd Purdum released his new book “An Idea Whose Time Has Come”.
On the fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, acclaimed Vanity Fair and Politico journalist Todd Purdum released his new book An Idea Whose Time Has Come.
Todd S. Purdum tells the story of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, recreating the legislative maneuvering and the larger-than-life characters who made its passage possible. From the Kennedy brothers to Lyndon Johnson, from Martin Luther King Jr. to Hubert Humphrey and Everett Dirksen, Purdum shows how these all-too-human figures managed, in just over a year, to create this bill. He evokes the high purpose and low dealings that marked the creation of this monumental law, drawing on extensive archival research and dozens of new interviews that bring to life this signal achievement in American history.
“An Idea Whose Time Has Come is brilliantly rendered and emotionally powerful – a riveting account of one of the most dramatic and significant moments in American history. The story Todd Purdum tells is absolutely mesmerizing.”
“Todd Purdum’s remarkable An Idea Whose Time Has Come brings back to life the historic fight waged on behalf of civil rights by JFK and LBJ. Purdum is a superb writer, never dull, and his grasp of the Sixties milieu is foolproof. This is a marvelous and much needed book of lasting importance.”
“Todd Purdum’s fascinating behind-the-scenes account of the birth of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a timely and hopeful reminder that sometimes the good guys do win, even in Washington.”
“odd Purdum brings alive Congress’s great historic achievement: the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The heroes are J.F.K. and L.B.J., but also those Midwest Republicans who stayed true to Lincoln. Those are the quietly eloquent stories here, the profiles in decency and guts, where members of Congress honored values greater than current popularity. An Idea Whose Time Has Come shows once again that the real action in American politics takes place in the back room – and in that quieter place: the beating hearts of the decent and courageous.”
Todd S. Purdum is senior writer at Politico and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He was formerly with The New York Times, where he worked for 23 years, covering politics from city hall to the White House, and also serving as diplomatic correspondent and Los Angeles bureau chief.
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The Common Good has been hosting events since 2006 that cover important issues of today, highlighting speakers who have worked to bolster our democracy and can provide great insight on the issues that matter.