Attn D.C. Reasonoids: Free Drinks on Tuesday, Some Debate to Follow

On Tuesday, Aug. 15, the AFF will host a debate on "Big Business: Friend or Foe of Big Government?" Major corporations have long been viewed as a natural -- indeed, essential -- ally of free markets and, by extension, classical liberalism. But is that conventional wisdom correct? Just how strongly does big business really support free markets? How strong of an ally is it for those who want to shrink the size of the state? Has the Republican Party's own efforts to pare back government and regulations been helped or impeded by its alliance with corporations?

These issues will be debated in a special AFF roundtable dedicated to the new book, The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money, by Tim Carney, longtime columnist for AFF's online magazine Brainwash. Carney, also a former reporter for Human Events, the Evans/Novak Report and a recent fellow at both the Phillips Foundation and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, will lay out his argument that today the largest corporations have mastered the art of working with, and expanding the size of, big government. Joining him in the debate will be Veronique de Rugy, resident fellow for tax and budget policy at the American Enterprise Institute, and J. Peter Freire of The New York Times. Sean Higgins, Washington correspondent for Investor's Business Daily, will moderate.

The event will take place at the Fund for American Studies, 1706 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, near Dupont Circle. Drinks at 6:30; Roundtable begins at 7:00. Roundtables are free for members, $5 for non-members.