The following programs are ahead for The City Club of San Diego. It should be noted that events listed below are events presently scheduled. More events will be added as program opportunities occur.
Please scroll down to view all of the event details, or you may use the navigation to access the event details you are looking for.
To Register Click Here
Thursday, June 7, 2012
The City Club of San Diego and the Independent Voter Network Proudly Present:
Phillip K. Howard
Chairman of Common Good
Author of & Speaking on: “ Life Without Lawyers: Restoring Responsibility in America”
Thursday, June 28, 2012
The City Club of San Diego and the Independent Voter Network Proudly Present:
Peter Edelman
Professor, Georgetown University Law School
Author of & Speaking on: "So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s Hard to End Poverty in America”
|
Thursday, June 7, 2012
The City Club of San Diego Proudly Presents:
Phillip K. Howard – Chairman of Common Good
Author of & Speaking on: “ Life Without Lawyers: Restoring Responsibility in America”
12 Noon Luncheon
El Vitral Restaurant
815 "J" Street (at the north entrance to Petco Park)
Members $25, Non-members $35
Phone Reservations: 619-687-3580
Event Sponsor:
To Register Click Here
|
Biographical Brief – Phillip K. HowardIs democracy killing itself? That’s the core question that leading government reformer Philip K. Howard asks. The question arises because of growing evidence of government dysfunction as well as increasing recognition that too much law has made everyone powerless. In his words: “Our mature democracy is so encrusted with accumulated laws and mandates that it no longer has the capacity to make the sound and informed choices needed to meet the challenges of the times.”
At every level of responsibility, Americans have been disempowered. The President can’t approve important environmental projects without a decade or longer of review. Teachers have lost control of the classroom. Judges lack the authority to keep lawsuits reasonable.
Philip Howard, a lawyer and civic leader, is Chair of Common Good, the nonprofit organization that he founded in 2002. Its current “Start Over” campaign is focusing on a range of essential reforms, including the following:
• Clean out obsolete laws, freeing resources to address the needs of today;
• Restore personal responsibility in most government entitlement programs;
• Bulldoze bureaucracy out of schools, putting teaching ahead of compliance;
• Make government accountable by reforming civil service;
• Make justice reliable, so that people can understand what’s expected of them.
Through Common Good, Philip Howard has demonstrated an ability to unite left and right behind systemic overhaul. For instance, virtually every legitimate healthcare constituency – consumer groups, patient safety experts, physicians and businesses – supports Common Good’s proposal to create special health courts to bring reliability to medical justice. Both likely 2012 presidential nominees – President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney – have now endorsed health courts, as have four national, fiscally focused, bipartisan commissions.
The growing discontent with government dysfunction has put Philip Howard at the center of national discourse. The extraordinary, online, discussion series “America the Fixable” – hosted by TheAtlantic.com in partnership with Common Good – keys off of Philip’s writings and has attracted renowned contributors from many fields, including leaders from both major political parties such as Jeb Bush, Mitch Daniels, and Mark Warner, among others.
Philip’s writings, speeches, and reform proposals are refocusing commentary away from partisan bickering towards the need for structural overhaul of government:
• His address at the renowned TED conference received a standing ovation – http://www.ted.com/talks/philip_howard.html – and was termed “brilliant” by CNN.com. The speech now has a viral life, with virtually continual commentary.
• His message of the need for a basic overhaul was embraced in a column by David Brooks in The New York Times.
• His latest guest appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-november-18-2010/philip-k--howard – has been widely circulated and tweeted.
A bestselling author, his latest book – Life Without Lawyers: Restoring Responsibility in America – was recently issued in paperback by Norton, and Random House has just re-issued his first book – The Death of Common Sense – originally published in 1995 to national acclaim. |
|
Thursday, June 28, 2012
The City Club of San Diego Proudly Presents:
Peter Edelman – Professor, Georgetown University Law School
Author of & Speaking on: "So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s Hard to End Poverty in America”
12 Noon Luncheon
El Vitral Restaurant
815 "J" Street (at the north entrance to Petco Park)
Members $25, Non-members $35
Phone Reservations: 619-687-3580
Event Sponsor:
To Register Click Here
|
Biographical Brief – Peter Edelman
Peter is a professor at Georgetown University Law Center. A top adviser to Senator Robert F. Kennedy from 1964 to 1968, he went on to fill various roles in President Bill Clinton’s administration, from which he famously resigned in protest after Clinton signed the 1996 welfare reform legislation.
About the Book
 If the nation’s gross national income—over $14 trillion—were divided evenly across the entire U.S. population, every household could call itself middle class. Yet the income-level disparity in this country is now wider than at any point since the Great Depression. In 2010 the average salary for CEOs on the S&P 500 was over $1 million—climbing to over $11 million when all forms of compensation are accounted for—while the current median household income for African Americans is just over $32,000. How can some be so rich, while others are so poor?
In this provocative book, lifelong antipoverty advocate Peter Edelman offers an informed analysis of how this country can be so wealthy yet have a steadily growing number of unemployed and working poor. According to Edelman, we have taken important positive steps without which 25 to 30 million more people would be poor, but poverty fluctuates with the business cycle. The structure of today’s economy has stultified wage growth for half of America’s workers—with even worse results at the bottom and for people of color—while bestowing billions on those at the top.
So Rich, So Poor delves into what is happening to the people behind the statistics, and takes a particular look at the continuing crisis of young people of color, whose possibility of a productive life too often is lost on their way to adulthood. This is crucial reading for anyone who wants to understand the most critical American dilemma of the twenty-first century.
What People Say – Praise for So Rich, So Poor
"Bobby believed that, ‘as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.’ Much has changed in forty-five years, but as Peter eloquently reminds us, far too many Americans remain trapped in the web of economic injustice. His compassionate and singular voice awakens our conscience and calls us to action."
—Ethel Kennedy
"Peter Edelman brings blinding lucidity to a subject usually mired in prejudice and false preconceptions. Before we have one more discussion of how America can combat its persistent and growing levels of poverty, could everyone please read this book?"
—Barbara Ehrenreich
"If there is one essential book on the great tragedy of poverty and inequality in America, this is it. Peter Edelman is masterful on the issue. With a real-world grasp of politics and the economy, Edelman makes a brilliantly compelling case for what can and must be done."
—Bob Herbert
|
|
