Dr. Marcia Angell, senior lecturer in the Division of Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School, discusses the Massachusetts ballot initiative in support of physician-assisted suicide. How does the Hippocratic Oath square with the notion that a doctor might help a patient end his or her life? Under what circumstances would this be an ethical act for a physician? What are the risks of enacting Death with Dignity legislation? Whose interests does such a law serve?
Recorded October 3, 2012
Ted Widmer, director of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, speaks about George Washington’s 1790 letter to the Jewish community in Newport, Longfellow’s poem on the same theme, and the curious career of religious tolerance in American politics.
Wednesday, September 19 @ 7:00 pm
Co-sponsored by the National Park Service, Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters NHS, the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, and by Ann Daily. In honor of Frances Ackerly.
Gentlemen:
While I received with much satisfaction your address replete with expressions of esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced on my visit to Newport from all classes of citizens.
The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security.
If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good government, to become a great and happy people.
The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy—a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes for my felicity.
May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.
May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.
G. Washington
Harvard University’s Dennis Thompson discusses the sources of partisan intransigence and legislative gridlock in American political life.
What role does ideology play in the current impasse in national governance? What role does the electoral system itself play? How can the people’s representatives move beyond gridlock and ideological partisanship to effectively govern the nation and resolve the problems it faces?
Thursday, September 27 @7:00 pm
3 Church Street, Cambridge
Activist, author, and film-maker John de Graaf looks beyond the current downturn to explore the assumptions underlying our economy. In an election cycle that is focused on our economic future, his new book What’s the Economy For, Anyway? offers a fresh perspective on quality of life, health, security, work-life balance, leisure, social justice, and perhaps most important, sustainability.
How can we measure economic success? Nationally? Individually? What is the role of growth in a 21st-century economy? What role can governments play in creating economic success? What is the individual’s role?
Wednesday, October 10 @7:00 pm
Mass Ave at Church Street (Harvard Square)
MIT’s Noam Chomsky and Barbara Lubin of the Middle East Children’s Alliance discuss A Child’s View of Gaza, the book of Palestinian children’s artwork slated for exhibition at the Oakland Museum of Children’s Art. The exhibition was cancelled at the last minute without explanation. Have children become pawns in a larger conflict? How has this come about? What does it say about the possibilities for peaceful resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian impasse?
Recorded November 7, 2012
Co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, Boston; American Jews for a Just Peace; and the Middle East Education Project at First Parish in Cambridge.
Yale national security strategist Paul Bracken argues that a new nuclear age is dawning. This Second Nuclear Age will transform the way international crises develop and call for new strategies for coping and containment.
What role will the United States play in the new nuclear landscape? How should we plan for this nuclear future?
What role do moral and ethical concerns have in preparing for the second nuclear age?
Monday, November 12 @ 7:00 pm
3 Church Street (Harvard Square)
Co-sponsored by an Anonymous Friend of Cambridge Forum
