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Power Wars

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The Cato Institute’s Gene Healy introduces Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Charlie Savage, author of Power Wars:

“We’ve paid a heavy price for having a president whose priority is expanding his own power,” then-senator Barack Obama proclaimed on the campaign trail in 2007. As president, he promised, “I’ll turn the page on the imperial presidency.”

And yet, as Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Charlie Savage documents in his new book Power Wars, from the early days of the Obama administration, “policy choices that departed from Bush-era programs dwindled, and those that continued— or even expanded— Bush-era programs rose.” Indeed, as president, Obama has launched more than seven times as many drone strikes as his predecessor, including the remote-control execution of an American citizen. He’s continued and expanded dragnet domestic surveillance programs based on a secret interpretation of the PATRIOT Act and launched two wars without authorization from Congress. Much has changed in the Obama era, but the imperial presidency endures and thrives.

Based on interviews with more than 150 current and former government officials, Savage’s Power Wars stands as the most comprehensive account yet of the internal deliberations within the Obama administration. It’s an indispensable source for anyone seeking to understand the factors that drove such powerful continuity between two seemingly very different presidents. Please join us for a lively and timely discussion of the politics and law of presidential power.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.
E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.