Readers may have followed the ruckus that Tucker Carlson ignited on Fox News with his January 3rd monologue that many read as an abandonment of free market principles and an embrace of unguided populism, or at the very least, an implicit endorsement of protectionism on behalf of manufacturing and skilled labor jobs in the heartland. Now, I can pick a lot of nits with a number of particulars that Tucker included (like his attack on payday loans, which I think is misguided), but overall I think he frames well a number of issues about which there is a lack of clarity about how to understand them, let alone what remedies should be considered. By all means Tucker should be pressed to extend and defend his thoughts in some detail, and I have no doubt he is up to it.

And if you want to see such an argument live and in person, have I got the deal for you! On Saturday March 23, my friends at the Pacific Research Institute will be hosting Tucker as part of PRI’s 40th anniversary gala dinner at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco, where I will reprise my usual role as Master of Ceremonies. And if you’ve attended before, you’ll know that the format is for me to engage the guest speaker in a conversation and curated Q & A after his talk. I plan to press Tucker very hard on the specifics of his critique. (Sample question: “Tucker—you criticized lower corporate and capital gains tax rates, yet it was Ronald Reagan’s opinion that both of those taxes should be abolished completely, and he gave good reasons why. Was the Gipper wrong to think this?”) I’m hoping I might be able to summon forth more than one of Tucker’s classic looks:

Do come if you are in the area, and help support PRI as it looks ahead to its next 40 years. It’s always a fun time, right Ken & Fritz?