About the Lecture: This examination of American governance makes a rather unique comparison of economic democracy with political democracy. It will be shown that this is the mechanism that governs and regulates much of our lives, not government, and does so in a much more efficient, responsive manner than political democracy. In the process, it draws a variety of conclusions about the consequences of liberty, the consequences for equality, and the physical impossibility of democratic socialism.
About the Speaker: Professor Alan Messer served in the CIA for 32 years, first as an analyst on Soviet defense industries and economics for 17 years, in the Directorate for Science and Technology for two years, and then as an operations officer in the Clandestine Service for 13 years, specializing in the KGB and GRU. Prof. Messer has a Master's degree in international affairs from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies and a Master's degree in economics from UCLA. Prof. Messer teaches A Counterintelligence Challenge: The Enigmas and Benefits of Defectors at IWP.