Beginning Sept.10, the Cornell Program on Ethics and Public Life (EPL) will explore the 2012 American elections with a lecture series titled "Deep Issues of the 2012 Elections: Equality, Liberty and Democracy."

"Because of the Great Recession, the stunning influence of super PACs, and the stimulus of Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party movement, fundamental questions about inequality, liberty and democracy are being raised by the presidential campaigns," says Richard Miller, EPL director. "But the campaigns are not discussing them in the depth that they deserve. The six eminent visitors in our series will help to advance these vitally needed discussions throughout Cornell and Ithaca."

Series participants will give public lectures, lead seminars and meet informally with faculty and students.

The first is Jacob Hacker, a professor of political science at Yale University. His books include "Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class" and "The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Insecurity and the Decline of the American Dream." He will present his view of how American politics undermines the American Dream and how this trend can be reversed Sept.10. All public lectures will be held at 4:30 p.m. in Cornell's Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall.

The rest of the series lineup:

• Sept. 24: Larry Bartels, political science, Vanderbilt University, on the interaction of politics and economic inequality;
• Oct. 15: David Schmidtz, philosophy, University of Arizona, on the role of property rights in liberty;
• Oct. 29: Harry Brighouse, philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, on fair equality of opportunity and education;
• Nov. 12: Doug McAdam, sociology, Stanford University, on threats to American democracy; and
• Nov. 26: Hilary Hoynes, economics, University of California -- Davis, on economic insecurity and the safety net.

The series is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Inequality with support from the Riger-Potash Family Fund and the Irving "Chips" Cantor Fund.

Linda B. Glaser is staff writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.