thank you, gene. [ applause ] >> thank you, andrew heton! now that we're all warmed up, the main event. speaking for the affirmative will be richard epstein, spe speaking for the negative will be chris preble. the united states should be prepared to use force with friendly nations even when not subjected to the direct threat of force. you can read about richard and chris on the website. i want to say chris preble of the cato institute is the author of a book, how military dominance makes us less safe, less prosperous and less free. chris is apparently such a fierce debater, brett stevens of the "wall street journal" declined my invitation to debate chris on foreign policy. but richard epstein was happily willing, and in fact -- [ applause ] >> in fact, you know, when you set up a resolution between two deba debaters by e-mail it sometimes goes on for days. in this case, richard crafted the revolution and it was written by him word-for-word. chris immediately accepted it, it was over in a minute. that's because richard has a mind and knows ho