Browse our library

Search and filter below to explore our library of research, essays, commentary, and more.

  • Choose Issue(s)

  • Choose Type(s)

Results
A Consolidationist Agenda for the Right

Any political movement or political party worth its salt, when confronted with data evincing the sordid state of the American family, ought to respond by substantively prioritizing the American family’s institutional rejuvenation.

Do They Even Know Who They Represent?

It would be nice if politicians did their job and represented us. Half the time I donā€™t even know if they know the first thing about the places they claim to represent, much less the people who live here. What is the point of having a democracy if nobody will listen to you?

1980 All Over Again? In Search of the Right Analogy for the 2020 Election

The 2020 election bears the most resemblance to 1980, which ushered a transformed Republican Party into the White House and Senate for the first time since 1954.

work, construction
Joe Biden Should Be Doing More That Really Helps Workers

American Compass executive director Oren Cass discusses President Biden’s first days in office and why he should focus on policies that help working Americans.

The Future Really is Faction

Democrats and Republicans alike should feel free to contradict their putative leaders, for they contain multitudes.

Reclaim Democracy From Technocracy

Our present predicament, characterized as it by an emboldened and rapacious post-U.S. Capitol siege Big Tech edifice all too eager to dutifully serve as a repressiveĀ ruling class appendage, was perfectly encapsulated on Friday by two of my Commons co-bloggers.

Republican Party Platforms On Collective Bargaining, 1920-2020

In 2020 Donald Trump won 40 percent of voters who live in a household with at least one member in a labor union, slightly fewer than the 42 percent of union households who voted for him in 2016.Ā  With the exception of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden won fewer union households than any recent Democratic presidential candidate.Ā 

Is There a Case for Principled Populism From the GOP?

Marshall Auerback discusses how a principled populism that addresses working-class interests could emerge in the GOP.

Worker Power or Loose Borders: You Can Only Pick One

American Compass’s Oren Cass discusses the tension between worker power and loose immigration policy.

Is There a Case for Principled Populism From the GOP?

ā€œPopulismā€ is a term that since the modern era has been generally trotted out to mean a political attitude that reflects widespread anger and resentment against powerful elites, while among stenographers for the power class, populism has been reflexively trotted out to warn against the passions and wants of the mob.

Family Trauma and the Skills Gap

In a recent conversation hosted by American Compass, ā€œWhat Next: A Multi-Ethnic, Working-Class Conservatism,ā€ Ohio Congressman Anthony Gonzalez discussed the skills gap. ā€œ[T]he number one issue that I hear from employers is, I have jobs, I could hire 10 people tomorrow, but either the folks donā€™t want to do the work that we have, or I just canā€™t find the right people.ā€

Growth vs. Redistribution: The New Fault Line in U.S. Politics of Economic Policy

A few years ago, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF, the tech policy think tank I lead) surveyed several hundred DC policy folks to find out, among other things, what they thought ITIFā€™s political orientation was. About 40 percent said we were moderate, a third said we were conservative, and a quarter said we were liberal. Assuming the latter two groups werenā€™t clueless, it reinforced to me that on economic policy, the old conservative-liberal lines are anachronistic.

What Happened

The Trump Presidency in Review

The Future of the Biden and Trump Coalitions

While Joe Biden will be the 46th President of the United States and Donald Trump will join the small club of incumbents who could not get re-elected, itā€™s fair to say that Bidenā€™s triumph was not so overwhelming that it even begins to settle the question of which party will dominate the 2020s.

Obama’s America Is Trump’s America Is Biden’s America

American Compass’s Oren Cass discusses the 2020 election, arguing that the outcome simply tells us who will govern us, not who we are.

The Birth of a Multi-Ethnic, Working-Class Conservatism

American Compass’s Oren Cass argues that the future of conservatism lies in a multi-ethnic, working-class coalition.

US Election: The Working Class is Up for Grabs

Itā€™s now clear that Joe Biden will be Americaā€™s next president. While Democrats will undoubtedly celebrate this fact, the overall election results should give little comfort to them, given their failure to re-establish the partyā€™s historically successful New Deal coalition, especially the working-class component.Ā 

A Contested Election Would Be Bad. So Would a Landslide.

A contested electionā€”especially one in which an unelected body casts the final voteā€”is the worst possible outcome next week. Trump winning in a landslide would be preferable. So would a Biden blowout.

Conservative Feminism and Market Fundamentalism

In the weeks leading up to Amy Coney Barrettā€™s confirmation as Supreme Court Justice, much was written about the new conservative feminism that Barrett arguably embodies. But as Ross Douthat asked in his column at The New York Times, ā€œcan there be a conservative feminism thatā€™s distinctive, coherent and influential, at least beyond quirky religious subcultures like the faculty at the University of Notre Dame?ā€

Can the Left Overcome Its Technopessimism?

In his excellent American Compass essay ā€œThe Five Deadly Sins of the Leftā€, Ruy Teixeira calls out the left for what he terms their ā€œtechnopessimismā€. He writes: ā€œthe Left has Read more…

applearrow-cardsarrow-sharearrowcaret-downcloseemailfacebook-squarefacebookfooter-imggoogle-podcasts-clearhamburgerinstagram-squarelinkedin-squarelinkedinpauseplayprintspotifystitchertriangletwitter-squaretwitter