Today, a new episode of GoodFellows features Michael McFaul in a discussion of his new book on today’s international order; the Stanford Report explores how a new Hoover fellowship seeks to bridge geographical and political divides in American life; and Michael McConnell reviews his colleague Jonathan Gienapp’s recent book critiquing constitutional originalism.
Revitalizing American Institutions
A new story at the Stanford Report highlights the People, Politics, and Places Fellowship, a new program at the Hoover Institution’s Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI). “In conjunction with us becoming a more polarized society, Americans have increasingly sorted themselves into like-minded communities. The People, Politics, and Places Fellowship enables students to understand on the ground some of the issues facing these areas—by showing up, listening first, and pitching in on the work these communities are already doing,” says Senior Fellow and RAI faculty director Brandice Canes-Wrone. “In doing so, the fellowship lets students experience a new kind of civic presence.” Added Thomas Schnaubelt, the executive director of RAI, “We hope this fellowship will help students go beyond abstract conceptions of the American experience and instead see for themselves the richness of remote and rural life.” Read more here.
At the journal American Political Thought, Senior Fellow Michael McConnell reviews Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique by Stanford historian and Hoover Research Fellow Jonathan Gienapp. Commending the work as “sober and insightful,” McConnell praises Gienapp’s insistence “that we understand ‘Founding-era constitutionalism on its own terms.’” Critiquing the book’s argument, however, McConnell says the theses against originalism Gienapp advances actually apply to Marbury v. Madison “and every species of constitutional interpretation that is descended from it, which is to say every species of American constitutional interpretation.” Adopted wholesale, in McConnell’s view, the book offers “a view that undermines the legitimacy of most of what courts do.” Still, the Stanford Law School professor says his colleague’s new work is a “marvelous” exposition of early American constitutionalism, and he encourages his “fellow originalists to read it with an open mind and not just read it but learn from it.” Read more here.
Freedom Frequency
In a new article for Freedom Frequency’s Plot Points, Policy Fellows Daniel Heil and Tom Church highlight a true long-term healthcare crisis facing the federal budget. Since 1995, nearly half of all growth in mandatory spending has come from Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act subsidies. The authors explain that in the next 30 years it is projected to rise by another $8,400 per person. Even when discretionary spending is included, more than half of the growth in non-interest federal spending will come from just the three big federal health care programs. Heil and Church note that Hoover research programs like the Fiscal Policy Initiative and Healthcare Policy Working Group are exploring policies to reduce future costs while maintaining access to quality care. Read more here.
California Policy & Politics
Distinguished Policy Fellow Bill Whalen notes at California On Your Mind that the Golden State’s special election next week won’t be the only statewide vote taking place. Gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia are likewise garnering attention, as well as New York City’s mayoral race, which has national overtones. The question facing observers of American politics: Which of these elections best reflects the national political mood? In this column, Whalen digs into the nuances of these races to examine their usefulness as heralds of broader political trends, noting that unique features of several contests mean their results may not shed much light on next year’s midterm election cycle or elections beyond. Highlighting the Virginia and New Jersey races, Whalen says, “pure referenda on the Trump presidency they’re not.” Whalen concludes that California’s Proposition 50, on the other hand, could yield insights into anti-Trump messaging with nationwide relevance. Read more here.
International Affairs
For the latest episode of GoodFellows, Senior Fellow Michael McFaul, author of the newly released Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder, joins Senior Fellows John H. Cochrane and H.R. McMaster to discuss where he departs from the Trump administration on its approach to Russia and China, his suggestions for a foreign policy course change, and why he holds “guarded” optimism for America’s future. After that: John and H.R. go “trick-or-treating,” weighing the pros (“treats”) and cons (“tricks”) of a new White House ballroom, a Chinese military purge, and the latest inflation numbers coupled with gold prices that no longer glitter. Cochrane and McMaster then consider a CEO’s tariff worries, New York City on a non-hallowed eve of “democratic socialism,” and a new and tougher American citizenship test. Finally, rounding out the Halloween theme, the GoodFellows give us their go-to candies. Watch or listen here.
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