Today, Michael McConnell remembers the contributions of Founder and Chief Justice John Marshall to the development of constitutional governance in the United States; Justin Grimmer considers the potential costs and benefits of adding voter identification requirements to California law; and Jon Hartley speaks with a University of Chicago economics professor about the history of macroeconomics—and why this field of study matters in shaping current economic policies.
US History
“John Marshall is the founder who did it all,” writes Senior Fellow Michael McConnell for Freedom Frequency. “Dubbed by many the ‘Great Chief Justice,’ no one was more responsible than Marshall for establishing this country as a constitutional republic, governed by law.” In his essay, McConnell focuses on the constitutional foundations and early cases that granted courts the power to restrain the executive and legislative branches—a matter never far from the headlines today. As McConnell shows, judicial review did not begin, as is often said, with Marbury v. Madison; and only later would the Supreme Court actually exercise the powers that Chief Justice Marshall “had declared, but not put into effect, in Marbury.” In the course of American history, McConnell notes, judicial review has allowed courts “to strike down school segregation, establish one person–one vote, protect and then un-protect abortion rights, [and] defend freedom of speech.” Read more here.
California Decides
Proposition 39 would change how Californians verify their identities when voting, replacing signature matching for mail-in ballots with government-issued identification numbers and requiring identification at polling places. In this short video, Senior Fellow Justin Grimmer examines the proposal, the electoral safeguards already in place in the Golden State, and what research reveals about voter fraud and election security. Grimmer addresses concerns that stricter identification requirements could discourage voting, citing studies that suggest their effects on turnout and election outcomes are minimal. He also considers whether Proposition 39 could strengthen public trust in California’s elections. Watch here.
Economics
Why do households respond so differently from one another to interest rates and stimulus checks, and what does that mean for economic policy? On this episode of Capitalism and Freedom in the Twenty-First Century, Visiting Fellow Jon Hartley welcomes University of Chicago economics professor Greg Kaplan to discuss his book Macro: The Economic Models That Shape Our World. They trace the evolution of macroeconomic thinking, from John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman to Heterogeneous Agent New Keynesian (or HANK) models, which account for differences in households’ income, wealth, and access to cash. Kaplan explains how these differences reshape our understanding of consumer spending, monetary policy, and fiscal stimulus. The conversation also explores “wealthy hand-to-mouth” households, the redistributive effects of emergency stimulus payments, the case for stronger social insurance, and debates over central bank forward guidance and quantitative easing. Finally, host and guest discuss why economic models are essential for evaluating policies that have never been tried, as well as how new data can help economists build better models. Watch or listen here.
Democracy and International Affairs
Americans seem to be tired of ambitious overseas agendas, with many expressing a desire to put “America First” and avoid “forever wars,” Senior Fellow Michael McFaul observes at Freedom Frequency. At the same time, he says, voters across the political spectrum still consider defending democracy and human rights to be important. In McFaul’s assessment, over the past two decades, US presidents have retreated from efforts to promote democracy worldwide, with President Trump now actively dismantling institutions that have long supported those efforts. But abandoning democracy promotion would be a serious strategic mistake on multiple levels, McFaul argues. The expansion of democracy in the world reinforces American security, he writes, adding that the spread of democratic governments also fosters greater American prosperity. McFaul concludes that promoting democracy abroad is both in America’s self-interest and the morally right thing to do. Read more here.
“For stunning democratic gains on a single day,” writes Senior Fellow Larry Diamond in the Journal of Democracy, “nothing can compare with Sunday, October 25.” That day featured an opposition victory in Serbian elections, an incumbent victory in Brazilian elections, and the return of the leader of Venezuela’s democratic opposition, Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, to her home country. “Each of these three developments followed months of extraordinary political effort to overcome difficult odds and recent national trauma,” Diamond writes. The essay reviews the challenges facing democratic movements in each of these nations and concludes with a focus on Venezuela. Diamond argues that successfully advancing freedom in this country calls for a US policy focused on more than just securing access to Venezuelan oil reserves. “It demands that Washington use its now-considerable leverage to help broker the understandings that will lead to a free and fair election for a new national government in Caracas, as soon as possible.” Read more here.
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