Today, Glenn Loury reflects on the radicalism and ambition of Gouverneur Morris’s signature contribution to the US Constitution, the line “We the People”; Andrew Hall examines trends in Democratic party fundraising emails focused on billionaires and AI; and Eyck Freymann explains the national security stakes of three interconnected technology races in quantum computing, communications, and sensing.
USA@250
Distinguished Visiting Fellow Glenn C. Loury explores the depths behind the deceptively simple phrase “We the People,” which introduces the Constitution. The man who wrote those words, Gouverneur Morris, was not a saint or a model for schoolchildren—he was vain, irascible, and at times contemptuous of democratic enthusiasms. But “We the People” carried a radical ambition: that the new nation could bind people by citizenship, not by tribe, blood, or other ancient marker, and not as occupants of scattered states. This insight—this “slow work of cultivating [its citizens’] character, trust, and shared narrative”—guides every successful republic, Loury writes. And the core of the American experiment, the economist argues, is whether this identity can stay strong enough to embrace, without erasing, all the particular identities within it. Read more here.
American Politics & Policy
“Something is shifting in the Democratic party,” Senior Fellow Andrew B. Hall argues at his Free Systems Substack, introducing his research into “roughly 280,000 candidate emails sent since 2017.” Over that period, according to Hall, fundraising emails demonstrate “how anti-billionaire populism became a major component of Democratic fundraising rhetoric, and how, more quietly but unmistakably, AI is starting to follow the same path.” Hall further shows that fundraising emails from Democratic candidates about AI remain rare but are on a “steep” upward trajectory. Noting the impact of ideology on messages of this sort, Hall says, “The most left-wing email-active members of Congress mention AI more than twice as much as the median-ish member of the party, and more than ten times as much as centrist Dems do.” Zooming out, Hall notes that “fundraising emails give us useful insight into how politicians are approaching these issues,” and that they currently point to emerging “AI-bashing,” fused with established “billionaire bashing.” Read more here.
Science, Technology, and Defense
Quantum technologies are poised to bring transformative changes to communications, sensing, and computing, Hoover Fellow Eyck Freymann writes at Defining Ideas—but the tech is so mysterious that no one knows yet where the greatest impact will be. The quantum field is blanketed by layers of uncertainty: Who will discover the breakthroughs? Who will take the lead in developing and using them? And can the democratic nations succeed in the face of intense competition with China for dominance? The answers depend on democratic partners “hardening” their supply chains, maintaining financial support, and building on existing strengths, Freymann says. In the end, the United States is unlikely to dominate quantum the way it currently dominates AI, but that means the goal is not a “win” but an alliance. Read more here.
America's greatest strategic advantage in the competition for military dominance is not its defense budget but its commercial capital markets, argue Gen. John (Jay) Raymond (ret.), founding chief of space operations of the US Space Force, and Dr. Dan Berkenstock, founding CEO of Skybox Imaging, in this new briefing. Raymond and Berkenstock offer military commanders a practical guide to unlocking the nation’s advantage in commercial capital and capabilities. Published by the Hoover Institution's Technology Policy Accelerator, the briefing confronts a fundamental asymmetry: While adversaries like China can compel their entire economies to serve national security objectives through military-civil fusion, the United States must persuade its commercial sector—and the investors who control it—to align with defense priorities. That requires commanders to understand a language most military leaders have never been taught: the language of capital markets. Read more here.
Political Philosophy
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In this op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Senior Fellow Scott W. Atlas relates his family’s journey to America, placing the hardships endured by his grandparents and parents—as well as their hard work and sacrifices—in conversation with the rising popularity of socialism and grievance-based political movements among young people today. “The appeal of socialism to young Americans isn’t really about economics,” Atlas argues. “It’s about having someone else to blame.” The physician says that widespread claims about systemic unfairness today tell “young people they are victims—incapable of rising, dependent on redistribution, owed a life they haven’t earned.” Atlas calls for restoring the belief in “the uniquely American idea that you must earn what you get.” Read more here.
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