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More Than Decline

1 month ago | americancompass.org | Drew Holden

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted a wide range of social problems, from the slow deaths of American communities to cultural hypochondriasis to the damage that can be done by a too-powerful government bureaucracy. One subject given surprisingly short shrift was the dawning realization that America can’t make things anymore.
It Can’t Just Be DOGE

Jan 7, 2025 | americancompass.org | Drew Holden

President-elect Donald Trump’s return to Washington will surely bring with it a renewed focus on the administrative state and its excesses. Exemplifying that effort is the much–media–maligned Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. While the two currently seem sidetracked by immigration debates online, we shouldn’t forget where their energies will (hopefully) soon be directed back to their wildly popular new gig overseeing DOGE.
Trump’s Agencies After Chevron

Dec 9, 2024 | americancompass.org | Chad Squitieri

This past summer, in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court overruled its 1984 decision in Chevron v. NRDC. Under Chevron, perhaps the most well-known case about administrative law, courts were required to defer to administrative agencies’ interpretations of federal statutes. Now that Chevron is overruled, courts must independently interpret statutes themselves, rather than systematically favor the statutory interpretations proposed by agencies.
The Rise of the Pro-Worker Republican

Nov 25, 2024 | americancompass.org | Batya Ungar-Sargon |Batya Ungar-Sargon

Since his victory earlier this month, President-elect Donald Trump has been steadily rolling out his picks for his cabinet in a made-for-TV nomination process that’s gripped the nation. That the same talking heads who helped the Democrats lose the working class are now losing their minds over his choices suggests that he’s right over the target. But a few of the picks are making Republican elites equally furious, including Trump’s choice for Secretary of Labor.
Breaking the State’s Sports-Betting Addiction

Nov 20, 2024 | americancompass.org | Brian Dijkema

There is plenty of debate about the economic state of America’s working class among conservatives. And political polarization in America seems to have progressed to the point where the Left and the Right can’t seem to agree on the color of the sky, let alone public policy. But there is one item that should unite working-class conservatives, classical liberals, and yes, even the progressive Left. That item is reducing the tax on the working poor, or, as it’s otherwise known, sports betting.
It's Still The Economy, Stupid

Nov 19, 2024 | americancompass.org | Drew Holden

Following a heated election, it can be easy to forget the kinds of ideas that were treated as gospel truth in the lead-up to the vote, as either the warm glow of victory or the bitter taste of defeat reset the minds of the electoral combatants and the commentariat class. One such narrative appears to have quickly slipped from public consciousness; the idea that Vice President Harris would be buoyed by the strong economy created by her and President Joe Biden.
The New Republican

Nov 18, 2024 | americancompass.org | Henry Olsen

The election is much more than a victory for Donald Trump and his Republican Party. It’s a strong, unprecedented victory for a new type of Republican Party, one firmly grounded in America’s multi-ethnic working class. Traditionally, the party had its roots in the upper-class, British Northern Protestant elements of America. This was the group that had won the Civil War, and which industrialized the country in the decades thereafter.
The Once and Future President

Nov 7, 2024 | americancompass.org | Patrick Brown

There will be millions of words spilt trying to understand Donald Trump pulling a Grover Cleveland with serious style points this week. The two most important will be âeducational polarization.âStarting in the 1980s, and accelerating after 2000, educational attainment has become a key dividing line in American politics. Voters with a college degree increasingly skew blue, part of the âcoalition of the ascendentâ that powered the Obama coalition.
Revolt of the Normies

Nov 6, 2024 | americancompass.org | Batya Ungar-Sargon |Batya Ungar-Sargon

On Tuesday night, Donald Trump came back with a bang. The former president is on track to win not just the Electoral College but the popular vote. Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t overperform in a single state, and lost significantly in many of the places which led to President Biden’s 2020 victory. In a race that was heralded as neck-and-neck, Trump appears to have made a clean sweep of the swing states, shocking the chattering and political Democratic classes.
Is Academic ‘Wokeness’ in Remission?

Oct 31, 2024 | americancompass.org | John Sailer

It’s undeniable that identity politics plays a different role in American life than it did four years ago. Far-fetched tales of omnipresent racism, once received with deference, are now out of vogue. For some, in light of this substantial cultural change, it seems that “wokeness” is in remission.