AEI Podcast Channel

Enjoy this episode of Banter, part of the AEI Podcast Network. For more episodes of Banter, find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. This episode was first released on March 11, 2020.

During the later years of the George W. Bush administration and throughout the presidency of Barack Obama, a group that came to be known as “reformocons” began arguing that the Right needed to update its policy agenda; formulated to address the circumstances of the late 1970s, it had since gradually hardened into a set of dogmatic slogans. Family, community, traditional religion, civil society, and civic republicanism needed protection and support, they argued. But taking these social concerns seriously did not mean abandoning the Right’s affinity for market economics; it meant putting that affinity to use in the service of empowering working families.

What has come of this agenda? How does the presidency of Donald Trump relate to it? And will reform conservatism be a force in the future? To discuss these questions and more, we were joined by Dr. Yuval Levin.

Yuval Levin is the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at AEI. The founding and current editor of National Affairs, he is also a senior editor of The New Atlantis and a contributing editor to National Review. Dr. Levin served as a member of the White House domestic policy staff under President George W. Bush. He is the author of several books on political theory and public policy, most recently “A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream.”

You can subscribe to Banter on iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify, and archived episodes can be found at www.aei.org/tag/aei-banter. This is Banter episode #403.

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The next coalition of the right

“The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left”

Enjoy this episode of What the Hell is Going On?, with hosts Danielle Pletka and Marc Thiessen. For more episodes, find What the Hell on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and Google Podcasts

As businesses and schools across the country close because of the coronavirus, Americans are starting to realize just how economically dependent we are on China. With a vast majority of our essential and generic drugs running through the country, it’s time for Americans to reevaluate the US-China trade relationship.

Derek Scissors joined Dany and Marc to explain how America became so reliant on China and what we should do to decouple our economies moving forward. They also discuss the long-term economic impact of the coronavirus and why we can expect to see more viruses emerging out of China if the US doesn’t change its approach.

Scissors is a resident scholar at AEI, where he focuses on the Chinese and Indian economies and on US economic relations with Asia. He is concurrently chief economist of the China Beige Book and is the author of the China Global Investment Tracker. He has a master’s degree from the University of Chicago and a doctorate from Stanford University.

When crisis engulfs the nation, how should the federal government — especially the president — respond? Of course, when crisis strikes, the best response is for everyone — government and citizens alike — to have prepared in advance. But when “unknown knowns” suddenly appear and shake our sense of normalcy, we look to the president and his administration to respond. 

Our guest, Tevi Troy, knows this well. He has served at the highest levels of government in the White House and the US Department of Health and Human Services, and has studied the White House from a historian’s perspective — most recently in “Fight House,” his account of White House rivalries. Perhaps most relevantly, though, is “Shall We Wake the President?” (2016), his account of presidential crisis management through American history. Seeing as he predicted the coronavirus pandemic in that 2016 book, he seemed to be the right oracle to discuss disaster management within and across the various arms of government.

How

does family structure impact the social, educational, and economic outcomes of

kids? Is the nuclear family really just a myth constructed in the 1950s? Can

stable families advance the cause of social justice?

On this episode of “Are You Kidding Me?” Ian and Naomi are joined by AEI Visiting Scholar and UVA sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox as they discuss the latest research on family structure, along with a recent article in The Atlantic by David Brooks that has sparked a lot of discussion on the role of the nuclear family in 21st-century America.

Show Notes: – Conversations downplaying the power of the two-parent family (0:35) – Talking left, walking right (2:04) – Impact of the cultural revolution of the 60s and 70s on US families (4:45) – David Brooks’ analysis of the nuclear family (6:58) – Stable families advancing the cause of social justice (11:27) – The soft bigotry of low expectations (13:25)

Resources:  – Family Stability and the American Dream (Joint Economic Committee) – The nuclear family was a mistake (The Atlantic)

Enjoy this episode of Political Economy with James Pethokoukis, part of the AEI Podcast Network. For more episodes, find Political Economy on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and everywhere else you find podcasts.

How will the coronavirus downturn be different from normal recessions? And what can we do to mitigate the harm through public policy? On this episode, host Jim Pethokoukis discusses these questions with economist Stan Veuger.

Stan Veuger is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, where he specializes in political economy and public finance. He is also the editor of AEI Economic Perspectives, as well as a fellow at the IE School of Global and Public Affairs in Madrid and at Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

This episode of Political Economy was first released on March 18, 2020.

That’s “republican” with a lowercase “r” — the set of structures and characteristics that together form a free people governing themselves through representative bodies and the rule of law.

In a special guest-less episode, Adam expands on a recent essay in which he argues that our republic’s constitutional structure depends upon the character of its public servants and its citizens.

Adam and Tal talk about the definitions and value of civility, and how Americans can see themselves as active participants in shaping the lessons of history. Tal cites the Bible; Adam quotes Ron Burgundy.

Additional Resources: – Gorsuch were the joys – Civility is overrated – The coming constitutional storm

The COVID-19 coronavirus has forced schools around the country to close their doors; how can educators ensure that children receive a quality education in their homes? How should parents balance work and caretaking, limit screen time for their children, and choose family activities in the coming months?

In this special episode, Naomi and Ian discuss how the coronavirus is impacting child welfare in the US. They provide thoughts on what families and educators can do to get ahead of this crisis and ensure that American children continue to learn and grow as they spend time at home.

Show Notes: – How Public Prep is responding to COVID-19 (0:57) – DeBlasio’s slow response, and schools as social welfare organizations (2:22) – How to structure childrens’ days for online learning (4:35) – Intentional and edifying family activities (9:04) – Supporting vulnerable populations (12:13)                               

For nearly 100 years the Supreme Court has declined to strike down laws that it believes “delegates” Congress’s legislative power to the Executive Branch. What would a more assertive “nondelegation doctrine” look like? Until then, what limits — if any — does the current nondelegation doctrine place upon Congress?  

Administrative Law nerds everywhere celebrate as we welcome an indefatigable champion of the nondelegation doctrine, George Washington University Law Professor Alan Morrison. Together, he and Adam discuss separation of powers, the judiciary’s role in enforcing that separation, and the timeless problem of vague laws. 

Child pornography is both illegal and immoral, yet it continues to proliferate throughout cyberspace. Ian and Naomi discuss what, if anything, the government and private tech companies can do to stop it. Later, they discuss the potential of predictive analytics to avoid tragedies like the murder of 6-year-old Zymere Perkins.

Show Notes: – Explosion of child pornography and abuse images online (0:35) – How to parent in the age of technology (3:51) – Tragic death of Zymere Perkins (8:53) – Predictive analytics to find child abuse and neglect risk factors (14:17)

Resources: – Be the Parent, Please (American Enterprise Institute) – Can big data help save abused kids? (Reason)

Only a few select lawyers get to argue before the Supreme Court. But even fewer are personally appointed by a Supreme Court Justice to do so. Deepak Gupta is one such attorney, and is no stranger to unusual or uncharted territory. Before launching his own firm in 2012, Deepak helped start the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as senior counsel for litigation.

After discussing life as a Supreme Court advocate, Adam and Deepak descend into wonkery about regulation, the administrative state, and whether various agency structures might be considered constitutional. Sure, Adam once tried to sue the CFPB into oblivion — but what’s a little constitutional litigation among friends?