“Applying conservative principles doesn't mean just keep flipping through the 1980 playbook until you find the right tax cut,” said Oren Cass, executive director of American Compass. 

Cass, 37, is an up and coming conservative thinker who got his start in politics on Mitt Romney’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. Cass was an associate at Bain and Company, where Romney had worked before starting Bain Capital. Cass held a senior policy adviser position in 2012, when Romney became the GOP nominee.

Since then, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, has credited Cass with inspiring some of his proposals on reducing poverty. Cass was a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, before starting American Compass. His 2018 book, “The Once and Future Worker,” has received praise from conservatives and from some on the left as well.

Cass says that many on the right have been "lazy" in relying on tax cuts as a one-size-fits-all solution, and that Republicans should do more to align themselves with organized labor.

"I think there are huge problems with the way labor unions operate in America but the idea of labor unions, the idea that we should want workers to be able to organize, to have collective representation, to bargain on an equal footing with their employers, conservatives should love that," he said.

Outro music: "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life," by Monty Python.

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