For decades, American men have been in crisis. Globalization has caused millions of jobs to disappear, divorce rates have increased, life expectancy has decreased, and deaths of despair have skyrocketed in many working-class communities.

Amber Lapp, research fellow at the Institute for Family Studies and stay-at-home mom, began talking to her neighbors in her working-class community in southwestern Ohio over a decade ago to try to get to the bottom of it. She joins Oren to share the real stories of America’s missing men, and discuss why she felt called to leave Manhattan and move to Ohio to better understand working-class life in America. The two dive into the value of getting to know your neighbors in an atomized age and what can be done to begin to reverse this crisis.

Further reading:

• “America's Missing Men” by Amber Lapp

The “China Shock”—triggered by the country’s entry into the World Trade Organization—devastated America’s heartland, causing a sudden exodus of manufacturing jobs and disrupting the communities that depended on them. Promoters of globalization promised “better” jobs would take their place. Nearly 25 years later, has that happened?

David Autor, professor of economics at MIT and co-author of the famous “China Shock” paper, joins Oren to talk about the effects of free trade on America’s working class. They also examine Autor’s latest paper, which highlights that the new jobs in the hardest-hit communities often don’t provide the pay or stability that the jobs outsourced by globalization did—and, even worse, that many former workers lack access to these jobs altogether. Plus, they explore the rise of automation in manufacturing and the implications of AI for American workers.

Further reading:

• "Places versus People: The Ins and Outs of Labor Market Adjustment to Globalization" by David Autor, David Dorn, et al. 
• "The China Shock: Learning from Labor Market Adjustment to Large Changes in Trade" by David Autor, David Dorn, and Gordon Hanson

On this episode, Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow Patrick T. Brown joins guest host and American Compass managing editor Drew Holden to discuss how COVID's remote-work baptism-by-fire led to a surprising boom in babies born during the pandemic.

The two talk through the lessons that companies should take away from the experience in order to support working parents as well as why these companies, and society more broadly, should be expected to help share the burdens placed on new parents. And as President Trump returns to the White House, they take stock of the GOP's realignment on how best to support families.

Further reading:

• "Remote Work Created a Baby Boom. Can We Keep It Up?" by Patrick T. Brown

 What happens to media as the digital age enhances their ability to engage consumers? As a part of our "Lost in the Super Market: Navigating the Digital Age" collection, American Compass convened contributing writers Matthew Crawford (UVA’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture) and Peter Suderman (Reason) to discuss the ramifications of the "Attention Economy" with Wells King (American Compass). 

What happens to markets as the digital age improves their efficiency and introduces them to new domains? As a part of our "Lost in the Super Market: Navigating the Digital Age" collection, American Compass convened contributing writers Wingham Rowan (Modern Markets for All) and Neil Chilson (Charles Koch Institute) to discuss the advent of frictionless exchanges with Wells King (American Compass).

Leader McCarthy joins American Compass to discuss his efforts to reach out and grow the Republican coalition, what it takes to build a GOP that is better attuned to the concerns of working class Americans, and where he sees the party going in the coming years.

Fulfillment author Alec MacGillis joins American Compass research director Wells King for a conversation exploring what the growth of Amazon means for the future of inequality in the U.S., the pros and cons of “one-click America,” and how policymakers and consumers should respond.

Senator Mitt Romney joins us for a conversation about what draws him to family benefits, why he thinks conservatives should embrace the Family Security Act’s approach, how he sees this debate fitting into the broader one about the right-of-center’s future.

Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer joins American Compass executive director Oren Cass for a conversation about his work as the U.S. Trade Representative, the overhaul of America's economic relationship with China, successes achieved and lessons learned, and key challenges facing the Biden administration.

Senator Marco Rubio and Congressman Anthony Gonzalez join American Compass executive director Oren Cass for a conversation about how to build a conservative agenda that appeals to a multi-ethnic, working-class base.

In a new collection, What Happened: The Trump Presidency in Review, American Compass and The American Conservative convened leading conservative analysts to dissect the successes and failures of the Trump administration and consider what the conservative movement can learn from it going forward.  Ross Douthat of the New York Times, Rachel Bovard of the Conservative Partnership Institute, and Oren Cass of American Compass speak with Arthur Bloom of The American Conservative about what they see as the key lessons of the past four years.

American Compass's Oren Cass interviews the authors of Dignity (Chris Arnade) and Hillbilly Elegy (J.D. Vance), discussing Ruy Teixeira and Henry Olsen's essays in our October collection, PARTY FOUL: How the Left and Right Fail American Voters. Our guests describe the dynamics that lead to a politics disconnected from the economic and cultural mainstream and identify possible glimmers of hope.

Why would any sane parent subject themselves to the high costs and grueling hours of travel sports teams for their kids?

In this episode, Michael Brendan Dougherty, senior writer at National Review, joins to discuss his feature essay on the subject for our just-launched magazine, Commonplace. As a dance and travel baseball dad himself, he explains that these teams are often the only ways kids and parents today can form high-trust communities in an atomized world much different from the one Dougherty grew up in.

He and Oren also talk about the conservative media universe more broadly, and how Commonplace can offer an alternative to the legacy publications resistant to the changing interests and priorities of ordinary Americans on the new right-of-center.

Further Reading:

• "In Defense of Travel Teams" by Michael Brendan Dougherty.

In this episode, Washington Free Beacon editor Aaron Sibarium and small business investor Sam Long discuss the financialization of American business culture and its impacts on our economy and society.

Senator Josh Hawley talks with American Compass executive director Oren Cass about the empty platitudes and hypocrisy of “woke capital” and why conservatives must work to prioritize the needs of workers and families in their economic policy agenda.

President-elect Trump campaigned on a fresh economic platform prioritizing ordinary Americans, departing considerably from the Old Guard Republican Party that came before him. But how much of that innovative thinking will actually become policy in his second term?

Oren Cass appeared at the American Economic Association’s annual meeting on a panel alongside former Council of Economic Advisors Jason Furman (Obama admin) and Richard Burkhauser (Trump admin) as well as economist Kimberly Clausing, to make sense of what will come next, and the forces that could try to slow down the president-elect’s changes.

This is the second in a two-part series from the discussion, focused on immigration and financial policy. To listen to part one, about trade and industrial policy, click here. And you can read the New York Times story about the panel here: "Economists Are in the Wilderness. Can They Find a Way Back to Influence?"

President-elect Trump campaigned on a fresh economic platform prioritizing ordinary Americans, departing considerably from the Old Guard Republican Party that came before him. But how much of that innovative thinking will actually become policy in his second term?

Oren Cass appeared at the American Economic Association's annual meeting on a panel alongside former Council of Economic Advisors Jason Furman (Obama admin) and Richard Burkhauser (Trump admin) as well as economist Kimberly Clausing, to make sense of what will come next, and the forces that could try to slow down the president-elect's changes. 

This is the first in a two-part series from the discussion, focused on trade and industrial policy. Stay tuned for more soon.

Every political movement needs a home for its ideas. Commonplace is the answer for today’s right-of-center.

On this episode, Helen Andrews, our new features editor, joins Oren to discuss the forthcoming launch of Commonplace—a new magazine from American Compass, making sense of the political, economic, and cultural concerns that shape America today.

Helen unpacks how a conservative media universe dedicated to replaying the hits of the 1980s created the need for a new intellectual home. Looking ahead, she previews some of the pieces readers can look forward to reading later this month and explains how Commonplace will work to get to the heart of what matters in America.

If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to Commonplace for updates, and follow the magazine on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Has the devotion to unbridled free markets in recent decades benefited or harmed the United States? Earlier this month, Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX) and Oren Cass sat down for a live, wide-ranging discussion of the unintended consequences of America’s approach to manufacturing, and whether free trade is to blame for changes in our domestic industrial base. They explore how conservatives should think about trade and one potential policy response that’s getting lots of air time lately: tariffs.

Plus: To be the first to hear about the launch of our new magazine in January, subscribe here: commonplace.org.

On this episode, Oren is joined by FTC Chair Lina Khan for a wide-ranging conversation about competition, antitrust, and why the lack of strong enforcement hurts American consumers, small businesses, and our politics.

The two talk through the decline in competition in the U.S. economy and how it has created fragile markets prone to shortages and undermined our economic wellbeing. They explore opportunities for bipartisan cooperation on antitrust enforcement, and what principles should guide competition policy.

Plus: Khan explains what chicken farmers taught her about corporate power and the role of fear in our economy.

On this episode, Institute for Progress senior editor Santi Ruiz joins Oren to talk about government efficiency, state capacity, and what President-elect Trump's focus on revitalizing the way government works could hope to accomplish in the swamp.

The two discuss Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and how the effort can avoid the pitfalls of previous blue-ribbon commissions and other ineffective efforts to rein in the administrative state. And they walk through why optimizing government requires new investment, not just cutting red-tape.

For more, read Ruiz's recent piece on the subject at Statecraft: "How to Fix Defense Procurement."

On this episode, physician, psychologist, and best-selling author Dr. Leonard Sax joins Oren to talk about the disastrous state of modern parenting, and how to pull a generation of young people back from the brink.

The two walk through the how parents have abandoned teaching their kids about right and wrong, the rise of "gentle parenting" in place of traditional ideas of parental authority, and how these strategies set kids up for failure.

And they two discuss how it all intersects with the rise of social media and caustic cultural changes.

For more, check out Dr. Sax's recently re-released book on the subject, The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups.

On this episode, coalition director Duncan Braid joins Oren to discuss American Compass's Back to Work agenda, which provides a comprehensive set of executive actions that the Trump-Vance administration should take to prioritize working families, domestic industry, and national economic strength when they take office.

The two discuss how the president can deliver meaningful, rapid change on issues from the border and immigration to the economy and inflation. And the two talk through one of the most contentious battles on the Right today—the issue of tariffs—and how they can be used to put the wellbeing of the American people at the center of trade policy.

For more, read Duncan's recent essay on The Commons, about where and how the administration can direct their electoral mandate, "'Great Again' is a Promise."

The “abundance agenda” has taken the policy world by storm recently, led by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, who advocate for prioritizing the supply side and removing barriers to building our productive capacity.

This week, Ezra joins Oren to make the case for how the theory could be put into practice. In this wide-ranging conversation, the two explore the sclerosis that has held back blue cities like New York and San Francisco, potential political roadblocks to implementing the agenda, and where conservatives can find common cause with it. Plus, they debate whether the Democratic Party can be the flagship of abundance while prioritizing the climate change movement.

On this episode, Ethics and Public Policy Center senior fellow Henry Olsen joins Oren to unpack the demographic earthquake that led to the re-election of President Donald Trump and why it will force both parties to focus on Americans' real interests.

The two discuss what the victory holds for the future of a Republican Party grounded in the interests of this multi-ethnic working-class coalition, from shutting down illegal immigration to shifting away from a devotion to free trade, as well as the "landmines" in doing so. And they explain why the win is a death knell for conservatives who want to return to the pre-Trump economic and political consensus.

For more, read Olsen's recent piece on The Commons, "Mapping Out the 2024 Stakes."

On this episode, Newsweek opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon joins to explain the multi-ethnic working-class coalition that propelled Donald Trump to an electoral victory, and the types of policies that could support these forgotten Americans in Trump's second term.

The two discuss the issues that animated the swing in nonwhite working-class voters and how Donald Trump can build an America that benefits everyone, economically and culturally. 

For more, read Ungar-Sargon's latest piece on The Commons, "Revolt of the Normies," and pick up her book that anticipated this political realignment, Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women.

American Compass Chairman Michael Needham joins Oren Cass to share his reaction to former President Donald Trump's landslide election victory. The two explain why, even after all the claims about the "end of democracy" and Trump's supposed autocratic designs, the results shouldn't surprise anyone.

And they discuss the political realignment—particularly among Hispanic voters, who turned out for Trump across numerous swing states—that made his victory possible, as well as the promise that his second term holds for a revitalized American economy. 

For more, read Oren's and Mike's pieces reacting to Trump's victory.

On this episode, Clare Morell, fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, joins Oren to discuss the consequences of a generation of kids addicted to smartphones and iPads. The two talk through how our society got to the point where kids have unlimited access to the internet and the problem with leaving parents to fight back against social media alone, as well as her forthcoming book on the subject. And they explain why conservatives have both the principles and the public policy tools needed to help kids—and society—break the addiction to tech.

For more, read Morell's Compass Point essay on this subject, "America On-the-Line," and check out her newsletter, Preserving our Humanity, and her forthcoming book, The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones.

College has become the dividing line in America, not just economically, but socially, too. Sam Pressler, a practitioner fellow at the University of Virginia and a research affiliate at the Harvard Human Flourishing Program, joins Oren to discuss the crisis this is fueling for young Americans who don't go to college as they navigate the transition to adulthood alone.

The two talk through the history of college as a communal exercise and how it's devolved into the "great sorter" of class in America, as well as the resulting "structural forms of loneliness" for young people who don't pursue a four-year degree and the "extracurricular arms race" for kids trying to get in. And they unpack the embryonic remedies various states have rolled out to address the situation.

For more, read Pressler's recent essay on The Commons, "From the ‘Great Connector’ to the ‘Great Sorter’," and check out his full policy framework, "Connective Tissue," aimed at helping policymakers regenerate communities.

As the election approaches, both parties are trying to position themselves as the better choice for American families. But what is it that parents—particularly parents who stay home to take care of their children—actually want?

Ivana Greco, a former family-law attorney turned homemaker, joins Oren to discuss her recent research on the topic, drawing on interviews with over 1,300 stay-at-home parents about their needs and challenges. She explains what she’s learned from those conversations, as well as how policymakers can support parents regardless of their employment status.

For more, read the just-published report, Invisible Labor, Visible Needs: Making Family Policy Work for Stay-At-Home (And All) Parents.

On this episode, Oren is joined by journalist and best-selling author Sarah Smarsh to make sense of the ongoing political realignment in America's Heartland.

Smarsh, who hails from rural Kansas, draws from her own upbringing to explain the forces pushing rural working-class voters away from the Democratic Party, often after decades of voting for it.

She and Oren also discuss her new book, Bone of the Bone, which focuses on this shift and other aspects of life in rural America, and the two unpack how it all intersects with the rise of former President Donald Trump and changes in the Republican Party.

For more, check out Smarsh's latest book, Bone of the Bone: Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class.

This episode is a deep dive into what policymakers should do to overhaul U.S. trade with China to support American workers, industries, and national security. It features policy advisor Mark DiPlacido, lead author of a new report, "Disfavored Nation," that provides a roadmap for rescinding China's Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status.

He joins Oren to talk through the history of our trade relations with China, the colossal harm done to American workers and industries by the status quo of "free" trade over the last two decades, and what it would require to disentangle the two largest economies in the world.

For more, read the report: "Disfavored Nation."

On this episode, Oren is joined by not one but two leading scholars on U.S. industrial policy, Marc Fasteau and Ian Fletcher, both of the Coalition for a Prosperous America. The episode opens with a conversation about the pair’s forthcoming book, which Oren describes as “the authoritative tome on industrial policy past, present, and future.”

They dig into why the government should be involved in domestic industry in the first place, the innovations—from the internet to commercial air travel—that wouldn’t exist without such involvement, and what the future of American industrial policy should be.

For more, check out their forthcoming book, Industrial Policy for the United States: Winning the Competition for Good Jobs and High-Value Industries.

In this episode, Joshua Kleinfeld, professor of law and philosophy at the Scalia School of Law at George Mason University, joins Oren for a wide-ranging conversation about the future of the conservative legal movement. 

Professor Kleinfeld, a leading legal voice helping drive the conversation at the Federalist Society and beyond, connects the dots about the threat to individual liberty from not just government but private power, and questions whether "the ideals of democracy are recognized in practice" in America today. The two conclude with a fascinating debate about voting, and whether parents should be allowed to vote as proxies for their kids.

For more, read Professor Kleinfeld's paper about criminal justice, mentioned in the episode: "By the People: Restoring Democracy in Criminal Justice."

As outside groups continuously file lawsuits to slow down the Trump administration’s agenda, many Americans are wondering: how much power does the president rightfully have?

Jack Goldsmith, Harvard Law professor and co-author of the Executive Functions Substack, joins Oren to break down the judicial landscape less than two months into the second Trump administration. They discuss the modern presidency and constitutionalism, limits on executive authority, and everything from impoundment to more aggressive theories of the unitary executive.

In this episode, Oren Cass is joined by Dr. Matthew Mehan, associate dean of Hillsdale College’s Graduate School of Government, to discuss conservatism in our secular age, based on Oren’s First Things lecture earlier this year.

The two go long on conservative morality, from the role of religion in conservatism to the wisdom of the Roman philosopher Cicero and the “most pernicious doctrine” of advancing an immoral argument for its political utility. And they unpack how it all intersects with America’s declining religiosity and modern politics, from economics, to tech, and more.

For more, read in First Things, “Constructing Conservatism."

On this episode, Nick Timothy, Conservative member of Parliament, takes a look at conservative populism from a British perspective. Timothy has had a front-row seat to the U.K.’s political realignment, and shares his observations and comparisons to the American experience. He and Oren talk through how he survived a Conservative wipeout in the recent parliamentary general elections, and the challenges and opportunities confronting conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic.

For more on that path forward, read Timothy's recent piece in the Telegraph on the subject: "We don’t need to veer Left or Right – we just need to be Conservative."

On this episode, author and American Reformer senior fellow Aaron Renn joins Oren Cass to discuss urbanism and how conservatives should approach cities. In the wide-ranging conversation, they discuss the history of American urban governance, where conservatives should focus their policy efforts, and how urban policy can improve the lives of everyday Americans.

For more, read Renn's latest on The Commons, which explores how to implement such an approach, "Conservatives Need a Positive Governing Vision."

On this episode, Oren Cass is joined by Harry Marino, founder and president of Sports Solidarity, who led the successful effort last year to unionize Minor League Baseball. The two discuss how Marino's time in the minors made him realize a union was needed, his successful campaign to win recognition for that union from Major League Baseball, and how the lessons he learned can be applied beyond sports.

To learn more about Marino's effort, read this profile of him from the University of Virginia Law School, his alma mater. 

On this episode, University of Winchester professor and economist Richard Werner joins Oren Cass for a discussion on monetary policy. The two discuss where money comes from, the ways that government policy can help and hurt markets, and how to differentiate between productive and non-productive finance.

For more, read his latest book, Where Does Money Come From? A Guide to the UK Monetary and Banking System.

On this episode, Senator Todd Young (R-IN) joins Oren Cass for a conversation about the CHIPS Act on the two-year anniversary of its passage. They discuss its ongoing implementation, where those efforts have fallen short or been supplanted by unrelated policy objectives, and what policymakers need to do to revitalize American manufacturing more broadly.

For more, read our Compass Point essay revisiting the CHIPS Act, by policy director Chris Griswold, "Chipping Away." 

On this episode, author and academic Michael Lind joins Oren Cass for a wide-ranging conversation about the U.S. economy. The two discuss the merits of tariffs, the public purpose of markets and market power, and how best to provide social insurance.

For more, read Lind's recent Compass Point essay, "So What If Tariffs Are Taxes?," and check out his latest book, Hell to Pay: How the Suppression of Wages is Destroying America.

And click here for the "oddly specific Kamala Harris policy generator."

On this episode, author and founder of Breakout Capital Ruchir Sharma joins Oren Cass to discuss the consequences when markets fail. The two walk through the history of government intervention in the market, the problems with over-regulation, and how a more populist economics could provide a corrective.

For more, check out Sharma's latest book, What Went Wrong with Capitalism.

On this episode, Ethics and Public Policy Center senior fellow Henry Olsen joins Oren Cass to discuss the selection of JD Vance as Donald Trump's vice presidential candidate and what the move means for the future of conservatism. Henry and Oren talk through the history of conservative support for government intervention, how Reagan's legacy was co-opted by libertarians, and how Vance can help get American economics back on track.

For more, read Batya Ungar-Sargon's response to the Vance pick on The Commons, "J.D. Vance: The Populist Choice."

On this episode, host Oren Cass takes the guest seat to discuss his recent Compass Point essay about electric vehicles, “The Electric Slide.” 

Cass and managing editor Drew Holden discuss America’s electric vehicle policy and its limitations, the threat of China dominating the global market, and why conservatives—long critical of the technology—should embrace an alternate approach that could help restore American manufacturing, regardless of EV adoption. 

For more, read Oren’s Compass Point essay,  “The Electric Slide.” 

America isn’t the only place where the political Right is beginning to move in a new direction.

On this episode, Michael Gove, the legendary former Conservative UK MP and cabinet secretary and current editor of the Spectator, joined for a discussion of trade, tariffs, and where conservatism is headed across the Atlantic.

They talked through the challenges faced by the British Right to combat the legacy of free trade, which mirror fights in the American Right today. Following Vice President Vance’s remarks in Munich about our European allies, the two discuss how a nation founded to “get away from continental entanglements” and “ancestral quarrels” should approach foreign policy.

For more, watch Gove and Cass’s dramatic victory in a debate at the recent Alliance for Responsible Citizenship’s conference in London about whether “protectionist policies make us poorer.” (Spoiler alert: they do not.)

On this episode of the American Compass Podcast, Oren Cass is joined by Dean W. Ball, research fellow at the Mercatus Center's Artificial Intelligence & Progress Project, to discuss the future of American manufacturing. The two evaluate what AI could mean for domestic manufacturing, the prospect of reindustrialization, and how frontier technologies could allow the U.S. to leapfrog China in critical technology.

For more, read Ball's recent Compass Point essay, "Move Fast and Make Things," and subscribe to his newsletter, Hyperdimensional.

On this episode of the American Compass Podcast, Newsweek opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon joins Oren Cass for a wide-ranging conversation about the politics of working-class Americans. The two discuss her new book, Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America’s Working Men and Women, and how the political beliefs of working-class Americans have changed in recent years.

For more, check out Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America’s Working Men and Women, out now.

On this episode, Wall Street Journal reporter Dana Mattioli joins Oren Cass to discuss her new book about how Amazon has ruthlessly bullied its way to dominating nearly every industry and the implications of its anti-competitive actions on corporate power and regulation, as well as the current Federal Trade Commission case against the company.

For more, check out The Everything War, out now.