Advertise on podcast: The American Compass Podcast

Election Day is only weeks away, and as we’ve come to expect in recent years, it has inevitably brought with it allegations from both parties that the other side is cheating. Ben Ginsberg, Hoover Institution visiting fellow and former national counsel to the Bush-Cheney presidential campaigns, joins Oren to unpack what he calls the “fraud-suppression industrial complex,” where both parties tell their voters that the other side is trying to steal the election. He and Oren talk through why this is so damaging to faith in our elections, and undercuts turn out across the political spectrum. Finally, they discuss ways to rebuild confidence in our election system. Further reading: “Confidence, Not Faith, in the Ballot Box,“ Trey Trainor, Commonplace“Calling Elections Rigged Is Bad Politics and Worse Civics,” Alex Tarascio and David Kochel, Commonplace

Financial firms exist to raise capital and find ways to deploy it productively. But are they still doing that today? Or merely profiting from the appearance of doing so? Oren joined William Gruver, a former Goldman Sachs COO and professor emeritus at Bucknell University for an Open Discourse Coalition program debating the question “Is the financial industry broken?” They discuss how to evaluate the merits of the industry, the role of rent-seeking, and the broader trend toward destructive financialization. Finally, they turn to the cultural problem of a profession that pulls in so many bright and promising young people to do work that’s unproductive and ethically questionable. Further reading: “The Finance Industry Is a Grift. Let’s Start Treating It That Way.“ Oren Cass, New York Times.

American reindustrialization requires hundreds of thousands of skilled tradesmen, each of whom requires a wide array of high-quality tools to get the job done. Nicholas Pinchuk, CEO of Snap-on, joins Oren on the podcast to give a ground-level view on America's ascendant manufacturing industry and the professional tools that make it possible. They discuss the damage done by industry's decision to offshore manufacturing jobs earlier in the century, both to the U.S. and to the working-class professionals employed in the trades, and the forces bringing industry back to American shores. Pinchuk explains why high-quality, American-made industrial tools are vital to our industrial turnaround, and what a better version of technical education for those relying on them could look like. Finally, he and Oren discuss what AI portends for domestic manufacturing, from the benefits of more and higher-tech blue-collar jobs to concerns about the grassroots economy more broadly.

How did American life go off the rails? MIT professor and Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu joins Oren on the podcast to talk about the erosion in what he calls “working-class liberalism” and the consequences of its decline. He makes the case that America’s liberal democracy is most threatened not by external forces seeking to replace it but from a misunderstanding of liberalism as a prescriptive rule book rather than a guiding philosophy. He and Oren discuss how this thinking infected immigration policy in the Western world and why Acemoglu sees the error as a “kiss of death” for working-class communities before closing with ways to repair some of the damage done in liberal democracy’s descent. Further reading: What Happened to Liberal Democracy? by Daron Acemoglu.

For decades, the Right has written off issues related to climate and the environment. But as the Left’s climate alarmism increasingly falls on deaf ears, a new generation of conservatives is charting a course for a more productive approach to protecting our shared natural resources. Chris Barnard, president of the American Conservation Coalition, and Taylor Myers, attorney at Boyden Gray, join Oren and Chris to discuss their recent pieces for Commonplace‘s climate issue. They talk through why environmental issues are so salient, particularly to a younger generation, and why efforts to craft climate change policy absent a focus on human flourishing have caused so many people to tune the topic out. Finally, they discuss why environmental policy needs to also consider America’s growing energy demands, and the tradeoffs inherent in a better approach. Further reading: “Reclaiming Environmental Policy from the Left,” Chris Barnard, Commonplace“Against Climate Piety,” Taylor Myers, Commonplace“What Does the Science of Climate Change Tell Us?,” Joseph Majkut, Commonplace

Often lost in the broader conversation around solar power is how the technology can support American reindustrialization. Mark Widmar, CEO of First Solar, joins Oren on the podcast to explain solar's fit both into an all-of-the-above energy strategy and as a bulwark of U.S. manufacturing renewal. They discuss why solar power is such an American industrial success story, particularly against unfair competition from China, and what AI and automation could portend for the industry. Finally, they talk through how so much of conservative resistance to solar power isn't about the technology itself, and why First Solar's Made in America strategy sets it apart both in terms of energy output and in supporting local communities.

The youngest generation of Americans are increasingly without the kind of formation that shapes children into adults and allows them to develop the muscles of good citizenry, as the institutions and systems that once helped their elders fall short today. This not only sets young people up for failure, but erodes social cohesion and a democratic politics. Yuval Levin joins Oren and Chris to try to define what a better path of formation and true citizenship could look like. They discuss how replacing citizenship with consumerism has impoverished not just conservatism but the country more broadly. and wrestle with the temptations both toward nostalgia for older generations and nihilism for the younger ones, Finally, they talk through what this all means in the context of politics, and what today's deeply unpopular Democratic and Republican Parties could learn about renewing formative institutions from their predecessors in the late nineteenth century.

Why have so many economists gotten it so wrong about the impact of Trump's economic policies, from trade to immigration and beyond? Stephen Miran, former chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisors, joins Oren on the podcast to unpack the president's economic realignment. The two discuss the change in thinking Trump has delivered and why economists can neither understand its value nor accurately predict what its implications will look like. Finally, they discuss tariffs, and why the revenues they raise are so vital for paying for what America needs today.

In an apples-to-apples comparison of GDP per capita, eight of Canada's ten provinces are poorer than nearly all U.S. states. But how much can GDP really tell us? Is most of Canada really poorer in any meaningful sense than Kansas? Two writers, Jeff Reimer, a Kansan and senior editor at Comment, and Brian Dijkema, the Ontario-based president of Cardus, journeyed to both locations to find out. They join guest host Chris Griswold to recount their travels, discuss the quality-of-life context that GDP can’t measure, and make sense of the similarities, and key differences, on each side of the border. Further reading: “Is Kansas Really Richer than Canada?” Jeff Reimer, Commonplace“Is Canada Really Poorer than Kansas?” Brian Dijkema, Commonplace

Artificial intelligence is often discussed as a threat to human flourishing, undermining everything from jobs to education to literacy. Is there anything that can be done to mitigate that future damage? Is it already too late? Gregory Conti, associate professor at Princeton University, joins Oren and Chris to discuss whether there's anything to be done to stop AI. The group discusses Conti's recent writing in Compact, where he's an editor-at-large, making the case that we're already living in the wake of the technology's destruction. And they dive into specific policies, from banning tech in the classroom, to age-gating social media, to shutting down AI altogether, and whether they can be accomplished. Further reading: "The AI Apocalypse Is Already Here," by Gregory Conti, Compact"Big Tech’s War on Human Achievement," by Gregory Conti, Compact

Few political issues have united Americans the way that a resistance to new data centers to support the development of AI has done in recent months. But is this anger and opposition toward them misplaced, and even a threat to American reindustrialization? Josh Zoffer, a venture capitalist and Biden administration alum, joins Oren on the podcast to discuss the ongoing fight on data centers. Zoffer explains the thinking from his recent Financial Times piece, "Data centres are a crucial test of US industrial resolve," and why he thinks their construction is vital to America's success in the AI race with China. And he and Oren discuss how data centers fit into the broader, bipartisan push to build up domestic industrial capacity more broadly.

There's a political realignment taking place when it comes to labor law. Republicans from the White House down to the local level are increasingly championing worker rights against corporate interests. But will this change take root in the GOP? And should it? Roger King, senior labor and employment counsel at the CHRO Association joins Oren on the podcast to make sense of the changes over the last decade, and debate the merits of some of the labor legislation on the table. They discuss the Faster Labor Contracts Act, a bill to speed up initial collective bargaining agreements that recently passed the House of Representatives and is under consideration in the Senate. And they talk bigger picture, about what today's workers really need, and where recent efforts could risk overcorrecting.

Curtailing public chaos and institutional corruption are vital objectives to reclaiming a healthy American citizenship. But what can ordinary people do to rein in corrupt elites? And why have elected officials failed to push back for generations? Dr. Matt Mehan, associate dean of Hillsdale College's Graduate School of Government, joins Oren and Chris to make sense of what went wrong. They discuss how a fixation on legal rights has crowded out a public commitment to the responsibilities and duties inherent in citizenship, and why that shift has done so much damage. Finally, they discuss Dr. Mehan's new book, The American Book of Fables, and why his work to adapt timeless lessons for the youngest generation is so important at a moment defined by declining educational quality and oversaturation of technology. Further Reading: The American Book of Fables by Matt Mehan

The traditional four-year college degree is dramatically falling out of favor with parents and would-be students. One clear problem is that today's educational offerings don't help students build the skills they really need, both for the jobs of the future and for a meaningful life after graduation. Dr. Jacob Imam, president of The College of St. Joseph the Worker, joins Oren and policy director Chris Griswold to describe what makes his college so different: a classroom experience matched with an intensive focus on physical skills and learning the trades. They make sense of why blending the intellectual and manual pursuits is so beneficial not just just for students, but to the college's local community, and the world beyond. Finally, they discuss how this alternative approach can be scaled up to address America's lack of skilled workers needed for reindustrialization.

Many men without college degrees have nearly nonexistent social support, and are often one point of failure away from living in isolation, according to a new research report, Nobody to Call. Their lives are perilous: moving to a new town, losing a job, or the death of a friend could leave them fully divorced from their communities. Sam Pressler, lead author of the paper and a practitioner fellow at the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, joins Oren and Chris to unpack the risks facing men without college degrees. They make sense of why life has gotten so hard for this group, from reduced working-class job prospects to declining college matriculation and other post-high school pathways, as well as barriers to marriage. And they discuss the kinds of social programs currently available to these men, compared to what they really need. Further reading: Nobody to Call“‘The Vibes Are Not Good’,” Oren Cass, Commonplace