Defunct
27-648: Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other American Affairs is a quarterly American political journal founded in February 2017 by Julius Krein . Its project has been outlined in Tablet as: "a dense, technically sophisticated form of neo-Hamiltonian economic nationalism , pushed in various forms by Michael Lind , David P. Goldman , and Krein himself," based on
54-467: A broad re-evaluation of American society, economics, and public policy that earned widespread coverage and praise across the political spectrum. The book introduces what Cass calls "the Working Hypothesis: that a labor market in which workers can support strong families and communities is the central determinant of long-term prosperity and should be the central focus of public policy". He argues that
81-613: A conservative and a nationalist, but absolutely not a white nationalist. He also explained that he was very disillusioned with the Republican Party leadership, and that he felt Reaganomics had been a failure: "To go back to nationalism, the biggest problem is the Republican mindset, the Reaganite mindset that we are all just individuals and let everyone loose to acquire wealth. That hasn't worked. Not only do we have rising inequality, but
108-593: A country with a two-tiered service economy, with bankers, consultants, and software engineers at the top and Walmart greeters and Uber drivers at the bottom." Since its founding in 2017, American Affairs has become known for in-depth articles on trade and industrial policy , criticisms of financialization , advocacy of family childcare allowances and infrastructure spending , as well as for bringing together right and left-wing critics of neoliberalism . Aside from public policy, it has also covered political theory and cultural criticism . It has been characterized in
135-545: A manager, but also "started writing on environmental and labor policy for National Review . Senator Marco Rubio credited Cass for the poverty-fighting plan Rubio released in 2014. From this work, he was brought on as a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute in 2015. Also in 2015, Politico named Cass number 35 on its list of the top 50 "thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics in 2015". In 2018, Cass published The Once and Future Worker ,
162-590: A quarterly journal intended to support Trump from an intellectual perspective. He described it as an effort "to give the Trump movement some intellectual heft." Six months later, however, Krein publicly withdrew his support for Trump in a piece published in The New York Times , expressing regret over his prior support of Trump as president. The inaugural issue of American Affairs was released February 21, one month after Trump's inauguration, which Krein intended to be
189-490: Is an American conservative political writer and editor best known for founding the journal American Affairs . Krein was raised in Eureka, South Dakota , the son of Gary and Nancy Krein. He has one sister. He graduated from Eureka High School in 2004. He is a 2008 graduate of Harvard College , where he studied political philosophy with Harvey Mansfield . Krein went into a career in finance, working for Bank of America and
216-407: Is an American public policy commentator and political advisor. Since 2024 he has served as the chief economist at American Compass, a conservative think tank. He previously worked on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney in 2008 and 2012, being described as a "general policy impresario of the emerging conservative consensus on fighting poverty". Between 2015 and 2019, Cass was a senior fellow at
243-570: Is the Journal of American Greatness , a short-lived 2016 political blog best known for publishing "The Flight 93 Election," a widely read essay about the 2016 presidential election by the pseudonymous author Publius Decius Mus, later revealed to be Michael Anton . American Affairs was initially considered by some as a "pro- Trump journal." On its launch, it was described by the New York Times as "dedicated to giving intellectual heft and coherence to
270-649: The New Statesman as a "heterodox policy journal" featuring, for instance, conservative arguments in favor of a greater role for the state alongside left-wing arguments against identity politics and open borders . Notable articles include Krein's "The Real Class War" which "attracted attention from both left and right in November 2019 by upending the conversation over class in the Democratic primary," according to New Statesman . A predecessor to American Affairs
297-553: The American Institute for Economic Research , disputed some positions taken by Cass, asserting that Cass focuses too heavily on the importance of production over consumption, to the point of extolling measures such as tariffs that coerce society into purchasing goods that would not be the first choice of uncoerced consumers. In February 2020, Cass founded American Compass, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. , focusing on "what
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#1732844698066324-713: The Blackstone Group . During the 2016 U.S. presidential election , he was employed at a hedge fund based in Boston while also contributing as a writer and site administrator for a pro-Trump blog. The blog, known as the Journal for American Greatness , was created supposedly to support Trump on the basis that his beliefs were politically sound. The blog's owners eventually took it offline, claiming it had begun as an inside joke and they were not prepared for such large readership. Its popularity led to Krein deciding to leave his day job to launch an authentic publication, American Affairs ,
351-599: The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research , and he was the author of The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America . In February 2020, Cass established American Compass , an organization aimed at the question of "what the post-Trump right-of-center is going to be.” Cass received a Bachelor of Arts in political economy from Williams College , and was then hired as an associate consultant at Bain & Company . After working at Bain for several years in
378-576: The Republican nominee win the 2024 presidential election . Dedicated to reforming conservatism, American Compass is endeavoring to shift the economic consensus towards a high view "of family, community, and industry." With the group, Cass has argued for several changes to conservative thought: Under Cass, the group has strongly questioned the belief that free markets should be given primacy when setting public policy. Cass has described this "free market fundamentalism" as "pathetically simplistic." Cass and
405-525: The Charlottesville rally. Krein stated that he did not feel Trump was legitimately racist. He told Slate , "I didn’t think the racist stuff was real. I thought it was media provocation. And that the economic or other stuff—that’s what he really cared about, and we are not electing a Pope, we are electing a president. If he gets even a couple things done, it’s good for the country, and by the way good for everybody." Krein stated that he identifies himself as
432-630: The amorphous ideology known, for lack of a better term, as Trumpism." But in August 2017, after the "Unite the Right" rally at Charlottesvile, Virginia , Krein wrote an opinion article in The New York Times publicly acknowledging his regret in voting for the candidate. Jennifer Schuessler of The New York Times writes: "the magazine seeks to fill the void left by a conservative intellectual establishment more focused on opposing Mr. Trump than on grappling with
459-424: The contention that "a short-sighted American elite has allowed the country’s manufacturing core—the key to both widespread domestic prosperity and national security in the face of a mercantilist China —to be hollowed out," just as "Production and technical expertise have shifted to China and Asia, domestic capital has flowed into unproductive share buybacks or tech schemes ( Uber , WeWork ), and America has become
486-645: The events of the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally , Krein wrote an op-ed in The New York Times entitled "I Voted for Trump and I Sorely Regret It". Krein's public denunciation of Trump, in which he encouraged others to do the same, attracted significant media attention. In his op-ed, he lamented that he and his fellow Trump supporters were guilty of "deluding ourselves" during the 2016 election and that Trump's harshest critics had been proven right. In an interview with Slate , Krein further explained how he had rationalized his public support for Trump prior to
513-533: The firm's offices in Boston and New Delhi , Cass "took a six-month leave to work on Mitt Romney's 2008 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination". Cass then enrolled in Harvard Law School "to deepen his understanding of public policy", stating of the experience that "law school is a lot of fun if you’re not there to be a lawyer". Cass "caught the attention of Romney's staff while still in law school and
540-407: The first of four issues for 2017. In an interview before its release, Krein stated he planned to have several dozen contributors and for each issue to include about 10 essays. The first issue included features on "the failure of standard conservative ideology," nationalism, fusionism, and academic free market theory. The issue received mixed reviews. On August 17, 2017, following Trump's reaction to
567-493: The grouping hold that it is not only absolutely proper for society to intervene in the market but also necessary for it to do so. Cass has advocated for unionization that enables workers to collectively bargain for sector-wide pay standards and working conditions. He argues that local industry should be protected by a cross-the-board 10% tariff on imported goods, which would increase by 5% until trade deficits are brought to zero, while investment in local industry would be funded by
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#1732844698066594-449: The nation's most original and forceful policy thinkers". Jason Furman , the chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, described it as "a thoughtful, provocative, carefully argued book that made me change my mind on some issues that I thought I'd thought about quite a lot". The book has also been featured in publications including The New Yorker , The Economist , and Foreign Affairs . Donald J. Boudreaux , for
621-500: The obsessive focus of policymakers and economists on "consumer welfare" has been misguided because it is as workers and productive contributors that people flourish and build strong families and communities. This is asserted to lead to innovative proposals for reform across a wide range of policy areas. National Affairs editor Yuval Levin deemed it "the essential policy book for our time". National Review concluded that "[t]his book and its policy proposals mark Oren Cass as one of
648-494: The people who defend rising inequality say it will lead to more productivity and the pie is going to be bigger blah blah. That hasn't happened, and no one has been willing to look at the deeper problems behind that." Oren Cass Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other Oren M. Cass (born 1983)
675-568: The post-Trump right-of-center is going to be.” Later, ahead of the 2024 election , American Compass laid out a set of economic policies intended for a second Trump administration. As of July 2024 , American Compass is also a member of the advisory board of Project 2025 , a collection of conservative policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power should
702-1366: The rejection of globalism and free-market dogma that propelled his victory." According to The Washington Post , the journal is read by Ohio Senator and 2024 Republican Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance . Contributors to the magazine include: Michael Anton, Robert D. Atkinson , Mehrsa Baradaran , Thierry Baudet , Daniel A. Bell , Fred Block , Dan Breznitz , Christopher Caldwell , Oren Cass , Angelo M. Codevilla , Colin Crouch , Patrick J. Deneen , Ronald W. Dworkin , Fredrik Erixon , Nancy Fraser , Amber A'Lee Frost , Frank Furedi , Maurice Glasman , James K. Galbraith , David P. Goldman, Allen C. Guelzo , Ofir Haivry , Shadi Hamid , James Hankins , Yoram Hazony , Joseph Heath , Arthur Herman , John B. Judis , Eric Kaufmann , Joel Kotkin , Ryszard Legutko , Michael Lind , Edward Luttwak , Bruno Maçães , Noel Malcolm , Pierre Manent , Lawrence M. Mead , Bill Mitchell , Angela Nagle , David Oks , Eric A. Posner , R.R. Reno , Ganesh Sitaraman , Anne-Marie Slaughter , Matthew Stoller , Wolfgang Streeck , Cass Sunstein , Ruy Teixiera , Nick Timothy , Roberto M. Unger , Adrian Vermeule , Henry Williams , L. Randall Wray , and Slavoj Zizek . Julius Krein Julius Krein (born 1986)
729-439: Was tapped as domestic policy adviser for the candidate's presidential campaign in 2011": He worked for the next Romney operation in 2011 between his second and third years at Harvard, and ended up with so much in his portfolio that at the end of the summer "they sort of said, well, you have to stay". He became domestic-policy director while still in law school. Following the 2012 election, Cass returned to Bain, where he became
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