National Affairs

04/19/2025

Steve Teles joined our latest podcast to discuss the left's embrace of minority rule and how lawmakers might restore a more majoritarian, democratic politics:

The National Affairs Podcast, Episode 59: On restoring majoritarian and democratic rule to our politics.  ...

04/18/2025

Allen Guelzo on why "we would do well to recall the admonition of justices Davis and Robert Jackson, and think twice before leaving a loaded weapon within reach of government authorities."

Writing during the Second World War, Supreme Court justice Robert Jackson warned that when a court rationalizes a federal order based on emergencies and anomalies, the precedent "lies about like a loaded weapon, ready for the hand of any authority th...

04/15/2025

The shift in medicine toward social justice and activism has harmed doctors and patients alike — the most vulnerable patients most of all, Sally Satel writes:

In recent years, under the approving eyes of the American Medical Association and other professional groups, political advocates have shifted the primary mission of medicine toward social justice and the core identity of the physician toward activist...

04/12/2025

Christian Alejandro Gonzalez on why consolation should play a key role in the conservative worldview — helping conservatives not only recognize the harsh realities of life, but also explain how we might cope with them:

Conservatism is in many respects a pessimistic philosophy. It sees human beings as fallen, and so believes that all social orders will contain some measure of injustice. For this reason, the concept of consolation should play a key role in the conser...

04/10/2025

Jedd Medefind on a new perspective that can help guide us toward better solutions to America's child-welfare crisis:

Few words appear more frequently in discussions of child welfare today than the term "upstream." That metaphor invites us to adopt a wider view of the child-welfare crisis — a view of the whole river, indeed of the entire water ecosystem. This new pe...

04/08/2025

Shockingly, child and adolescent mortality have risen in recent years. Naomi Schaefer Riley on why Americans must grasp the fact that substance abuse hurts far more than the users themselves:

Despite all the advances of modern medicine and the prevalence of safety technologies, our society is going backward when it comes to keeping kids alive: Child and adolescent mortality have risen in recent years. A key reason involves the secondary e...

04/06/2025

"At a time when many principled voters again find themselves politically homeless, we would do well to understand the strategies that propelled the anti-slavery movement from the periphery of politics to the halls of power in less than a generation."

Whether it's foreign-policy hawks on the right, cultural conservatives on the left, or fiscal conservatives anywhere, the reductive binary of today's electoral options can be deeply frustrating for intraparty minority groups. Considering how various ...

04/03/2025

Paul McDonnold on helping those left behind in rural America:

Rural poverty rates in America have remained high largely because well-meaning attempts to reduce them have involved separate, uncoordinated policies thrown haphazardly at the problem. By instead considering their options in full and recognizing how ...

04/01/2025

Should public support be extended to the poor and needy, or to all citizens regardless of their economic circumstances? Chris Pope makes the case for a targeted welfare state:

Should public support be extended to the poor and needy, or to all citizens regardless of their economic circumstances? The debate between these two approaches has shaped the modern welfare state. Its implications might be best understood by consider...

03/29/2025

Conservatives can learn a lot about defending tradition from "Mending Wall," one of Robert Frost's most beloved poems, writes Christopher J. Scalia:

"Mending Wall," one of Robert Frost's most beloved poems, reflects on the conflict between tradition and reform. Upon careful reading, it turns out to be a deceptively complex work that offers important insights into the nature of argument and persua...

03/26/2025

Republicans led the early push for a professional civil service, but today they want to dismantle its essential features. What can today's critics of the federal workforce learn from this history?

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Republicans led the push for a professional civil service. Today, Republicans want to dismantle the essential features of that civil service — viewing it as corrupt and hopelessly politicized....

03/24/2025

The left in America has long accused the right of advancing minority rule and rejecting the principles of democracy. But the left is guilty here as well. Steven M. Teles in our Spring issue:

The left in America has long accused the right of advancing minority rule and rejecting the principles of democracy. Though there is some truth to that charge, it applies as much to the left itself as it does to the right. A closer look at housing an...

03/21/2025

An excellent Friday/weekend read: Algis Valiunas on Southern historians of the Civil War. "A particular catastrophe for the South, then, but a resounding triumph for America. God grant that we may yet prove worthy of it."

Southern historians face a distinct challenge when covering the Civil War. The best among them have told a story more sympathetic to the losers than that of a conventional Northern historian while remaining forthright about the stakes involved and th...

03/20/2025

Devin Hartman leads off our new Spring issue on how policymakers can help America meet its growing electricity needs in the coming decades: https://nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/how-to-liberate-electric-power