The inaugural @AmerCompass essay series, Rebooting the American System, makes the comprehensive, conservative case for a return to robust national economic policy. This was the American tradition from the Founding, and paid enormous dividends. (1/11) americancompass.org/rebooting-the-…
The series opens with forewords from @marcorubio and @SenTomCotton, who situate the concept in our present context: a once-in-a-century pandemic and a generation-defining contest with China. Both highlight vital national priorities that the market will not address on its own.
Senator Rubio emphasizes the inevitable tradeoff between efficiency and resilience. A market economy geared only toward maximizing the former will inevitably erode the latter, but the nation needs both and public policy must help to strike a balance. americancompass.org/essays/marco-r… 
Senator Cotton emphasizes the economy's critical support for national security. Our economic entanglement with China makes the competition of Cold War Two uniquely complex and demands a strategic combination of public investment and private enterprise. americancompass.org/essays/tom-cot…
Our lead essay by, @wellscking, explores the fascinating tradition of the American System, the robust public role in the economy advocated by Hamilton, formalized by Clay, expanded by Lincoln. The notion of a laissez-faire nation, he shows, is pure myth. americancompass.org/essays/redisco…
Henry Clay once declared on the Senate floor: "When gentlemen have succeeded in their ... destruction of the American System, what is their substitute? Free trade! Free trade! The call for free trade, is as unavailing as the cry of a spoiled child." americancompass.org/essays/redisco…
Our second essay, by @juliuskrein, dismantles the Hayekian theory that the "knowledge problem" precludes policymakers from achieving economic goals. To the contrary, lack of knowledge is often what hampers markets and necessitates government action. americancompass.org/essays/plannin…
Dogmatic rejection of "planning" confuses rationing and investment. Prices often ration well. But long-term investment "cannot be prudently allocated on the basis of price signals alone. Hayek’s spontaneous order, in more than one sense, has no future." americancompass.org/essays/plannin…
Our final essay, by me, argues for recovering the practice of economic policy. Right-of-center orthodoxy imposes blinders that obscure understanding of how markets operate and how or why policymakers might influence them, leaving only tax cuts in focus. americancompass.org/essays/removin…
With blinders off, one sees "the social, legal, historical, and institutional scaffolding that buttresses a growing economy, and the role that public policy must play. A protective instinct for such structures should come naturally to conservatives." americancompass.org/essays/removin…
Taken together, the essays present a comprehensive case for the right-of-center to reconsider its approach to economic policy and we hope they will be a valuable contribution to the debate. We've also published a short adaptation of the series @NRO: [End.] nationalreview.com/2020/05/americ…
