Restoring America is running a new kind of think tank series, “The Right Way Forward,” which does not ask conservatives to speak as a chorus but to argue in earnest.
Beginning the week of May 11, leading conservative think tanks will square off in the first of four debates that will tackle the defining questions of the post-Trump conservative movement. The opening installment examines conservatism’s fault lines over the role of the state in the economy.
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The GOP’s boardroom problem
By Tad DeHaven, Cato Institute
“Republicans can’t denounce the government ‘picking winners and losers’ when Democrats do it and then call it ‘deal-making’ when Trump does it.”
The GOP’s entitlement math doesn’t add up
By Andrew Biggs, American Enterprise Institute
“Democrats want bigger government, they are willing to impose the taxes to pay for it, and their only constraint is voters’ willingness to go along with it. But Republicans are sleepwalking into the end of the GOP as a low-tax, small-government political party.”
Tariffs aren’t dead
By Michael Faulkender and Jill Homan, America First Policy Institute
“Supporting tariffs does not mean abandoning conservative principles. It means updating them to reflect current realities.”
Economic nationalism is the opposite of free-market conservatism
By Solveig Singleton, Cato Institute
“The prosperity generated by trade is real. Interfering with trade slows growth and is causing harm now.”
The entire Right should agree on Trump’s deregulatory agenda
By E.J. Antoni, Heritage Foundation
“The administration has slashed 129 rules for each new one imposed, saving well over $200 billion, or more than $1,600 per household.”
When Washington picks up the states’ tab, waste and fraud follow
By Matt Weidinger, American Enterprise Institute
“States will always have a greater appetite to spend — and sometimes waste — federal tax dollars than their own funds. But it’s all the same taxpayers paying in the end.”
The $100,000 hidden tax on every home — and how to kill it
When ‘national security’ becomes an excuse for big government
By Joel Griffith, Advancing American Freedom Foundation
“Free markets and national security are not in tension; history shows they’re intertwined. The postwar economic order championed by conservatives was built on free and open trade, strong alliances, and American institutions anchoring global commerce.”
The right’s tax identity crisis
By Adam N. Michel, Cato Institute
“The fundamental question facing Republicans is philosophical. Is the tax code supposed to fund a constitutionally limited government with as little economic harm as possible? Or is it simply another political tool to direct rewards and punishments? Those are very different views of what the fiscal system is for.”
Trusting the market on AI isn’t conservative. It’s dangerous
By Joel Thayer, America First Policy Institute
“A purely hands-off approach assumes that firms optimizing for profit will reliably safeguard competition, privacy, transparency, and even basic civil liberties, which is simply not the case for artificial intelligence.”
American policy is sacrificing the young
By Daniel Di Martino, Manhattan Institute
“A nation with fewer workers and more retirees cannot sustain ever-expanding promises without undermining its own economic foundation.”
Pro-family conservatism needs an economic vision
By Patrick T. Brown, Ethics and Public Policy Center
“A Burkean, incremental approach that seeks to recognize the burdens young families face can provide a solid footing.”
The Right’s growing crackup over organized labor
By Jarrett Dieterle, Manhattan Institute
“In the face of its growing crackup over organized labor, the Right is badly in need of developing a labor policy that is pro-worker without being pro-union.”
The future of America depends on flourishing families
By Delano Squires, Heritage Foundation
“An expansion in IVF access and use would likely only encourage more women to delay marriage and children, and do little to reverse demographic decline.”
You can’t pick winners and call it deregulation
By Shawn Regan, Manhattan Institute
“On one of the central questions facing the modern Right — when government should intervene in economic affairs and when it should step aside — conservatives themselves remain divided. The consequences are significant.”
The New Right wants to help workers. Its labor policy will hurt them
By Rachel Greszler, Advancing American Freedom
“A genuinely pro-worker conservatism trusts in the capacity of individuals, families, and communities to make their own decisions, and seeks to create the conditions under which those decisions can lead to upward mobility and economic security.”
Trump is bringing factories back. Where are the workers?
By Michael Faulkender and Michael Shires, America First Policy Institute
“The administration’s policies have opened a window to American opportunity, but it will not stay open long. Shipyards in Virginia and semiconductor factories in Arizona need skilled workers before contracts are even finalized.”
Trump’s dangerous economic experiment
By Desmond Lachman, AEI
“Trump’s sharp departure from earlier Republican Party orthodoxy is particularly regrettable, coming at a time when the artificial intelligence revolution is gathering steam.”
AI must serve human flourishing
Industrial policy is not populist
By Judge Glock, Manhattan Institute
“Despite what some in the media say, this new industrial policy has not emerged out of populist demands. It has come from the strained efforts of politicians and intellectuals to justify business handouts using the language of populism, or simply to hide the reality of industrial policy from the public.”
Conservatives must embrace personal responsibility and reject victimhood
By Preston Brashers, Advancing American Freedom
“When Congress is inevitably forced to enact needed reforms, demagogues will try to convince Americans that they’re victims. Indeed, there will be collateral damage because Americans entrusted their retirement to politicians who promised that future generations would sustain an unsustainable system forever.”
Correct the birthplace citizenship interpretation for economic security
By Robert Rector and Lora Ries, Heritage Foundation
“Nearly 100 academic studies have examined this topic, of which 86% reported the commonsense result: Low-skill immigrants push down the earnings and employment of lower-skilled, U.S.-born workers.”
The GOP’s protectionism detour has run its course
By Colin Grabow, Cato Institute
“Protectionism isn’t just an economic loser but also a political one. A key factor behind Trump’s 2024 victory was voter anger over rising costs. Higher tariffs, and the higher prices they create, cut directly against that concern.”
Making housing work for Americans
By John Gibbs, Heritage Foundation
“Making housing better for Americans by reducing financialization and improving the wealth-building potential of mortgages, would likely be broadly supported by Americans on both sides of the political spectrum.”
The Trump-Pharma deals reflect the flaws of state capitalism
By James Capretta, AEI
“The administration’s preference for unilateralism increases the possibility of a reversal or major rollback of its policies when new officials take over.”
How Trump’s tariffs can paradoxically raise economic freedom
By Peter St. Onge, Heritage Foundation
“Trump’s tariffs are doing exactly what Reagan’s tariffs did: reducing foreign barriers in conjunction with reduced tax and regulatory burdens for all American businesses and entrepreneurs.”
Liberal policies don’t work even when rebranded as ‘conservative’
By David Burton, Advancing American Freedom
“Call it what you will: economic nationalism, industrial policy, compassionate conservatism, ‘conservative economics,’ America first, the new conservatism, or common good conservatism. They have been sold by the Left under the banner of fairness, economic justice, or social justice. They are now being promoted by some who call themselves conservative under the banner of American patriotism.”