Matters of Policy & Politics

The Hornet’s Nest Over The Door

California’s governor delivered an 18-minute State of the State oration notable for its many omissions, including underperforming public schools and Sacramento’s notorious “boom or bust” revenue stream. Hoover senior fellow Lee Ohanian and distinguished policy fellow Bill Whalen, both contributors to Hoover’s “California on Your Mind” web channel, join Hoover senior writer Jonathan Movroydis to discuss how market volatility may upend state budgeting, the latest on K-12 ethnic studies, the future of UC-Berkeley student enrollment, plus the field of contenders looking to oust Gavin Newsom this November.

Did Europe Take The Red Pill?

Has the war in Ukraine and a reliance upon Russian fossil fuels prompted western European nations to reconsider their respective energy strategies? Bjorn Lomborg, a Hoover visiting fellow and environmental researcher, discusses ways for developed nations to reduce energy independence and battle climate change without necessarily devastating economies and lifestyles.

Ukraine’s George Washington – Or Martyr

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine begs questions of flawed military strategy, bad geostrategic gambits, plus how information true and false flows amidst a hostile invasion. Paul Gregory, a Russian-fluent Hoover research fellow, offers insight into how to interpret news coming out of Eastern Europe, the makeup of Ukrainians and Russians – and an update on his 16-year-old granddaughter (of Ukrainian descent) presently trying to stay out of harm’s way in Kyiv.

“Nothing Is Over Until We Decide It Is”

Gas prices soar in California, San Francisco voters lash out at three members of the county’s Board of Education, and a gubernatorially-declared “state of emergency” in the Golden State nears its second anniversary. Hoover senior fellow Lee Ohanian and distinguished policy fellow Bill Whalen, both contributors to Hoover’s “California on Your Mind” web channel, join Hoover senior writer Jonathan Movroydis to discuss economic “pain at the pump,” whether the San Francisco recall is a harbinger of political rebukes to come, and does Gavin Newsom’s prolonged “emergency” constitute an abuse of executive authority.  

Schools Are “The Other”

Only two months into 2022 and already a turbulent year for K-12 education: voters recalled three members of San Francisco’s Board of Education; parents and schools districts at odds over student masking; questions of funding priorities are moving ahead, and on and on. Austin Beutner, former Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, discusses lessons learned from his tenure as the head of the nation’s second-largest school system during the pandemic, plus his plans to go to the ballot this November with an initiative to rejuvenate California’s student arts programs. 

Headbangers’ Ball

Each year, California lawmakers fail to implement single-payer healthcare and curb homelessness – 2022 being no exception to the rule. Hoover senior fellow Lee Ohanian and distinguished policy fellow Bill Whalen, both contributors to Hoover’s “California on Your Mind” web channel, join Hoover senior writer Jonathan Movroydis to discuss why this annual exercise in futility, the easing of mask mandates, the challenges in fast-tracking new housing construction, and adding more yellow school buses across the Golden State isn’t as black-and-white as it may seem.

The Problem Was Not The President

This past weekend marked Ronald Reagan’s 111^th birthday. Peter Robinson, the Hoover Institution’s Murdoch Distinguished Policy Fellow and a Reagan White House speechwriter, discusses the late president’s relevancy in this day and age – in the American heartland, on the global stage, and within a Republican Party whose current infighting contradicts Reagan’s “11^th Commandment” of intraparty civility. 

Immigrant Superpower

On the back-burner in an otherwise ambitious first year of the Biden presidency: a dramatic overhaul of America’s immigration policies, a new pathway to citizenship, a revamp of family-based immigration, and additional diversity visas. Tim Kane, a Hoover Institution visiting fellow and author of the newly released The Immigrant Superpower: How Brains, Brawn and Bravery Made America Stronger, discusses America’s immigration conundrum past, present, and future and what policy changes might strengthen the nation.

The California Bowl

A state assembly committee advances a single-payer healthcare scheme without debate, California’s public employees unions dodge a political bullet, Nancy Pelosi plans to stick around the House for at least two more years, and what does Sunday’s Rams-49ers clash say about the Golden State’s notorious north-south divide? Hoover senior fellow Lee Ohanian and distinguished policy fellow Bill Whalen, both contributors to Hoover’s “California on Your Mind” web channel, join Hoover senior writer Jonathan Movroydis to discuss the latest from the West Coast.

The Biden Presidency After Year One

On the one-year anniversary of President Biden’s inauguration, his administration’s struggles seem to lend truth to the adage: campaigning is easy, governing is hard. Tom Bevan, Real Clear Politics publisher/co-founder and a Hoover Institution media fellow, assesses the good, the bad, and the ugly of the first 12 months of the Biden White House.