Matters of Policy & Politics

As a celebrated historian and prolific columnist, Niall Ferguson has plenty for which to be grateful. Ferguson, the Hoover Institution’s Milbank Family Senior Fellow, explains why Americans should be giving thanks this holiday season. Note: this was first broadcast a few years ago, before the pandemic disrupted our lives and complicated our holiday planning.

“Diversity math,” the changing fortunes of Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris, a record revenue surplus in Sacramento, plus dubious outlooks for public pensions and high-speed rail. 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 in the Golden State, including what Lee’s cooking on Thanksgiving Day.

In a few days, the Congressional Budget Office will either back or buck President Biden’s claim that the Build Back Better plan – aka, “human infrastructure” – “costs zero dollars”. Michael Boskin, the Hoover Institution’s Wohlford Family Senior Fellow and the Tully M. Friedman Professor of Economics at Stanford University, discusses the measure’s fiscal impact, inflationary concerns, plus the significance of President Biden’s choice for chairman of the Federal Reserve – also expected soon.

Never mind Virginia’s gubernatorial vote: California has its own education-related controversy in the form of a new diversity math curriculum. Hoover senior fellow Lee Ohanian and distinguished policy fellow Bill Whalen discuss whether a parental backlash will occur in the Golden State, needed updates to California's water policy and government technology/computers, plus recall movements in San Francisco, and finally poor sportsmanship on display in a high-school football game in Inglewood.

As a younger generation of veterans transition from military service, how will they impact America’s communities? Jacquelyn Schneider, a Hoover fellow studying the intersection of technology, national security, and political psychology with a special interest in cybersecurity, discusses the Hoover Institution’s newly announced Veterans Fellowship Program (10 military veterans studying significant policy issues that will affect localities across America) and offers her thoughts on the younger generation “coming home” and the military’s role in campus life and the IT sector.

Does an off-year gubernatorial race in the Old Dominion constitute a preview of next year’s midterm election? David Brady and Douglas Rivers, Hoover Institution senior fellows and Stanford University political scientists, discuss whether Virginia is a bellwether, President Biden’s declining poll numbers, and why some progressive columnists are forecasting a Democratic congressional wipeout next year.

California’s bill-signing session concludes with hundreds of new state laws – many long on woke symbolism. Hoover senior fellow Lee Ohanian and distinguished policy fellow Bill Whalen, both contributors to Hoover’s “California on Your Mind” web channel, discuss what this year’s legislative batch says about the Golden State, its war on fossil fuels, a new ethnic-studies mandate, Elon Musk’s decision to relocate Tesla’s headquarters to Texas, plus the Giants’-Dodgers baseball rivalry as a window into California’s north-south divide.

As public and private-sector employees struggle with COVID vaccine mandates, the Supreme Court returns to in-person arguments, and Donald Trump seeks an end to his Twitter suspension. John Yoo, a Hoover Institution visiting fellow and UC-Berkeley law professor, discusses the legality of vaccine mandates, the High Court’s likely moves on abortion, gun restriction, and religious education in what might be a landmark session, plus the chances of Trump tweeting anytime soon.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signs legislation meant to ease California’s housing crisis, but is it sensible – will it make homes in the Golden State more affordable? Hoover senior fellow Lee Ohanian and distinguished policy fellow Bill Whalen, both contributors to Hoover’s “California on Your Mind” web channel, talk with Hoover senior writer Jonathan Movroydis about the Golden State’s housing conundrum, a new report on California’s economic health, and what to expect in the way of congressional redistricting later this year.

A new school year is underway, but what has the past year taught us about the political and policy clout of America’s teachers’ unions? Michael Hartney, a Hoover Institution national fellow, Boston College political scientist and author of a forthcoming book on the ascent of teachers’ unions, discusses the role that unions played during the past year’s school-reopening drama and what their agenda may resemble moving forward.