JonathanRauch.com

Journalism, essays, and  44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59  60 consecutive years without a MacArthur prize

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Journalism & Speeches

  • Selected articles
  • Why we have political chaos
  • How science makes us free
  • Why I was(n’t) gay
  • Why we have universities
  • Why we change our minds
  • Why we have free speech
  • Why we have God
  • Why we have science
  • ‘Government in 2020’
  • My marriage odyssey
  • My philosophy of everything

Books

  • : The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50

    The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50
    Why humans—and chimps—reboot in midlife

  • : Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought, Expanded Edition

    Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought, Expanded Edition
    The free-speech classic, updated and expanded

  • : Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America

    Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America
    The case for gay—and straight—marriage

  • : Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working

    Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working
    Causes and cures of demosclerosis

  • : The Outnation: A Search for the Soul of Japan

    The Outnation: A Search for the Soul of Japan
    Out of print but getable from Amazon

  • : American Finance for the 21st Century

    American Finance for the 21st Century
    Co-authored with Robert E. Litan

  • Jonathan Rauch: Denial: My 25 Years Without a Soul

    Jonathan Rauch: Denial: My 25 Years Without a Soul
    When love is hate and childhood never ends: a memoir

Preorder now: The Constitution of Knowledge

The reality wars are only just beginning. Lying, trolling, and canceling are powerful weapons of chaos and conformity. But the reality-based community can fight back. Here’s how...

Fighting back, at last

After five years of disorientation and self-doubt, liberals are finding their voices and pushing back against radical wokeness...

The Trump amendments

Far from being a constitutional lightweight, Trump did more than any other president to turn Congress into an advisory body...

The war on professionalism

Lawyers, doctors, scientists, and civil servants saved U.S. democracy from Trump. That’s why he waged relentless war on them...

Trump’s post-election triumph

He may have lost the presidency and been beaten by the Democrats. But Trump won the propaganda war and put the Republicans to rout...

Trump’s firehose of falsehood

Trump and his propaganda machine have brought Russian-style disinformation to the U.S., on a massive scale and with unprecedented success...

Are you being canceled?

Cancel culture is not free speech, but they can be hard to tell apart. Fortunately, you can take this handy test...

It’s the GOP, not just Trump

Guess which party is more under the influence of insurgent protesters and inexperienced newcomers? Hint: it's not the Democrats...

The plus-sum solution

The Fairness for All Act proposes a historic compromise on Q rights and religious liberty, and the Supreme Court has set the stage...

The running mate Biden needs

A former governor with gravitas, federal experience, and a strong relationship with Joe Biden. Introducing Janet Napolitano...

It’s George Wallace’s GOP

Trump is only the most recent emanation of the insurgent movement Wallace launched in the 1960s. And he wont be the last...

The voters need help

Relying solely on voters to choose presidential candidates is a recent and radical experiment, and it has failed. We need peer review...

Rethinking polarization

A decade ago, we thought we were dealing with ordinary disagreement. But this is not your father’s polarization...

Wait a minute!

Instant posting to social media like Twitter is a bug, not a feature. A lot of online sociopathy could be solved with a pause button...

The court got it right

Extreme partisan gerrymanders are a problem. But the Supreme Court is wise to refuse the role of fixing them...

Autocorrect

The internet spreads lies faster than truth. But what if robot fact-checkers can detect and tag lies the moment politicians utter them?...

Nothing to fear but...

America's prosperity, peace, and safety would be the envy of any country. So why are so many Americans so angry and scared?...

Republicans might dump Trump

Any number of factors could collapse GOP support for Trump. Forcing him to quit would be good for the party, and for democracy, too...

I’m not LGBTQ. No one is.

The awkward acronym embodies what has gone wrong with identity politics. Instead, how about just Q?...

Star Trek saw Trump coming

The classic 1960s TV series has a lot to teach us about the 45th president and his sociopathic universe...

How reform really happens

Legalizing marijuana and gay marriage seemed impossible. Yet they succeeded by learning from the same mistakes...

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About Jonathan Rauch

  • Bio
  • High-rez photo
  • Senior fellow, Brookings Institution
  • Contributing writer, The Atlantic
  • Book a speech