City Journal Audio

Adam J. White joins Brian Anderson to discuss the "administrative state," often described as the fourth branch of the federal government. Under the Obama administration, bureaucratic agencies were aggressivelyutilized to bypass congressional hostility to the progressive agenda. In 2014, President Obama declared his "pen and phone" strategy: if the Republican-controlled Congress was unwilling to act on his priorities, he would sign executive orders directing federal agencies to enforce new rules or ignore existing ones. Environmental regulations, immigration reform, and Internet neutrality were just a few areas where the Obama administration directed agencies to make substantial policy changes. Adam White is an attorney, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a contributing editor of City Journal. His story "Break the Bureaucracy" appeared in the Winter 2017 Issue.

Peter Cove joins Brian Anderson to discuss his new book Poor No More: Rethinking Dependency and the War on Poverty. Declaring the War on Poverty in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson stated that the goal was to "cure poverty, and above all, prevent it." 50 years later, most people would agree that the signature campaign of the "Great Society" has shown mixed results, at best: Despite spending over $20 trillion on anti-poverty programs, the official poverty rate has barely moved. Peter Cove is the founder of America Works, the nation's first for-profit, welfare-to-work company that has placed nearly 1 million people into employment. Peter first became involved in the fight against poverty when he moved to New York in 1965 to join the Anti-Poverty Operations Board, where he helped write federal grant proposals and managed local programs. Find out more about Peter Cove's book on Amazon.​

Katherine Kersten joins Brian Anderson to discuss how public school leaders in St. Paul, Minnesota abandoned student discipline—and unleashed mayhem—in the name of "racial equity." In January 2014, the Obama administration's Departments of Education and Justice issued a "Dear Colleague" letter to every school district in the country, laying out guidelines to local officials for how to avoid racial bias when suspending or expelling students. Equity proponents view "disparate impact"—when the same policies yield different outcomes among demographic groups—as conclusive proof of discrimination. But nearly half a decade before that order was announced, the superintendent of St. Paul Public Schools had already embarked on a crusade to dismantle the purported "school-to-prison pipeline"—with disastrous effects for teachers and students. Read Katherine's piece in the Winter 2017 Issue of City Journal, "No Thug Left Behind."

Michael Totten joins Brian Anderson to discuss the issue of homelessness in his hometown of Portland, Oregon. Portland is often called the "City of Bridges" for the many structures that cross the city's two rivers. Underneath many of those bridges are homeless encampments complete with tents, plastic tarps, shopping carts—and people. Oregon's Supreme Court has blocked efforts to regulate homelessness in Portland, leading the city's political leaders and nonprofits to explore new options as the situation has worsened.

Robert Poole (of the Reason Foundation) joins Aaron Renn to discuss the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Port Authority was originally founded to manage the region's transportation infrastructure, but the agency has long been plagued by politicized decision making, money-losing facilities, and declining financial viability. Poole is the author of a new report commissioned by the Manhattan Institute, Reinventing the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Check out City Journal's coverage of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey below. The Port Authority Leviathan (Seth Barron, Winter 2016) Bloated, Broke, and Bullied (Steve Malanga, Spring 2016) Let's Break Up the Port Authority (Stephen Eide, Summer 2016) The New York Police Force That Doesn't Work (Judith Miller and Alex Armlovich, Autumn 2016) Making New York's Airports Great Again (John Tierney, Winter 2017)

Victor Davis Hanson joins the City Journal podcast to talk with Aaron Renn about the 2016 election, the divide between rural and urban America, and how a life-long New Yorker came to lead a movement of "deplorables" all the way to the White House. Read Victor's piece in the Winter 2017 Issue of City Journal, "Trump and the American Divide."

City Journal editor Brian Anderson and contributing editor Kay Hymowitz discuss her new book, "The New Brooklyn: What It Takes to Bring a City Back," which chronicles the history of New York City's largest borough and its remarkable transformation from a symbol of urban decay by the mid-20th century to one of the most valuable and innovative environments in the world.

City Journal senior editor Steve Malanga and contributing editor Judy Miller discuss some of the issues with the Port Authority Police Department, including a secret review of the department's security readiness and the contentious relationship between Port Authority leaders and the police union. Read Judy Miller's full piece from the Autumn 2016 Issue of City Journal, "The New York Police Force That Doesn't Work."

City Journal associate editor Matthew Hennessey and Manhattan Institute senior fellow Robert Bryce discuss the possibilities for the domestic energy industry under Trump, the state of American nuclear power, the Left's push for all-renewable energy, and more.

​City Journal associate editor Matthew Hennessey and contributing editor John Tierney (formerly of the New York Times) discuss the politicization of science and how the Left's dominance in universities and the scientific community actually threatens progress.