Jonathan Rauch

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Infobox person Jonathan Charles Rauch (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; born April 26, 1960)<ref>Contemporary Authors Online, s.v. "Jonathan Rauch" (accessed April 3, 2008).</ref> is an American author, journalist, and activist. After graduating from Yale University, Rauch worked at the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina, for National Journal, and later for The Economist and as a freelance writer. He is currently a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.

He is the author of books and articles on public policy, culture, and economics.<ref name="Jonathan Rauch expert bio page on Brookings.edu">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His books include The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50 (2018), Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America (2004);<ref name="Amazon.com book profile page">Template:Cite book</ref> Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working (2000);<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought (1993; revised second edition in 2013).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 2015, he published a short ebook, Political Realism, arguing that overzealous efforts to clean up politics have hampered the ability of political parties and professionals to order politics and build governing coalitions.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 2021, Rauch released The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> describing the erosion of epistemic commons, the cost to U.S. democracy, and offering solutions.

Writings and beliefsEdit

A critic of U.S. government public policy in general, including its relation to LGBTQ+ people, Rauch has pursued gay-related topics as an openly gay author (he did not realize he was gay until after he finished college)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> since 1991 when he spoke out against hate crime laws in The New Republic. He is an avid proponent of same-sex marriage, which he believes improves the quality of life of both LGBTQ+ people and married heterosexuals.<ref name="gaymarriage">Template:Cite book</ref> In 2009, Rauch co-authored an op-ed article in The New York Times that proposed the compromise of nationally recognized civil unions for gay couples, which he did with the goal of "reconciliation" with religious opponents of same-sex marriage.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Peter Wehner, conservative writer and director of the Bush-era Office of Strategic Initiatives, has called Rauch "the most formidable and persuasive voice for same-sex marriage."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Rauch is also well known for an article he wrote in The Atlantic in March 2003, entitled "Caring for Your Introvert: The habits and needs of a little-understood group".<ref name='introvert'>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In this article, Rauch described his own experiences as an introvert, and how being an introvert has affected his own life. For many introverts, his piece became a long sought after explanation of their own personality traits. For a period of years, Rauch's original article drew more traffic to The Atlantic Monthly site than any other article.<ref name="atlanticmonthly2">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In terms of political philosophy, Rauch has referred to himself as "an admirer of James Madison and Edmund Burke" and a "radical incrementalist", meaning one who favors "revolutionary change on a geological time scale."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He has also summarized Burke's views, and his views, in that "utopianism and perfectionism, however well intended, should never displace reasonable caution in making social policy... It's much easier to damage society... than to repair it."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

He has in the past described himself as "an unrepentantly atheistic Jewish homosexual".<ref name="atla">Let it be, The Atlantic, "I have Christian friends who organize their lives around an intense and personal relationship with God, but who betray no sign of caring that I am an unrepentantly atheistic Jewish homosexual."</ref> He defines his view as apatheism, in which he respects other people's choices of religiosity or absence of religion without making a big deal of them. He contrasts this with American atheists who seek to evangelize and convert people away from religion, actions that he is critical of.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In political science and economics, Rauch is known for coining and promoting the term "demosclerosis" as "government's progressive loss of the ability to adapt"—a process in which specific benefits, going to special interests, bill the common taxpayer, which uses the medical term sclerosis to apply to government drift.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He is a critic of communism, calling it "the deadliest fantasy in human history".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

BibliographyEdit

{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B=Template:Ambox Template:Main other }}

ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

JonathanRauch.com His own web site, including archived articles.
Template:C-SPAN
Articles by Jonathan Rauch at Prospect Magazine
Video of debate between Rauch and David Blankenhorn on the issue of gay marriage on Bloggingheads.tv
Poynter.org "New York Times correction: Hell is not other people at breakfast". Craig Silverman. (March 28, 2012)
{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}

Template:Authority control