The Narrative Monopoly

#17 - Yuval Levin, Institutions

Episode Summary

A conversation with Yuval Levin on our institutions

Episode Notes

Bio

Yuval Levin is the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, he’s the founder and editor in chief of National Affairs. He was a domestic policy advisor to the 43rd President. He’s the author of numerous books including the subject of today's podcast, A Time to Build - From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream. And perhaps most importantly he’s seemingly always a few years ahead of the curve. He holds an MA and PhD from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.

Times

• 1:05 - Intro to Yuval
• 2:25 - Who are the thinkers, dead or alive, that have most influenced you?
• 4:45 - What’s the goal of Yuval’s work?
• 7:45 - Connecting think tank work to policy
• 12:45 - Yuval’s experience in the arena
• 16:30 - Insiders vs outsiders
• 20:45 - Younger Americans, Elites, & institutions
• 27:30 - Defining institutions & their formative nature
• 33:30 - Cameras in Congress (hint: get them out of committees)
• 41:30 - Other reforms Yuval thinks are good
• 47:00 - The history of Congressional reform
• 51:15 - Restoring vs rebuilding institutions
• 56:00 - The unasked question of American life
• 59:00 - Who are the best thinkers on the left?
• 1:01:45 - Yuval’s thoughts on the intra-conservative ideological debate

Links

Yuval's Book, A Time to Build

Yuval's highlighted work

Jeff's twitter

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