Welcome to RealClearPolicy
We like a challenge. The RealClear websites provide readers with a service we like to call "intelligent aggregation." We spend countless hours searching for worthy material out there to aid you, the interested reader, in making sense of it all. We strive to give you smart analysis and reporting from all points of view on subjects that really matter.
And so we give you RealClearPolicy. "Ideas have consequences," a smart man once wrote. So do elections, political scientists would add. Our sister site RealClearPolitics does a great job giving people a sense of the daily back and forth of politics, while RealClearHistory probes deeper historical currents. But that isn’t all there is to say, not by a long shot.
Politics builds coalitions and these coalitions spend their majorities enacting policies through law and regulation. Then those policies take on a life of their own. RealClearPolicy aims to illuminate the factors that shape the laws, regulations, and domestic programs of the U.S. government, and to improve the conversation about governance.
We’re committed to aggregating the very best ideas: the work of the brilliant minds in the many think tanks in D.C. and around the country, as well as those in academia. There are even some folks on Capitol Hill worth hearing out. Furthermore, in 2012, anyone, anywhere, with something of value to contribute can simply self-publish. We will seek out those voices.
Unfortunately, in the American political scene today, there is not enough room for thoughtful discussions about policy. It competes with the excitement of horse-race politics and the scandals and outrages du jour, and often loses. We will remedy that by providing a venue for those who want to dig deeper.
In doing so, we will not overlook the coalitions and interests that shape the outlook of government policy. We’ll keep you abreast of what K Street, unions, the Tea Party, and other groups are up to behind the scenes and off the front pages.
With lingering joblessness and the prospect of a crushing debt to come, this is a crucially important time for U.S. domestic policy. The ramifications of the debate over policy are greater now than they’ve been in a long time, and the landscape more uneven . We’ll do our damndest to guide you through it.
