The Crisis of American Political Economy: On the New Conservative Policy Agenda with Chris Griswold

About this episode

Chris Griswold discusses the crisis of America’s political economy and the new conservative policy agenda.

In this sixth episode of Season 5, I interview Mr. Chris Griswold. An alum of Wheaton College and Princeton Theological Seminary, he was formerly a senior advisor to then Senator Marco Rubio, and is currently the Policy Director for American Compass—a leading center-right public policy think-tank. Recently, he contributed to the book, The New Conservatives (2025), an anthology edited by his colleague, Oren Cass, that re-articulates a conservative economic vision for the country. Drawing on it, we discuss the crisis of America’s political economy, from questions surrounding current AI, automation, and the end of free trade; political instability and populism; how economic policy can best serve American workers and families; and what makes us hopeful for the country’s future during its 250th anniversary. Hosted by Ryan Shinkel, Madison’s Notes is the podcast of Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. The transcript for this interview is available on our new Substack page, “Madison’s Footnotes.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member…

People in this episode

Host: Ryan Shinkel

Guest: Chris Griswold

Topics covered

• American political economy
• conservative policy
• AI and automation
• political instability
• economic policy
• American workers
• populism

Keywords

• political economy
• conservatism
• economic vision
• free trade
• populism
• American workers
• AI
• automation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: American Compass, Wheaton College, Princeton Theological Seminary, New Conservatives, Princeton University, James Madison Program, Madison’s Footnotes

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