President's Update Summer 2021
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President’s Update Summer 2021
2 Manhattan Institute President’s Update
Summer 2021
DEAR FRIENDS
AND SUPPORTERS,
Last June, three months after an eerie quiet make large investments in policing. And in
had descended over America’s cities, protests their backlash against the excesses of last
and riots broke the silence and the peace. summer, Atlanta and Minneapolis are indeed
Urban politicians were caught off guard by national models. As the Wall Street Journal
a movement that took over the streets and reported in early June, “In the nation’s 20
seemed wholly uninterested in civil dialogue largest local law-enforcement agencies, city
or compromise. Activists determined to and county leaders want funding increases
“defund the police” helped persuade local for nine of the 12 departments where next
officials to reduce police budgets in 23 major year’s budgets already have been proposed.”
U.S. cities. Even where activists failed to So what has changed in a year? We at the
advance their defund agenda, they succeeded Manhattan Institute have had a lot to do
in sowing an atmosphere of distrust and with that.
hostility between police officers and the The shift is partly a reaction to the grim
communities they serve. facts on the ground. As Thomas W. Smith
Fast-forward to today, and urban fellow and City Journal contributing editor
politicians are no longer afraid of defying Heather Mac Donald observed in “Taking
activists. Indeed, the biggest political Stock of a Most Violent Year,” an op-ed for
liability for mayors has once again become the Wall Street Journal, 2020 saw the biggest
the perception that they have lost control of year-over-year increase in murders since
the streets. In Minneapolis and Atlanta, two America began keeping track in 1960. But
cities that cut police funding in 2020 and were statistics, even ones as stark as that, do not
widely touted as models for doing so, public by themselves change the policy conver-
opinion has compelled the city councils to sation. After all, much of the media and
2
3
Activists determined to “defund
the police” helped persuade local
officials to reduce police budgets
in 23 major U.S. cities.
some notable public officials have insisted PPSI team has been prolific and persuasive.
that the pandemic, not changes in policing In addition to its efforts to educate the
and prosecutions, caused the rise in urban general public, the PPSI team has built
violence. MI’s scholars have relationships with law-en-
been tireless in setting the forcement authorities and
record straight in the pages 2020 saw the biggest community leaders from
of City Journal, the New York
Post, the New York Times,
year-over-year places struggling
violence. The PPSI team
with
and the Wall Street Journal. increase in murders has held public conver-
MI’s Policing and Public
Safety Initiative (PPSI),
since America began sations with Miami Police
Chief Art Acevedo, recently
which will mark its one-year keeping track in 1960. retired Seattle Police Chief
anniversary this September,
has been the focal point
But statistics, even Carmen Best, and Oakland
Chinatown Chamber of
for MI’s response to the ones as stark as that, Commerce President Carl
violent crime wave. From
Rafael Mangual’s testimony
do not by themselves Chan. We recognize that
in a country with nearly
before the Senate Judiciary change the policy 18,000 police depart-
Committee and Heather Mac
Donald’s regular appear-
conversation. ments, arresting the
in violence means working
rise
ances in the Wall Street with stakeholders across
Journal to Charles Fain Lehman’s data-heavy the country. The PPSI team has also been
reports on the rise in anti-Asian violence, the active on Capitol Hill, where there is an
3
4 Manhattan Institute President’s Update
Summer 2021
During its first in-person event since last spring,
MI’s Young Leaders Circle hosted MI president
Reihan Salam and senior fellow Rafael Mangual
to discuss the delicate tension between enacting
criminal justice reform and boosting public safety.
5
city’s Democrats said that they wanted the
police presence in their neighborhood either
increased or kept the same. Further, in last
month’s Democratic primary for mayor, New
Yorkers rejected candidates representing the
party’s ideological vanguard in favor of a
self-styled moderate, ex-cop Eric Adams.
While many of his leading opponents
called for diverting resources from the police
to social services, increasing the supply
of public housing, stringently limiting the
In April, Christopher Rufo, Heather Mac
expansion and formation of new public
Donald, Rafael Mangual and Reihan Salam
joined together for a panel discussion charter schools, and greatly expanding the
commemorating City Journal’s 30th city’s unionized workforce, Adams took a
anniversary. Panelists also discussed the back-to-basics approach, emphasizing the
rise in crime in American cities, the spread
importance of restoring Gotham’s quality of
of “critical race theory” in schools, and how
policymakers can respond. life. Hopefully, Gotham’s other officehold-
ers will take note of Adams’s positioning as
a pro-business, pro-charter moderate who
made combating gun violence a centerpiece
of his campaign.
ongoing debate over the federal govern- One should be cautious of putting too
ment’s role in policing. On June 25, we held much stock in any given election. But it’s
an event with Senator Tom Cotton, one of worth remembering that just a year ago, it
Congress’s most stalwart defenders of law seemed as though the city’s activist class was
enforcement, where he offered his thoughts ascendant. Now, as New York endures a sharp
on the currently unfolding crime wave and increase in shootings and homicides and an
then joined Rafael Mangual for a conversa- unemployment rate that stands at almost
tion about what is to be done. twice the national average, a Democratic
We should also take notice of how the candidate won a competitive primary by
political mood has shifted in New York City, campaigning on more generous funding for
America’s financial and media capital. In the police and the preservation of standard-
addition to being America’s most populous ized testing as the gateway into the city’s
city, New York has long served as a seedbed elite high schools, among other stances long
of civic and ideological innovation. Policy championed by MI.
approaches that begin in New York tend to As a nonpartisan organization, the
spread to other urban centers, for better or Manhattan Institute is not in the business
worse. With that in mind, MI’s New York of endorsing candidates. Regardless of who
City: Reborn initiative has been hard at work wins the November general election, MI will
advancing policy ideas that can make the offer evidence-based policy ideas to anyone
city safer, richer in opportunity, and more who will listen. But what is a core feature
affordable. of MI’s work is influencing the climate of
At the height of the antipolice protests last opinion in which politicians of every party
June, a majority of New York City residents and ideological affiliation must operate; in
wanted to cut the NYPD’s budget, a wish that this respect, I could not be prouder of the
was granted by the city council to the tune tireless work that my colleagues have done to
of $1 billion. Fast-forward a year, however, restore common sense to New York’s political
and a poll conducted by MI and Public debate and, more broadly, the debate about
Opinion Strategies found that 82% of the the future of America’s great cities.
6 Manhattan Institute President’s Update
Summer 2021
MI president Reihan Cities’ travails—and MI’s efforts—do not of living. And though they are momentar-
Salam and senior fellow end with crime and public safety. Urban ily disappointed, the political forces that
Christopher Rufo voters across the country are frustrated with perennially push for a larger public bureau-
convened a summit
the perennial waste and self-dealing found cracy, more race-conscious policies, and a
in Bozeman, MT with
leading intellectuals on in city governments, and they are interested hollowed-out police force remain potent.
critical race theory, where in pragmatic reforms that deliver better What’s more, New York’s political landscape
they discussed woke services at lower costs. Later this summer, resembles those of cities throughout
ideology’s influence in
MI will launch its Metropolitan Majority the country. From Atlanta to Chicago to
American society and
ways to effectively push initiative, aimed at finally bringing these Minneapolis to Seattle, city governments are
against it. moderate urbanites to the media’s attention failing to honor their most basic obligations.
and into the center of urban More so than at any point since
politics. the early 1990s, the fate of urban
We look forward to
Education policy America is up for grabs.
sharing more with you about is an especially Education policy is an
this project in the months especially important locus of
ahead. It is because of your
important locus of cities’ struggles and MI’s work.
generous support that MI is cities’ struggles Throughout his tenure, for
able to conduct the research example, New York mayor Bill
and reach the audiences that
and MI’s work. de Blasio has been obsessed with
will make the difference in racial disparities within the upper
securing a prosperous and dynamic future echelon of the city’s school system. He has
for our cities. made several abortive attempts to scrap the
Our work is cut out for us. New York standardized test that governs admissions
City’s business districts are hovering at to the city’s magnet high schools and has
half-capacity. The city’s budget is headed for successfully banned academic screening at
a $5 billion deficit in 2023. High earners and the city’s middle schools. As Ray Domanico,
young families continue to decamp for locales MI’s director of education policy, makes
with higher quality of life and lower cost clear in his brief for our New York City:
7
Reborn series, only a small slice of black and companies raced to hire diversity consul-
Hispanic students would benefit from de tants and to assign their employees books by
Blasio’s policies, whereas the overwhelm- CRT-popularizers, including Robin DiAngelo
ing majority would continue to attend the and Ibram X. Kendi. MI was early to spotlight
underperforming schools that the outgoing this destabilizing trend and is leading the
mayor has largely ignored. Much as we’ve way in helping citizens, business leaders,
seen with crime, both parties’ nominees, in a and public officials to push back.
nod to public sentiment, have acknowledged MI senior fellow and City Journal
the perversity of this approach. contributing editor Christopher Rufo
Meanwhile, Critical Race Theory (CRT), continues to play an indispensable role in
long incubated on college campuses, has this work. Building on the groundbreak-
come to permeate every part of our national ing reporting that he has done on CRT’s
conversation—even becoming the default encroachment into K–12 schools, Rufo’s
vocabulary of many elite academics, public latest exposés have supplied firsthand
intellectuals, and public officials. On cable accounts of what Heather Mac Donald once
news and the floor of the Senate, Americans dubbed “the diversity delusion” in corporate Our toolkit is designed
learned that in order to understand their America. In City Journal, Rufo wrote about for those who are
country, they needed to grapple with the diversity trainings at the country’s worried about Critical
concepts such as systemic racism, white largest military contractor, Lockheed Race Theory in their
children’s school.
privilege, decolonization, and microaggres- Martin, wherein the company’s white male Learn how you can
sions. Institutions across wide swaths of executives were invited to atone for their advocate for an
American life came to believe that whatever “white male privilege.” In an essay on the education system
their ostensible purpose, they needed to counter-mobilization to CRT, the influential enriched by intellectual
diversity rather
adopt “antiracism” as a core value. Our left-of-center journalist Matthew Yglesias than narrowed by
country’s most prestigious newspapers credited Rufo with awakening the country to ideological uniformity.
accelerated their shift to an activist model of this top-down revolution: “To a remarkable
journalism. Philanthropies, medical journals, extent, just one guy—Christopher Rufo—has
Silicon Valley behemoths, and Fortune 500 totally pivoted the national conversation.”
8 Manhattan Institute President’s Update
Summer 2021
Today’s crop of CEOs never expected to On June 7–9, the Adam Smith Society
be thrown into the middle of our country’s virtually convened its eighth annual National
political drama; as a result, many are regret- Meeting. The event featured a mix of industry
tably trading long-term principles for leaders, academics, and journalists discussing
short-term PR gains. But all across America’s the connection between free enterprise and
business-school campuses, tomorrow’s political liberty, the danger of mixing political
leaders are watching this sea change activism and business, and the need to liberate
and trying to understand what is right, the overregulated industries of energy and
rather than what is merely expedient. The health care. As a part of the programming,
Manhattan Institute’s Adam Smith Society, I was delighted to interview former secretary
now with chapters at 33 schools and profes- of state Condoleezza Rice, as well as Jeff Yass,
sional chapters in nine U.S. cities and London, a cofounder of the Susquehanna International
provides these students with an education Group. To facilitate the network-building
in the moral underpinnings of capitalism, that is so crucial to SmithSoc’s mission, we
preparing them for a world where they will funneled our more than 300 guests into a
need to affirmatively defend the free-enter- series of virtual breakout rooms organized
prise system. around industries and topics.
The Adam Smith Society’s
2021 National Meeting
featured a panel with
Allison Schrager, Vivek
Ramaswamy, and others
discussing stakeholder
capitalism and corporate
environmental, social, and
governance (ESG) efforts.
9
Testifying before the U.S. Senate Energy
Committee, senior fellow Mark Mills
spoke about the infrastructure needs
of the energy sector and the global
competition for critical minerals.
America’s halting recovery from the we are past the days when Medicare and
pandemic-induced downturn was a recurring Social Security could be thought of as discrete
topic. Though forecasters still expect robust issues separate from our many other national
overall growth this year, we have seen some priorities. In the coming years, our elected
disturbing signs of an imbalanced economy, leaders will have to reform these programs
including faster-than-expected inflation and and, in the process, preserve some freedom of
lackluster job growth, despite rising wages. maneuver for future generations to face vexing
Two MI scholars, Allison Schrager and Mark and unforeseen challenges of their own.
Mills, have been leading voices explaining to In a May report, Riedl laid out a framework
the public how some of the Biden adminis- that ought to have broad ideological appeal.
tration’s heavy-handed interventions are It suggests that we begin reducing the debt
inhibiting the recovery. by focusing on the generous benefits that
Schrager, who recently launched a weekly entitlement and farm-subsidy programs
column with Bloomberg Opinion, has called give to wealthy Americans. These include
attention to the dangers of creating an Social Security and Medicare benefits to
inflationary dynamic in a political environ- 4 million elderly households
ment where there is no appetite for economic with over $1 million in investable
pain. In a May Wall Street Journal op-ed, assets, as well as the quarter of
Taking a longer view,
Mills showed that the Biden administration’s commodity subsidies that went one of the greatest
clean energy mandates are setting America to households earning more than
up for painful supply shortages, as the world $392,000 in income between
challenges to America’s
simply does not mine anywhere near enough 2012 and 2015. The debt debate free-market system
nickel, graphite, and lithium for all the solar has long been held at a stalemate
panels, wind turbines, and batteries that a over whether big tax hikes or
is the national debt,
carbon-free electricity system would need. broad benefit cuts are the best which is set to rise to
Taking a longer view, one of the greatest way forward, with Democrats
challenges to America’s free-market system insisting on the former and
200% of GDP by 2050.
is the national debt, which is set to rise to Republicans advocating the
200% of GDP by 2050—at which point, latter. This is an important disagreement;
interest payments would consume half the but in the meantime, perhaps we could start
nation’s annual tax revenue. As MI senior with cutting spending on the rich.
fellow Brian Riedl made clear in his testimony America is not the only country facing
on the American Jobs Plan before the U.S. ugly politics induced by long-standing
House Committee on Education and Labor, structural deficits. The 2020 winner of our
10 Manhattan Institute President’s Update
Summer 2021
Gathering in Palm Beach,
FL, the Manhattan Institute
celebrated Thomas Sowell as
the winner of the 17th annual
Hayek Book Prize for his book
Charter Schools and Their
Enemies (Basic Books).
Hayek Book Prize, Austerity: When It Works country. I look forward to seeing many of
and When It Doesn’t, by Alberto Alessina, you on September 10 at our Hamilton Awards
Carlo Favero, and Francesco Giavazzi, finds Dinner, where we will honor Senator Tim
that austerity pursued through spending cuts Scott and investor and philanthropist John
produces better outcomes than budget-bal- Paulson, who have both done so much to
ancing achieved through tax hikes. We were advance the principles that inspire our
happy to celebrate both Austerity and the work. We also hope to welcome you to our
2021 winner of the Hayek Book Prize, Thomas newly renovated offices, set to open this
Sowell’s Charter Schools and Their Enemies, September. Equipped with several state-of-
in Palm Beach in April. The Hayek Book Prize, the-art event spaces and conference rooms,
which was conceived of and sponsored by MI we are excited to resume event program-
trustee Thomas W. Smith, honors the book ming in the heart of Manhattan. With your
published within the past two years that continued support, we can continue to
best reflects Hayek’s vision of economic and bring those principles to bear on the crucial
individual liberty. With its $50,000 award, questions facing our great country. Thank
the Hayek Prize is among the world’s most you for all that you do for the Manhattan
generous book prizes. Always a special day Institute. I wish you a happy summer.
for MI, this year’s ceremony was particularly
memorable as our first in-person event since Sincerely,
the outbreak of the pandemic.
Thanks to the generosity of our friends
and supporters, MI was able not merely
to weather a challenging year but also to
turn intellect into influence all across theTim Scott
P R E S I D E N T, P A U L S O N & C O . U . S . S E N AT O R , S O U T H C A R O L I N A
W E LCO M I N G R E M A R KS
PA U L E . S I N G E R
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, MANHATTAN INSTITUTE
C I P R IA N I 4 2 ND S T R E E T
AT 1 1 0 E A S T 4 2 N D S T R E E T, N E W YO R K C I T Y
WWW. M A N H AT TA N - I N ST I T U T E .O R G / H A M I LTO N 2 152 Vanderbilt Avenue | New York, NY 10017 | 212.599.7000 | support@manhattan-institute.org | www.manhattan-institute.org
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