Donald Devine Seminars

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Dr. Donald Devine, author, columnist and TFAS Senior Scholar leads TFAS's Future of Freedom Initiative. Read about the latest program below.

Donald Devine Seminars

Dr. Donald Devine is a columnist, author and a senior scholar at The Fund for American Studies. Devine served as President Ronald Reagan’s civil service director during the president’s first term in office. During that time, The Washington Post labeled him Reagan’s “terrible swift sword of the civil service” for cutting bureaucrats and reducing billions in spending. Today, Devine travels the country teaching Constitutional Leadership Seminars to young people and speaking to groups about reviving the Constitution and saving the marriage between libertarianism and traditionalism.

Devine spells out the solution for the modern GOP – a fusion of the best of conservative ideas with those of the liberty movement, all rooted in the Constitution.” – Senator Rand Paul

About Dr. Donald Devine

Before and after his government service, Devine was an academic who taught for 14 years as an associate professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland and for a decade as a professor of Western civilization at Bellevue University. He is a columnist and author of 12 books, including his most recent “Thinking About Freedom and Tradition: Understanding the Philosophers Who Make the Case for Western Civilization.” Devine served as an advisor to Reagan from 1976 to 1985, to Sen. Bob Dole from 1988–1996 and to Steve Forbes between 1998–2000.

Book Dr. Devine

If you’re interested in scheduling Dr. Donald Devine to speak at your event, please contact Steve Slattery at sslattery@TFAS.org. For media inquiries, please contact Kristin Underwood at info@TFAS.org or 202.986.0384.

Twitter

Follow Dr. Donald Devine on Twitter at @DonaldDevinCo1.

Op-Eds by Dr. Donald Devine

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The American Spectator – 3.10.26

Forthcoming Ideological Battle on the Right? – 3.10.26

The American Enterprise Institute’s Michael R. Strain has written a thought-provoking article placing in print what is on the mind of every right-of-center intellectual today. He titled it: The Battle for the Right’s Post-Trump Future Has Begun. And it deserves a respectful but critical analysis to understand the forthcoming ideological battle.

The American Spectator – 2.3.26

Has President Trump Ended or Extended the Conservative Era?

Everyone seems to be giving their two cents about Donald Trump’s performance as president. Not surprisingly, where they come from politically pretty much determines their conclusions, including disagreements between conservatism’s competing factions.

The American Spectator – 12.28.25

Stop Blaming Reagan

As a longtime professor of government, advisor to presidential candidates, a Republican nominee for political office, and a conservative generally, the number one question I get these days from ordinary citizens is: Why are right-of-center groups all fighting with one another, and how should they engage the other side?

The American Spectator – 12.1.25

Bad Presidents or Bad Government?

No matter where one looks these days, there is an explosion of anger over the decline in political ethics and the dominant role now played by moral relativism in American governance.

The American Spectator – 10.17.25

What Does the Great Gold Spike Signify for the World Economy?

The invaluable Unleash Prosperity Hotline recently exposed the little previously reported news that the price for an ounce of gold would hit $4,000, and it did. Over five years, the price of gold has doubled, and over the past year, it has been up 50 percent. This is the largest annual increase since the 1979 raging inflation and long gas waiting lines. Today’s 50 percent gold increase compared with only a 17 percent increase on the NASDAQ, 13 percent for the S&P 500, and 9 percent for the Dow.

The American Spectator - 9.27.25

Artificial Intelligence Requires Human Understanding

As a longtime book author, lecturer, and journalist, a great part of my time is spent on research. So, the arrival of Artificial Intelligence would seem to be a great boon for my writing. I mostly use publicly available search and AI. But in thousands and thousands of searches, I have never received a positive right-of-center response first on a search. If looking for a specific product or named person or institution the regular search can usually find it.

The American Spectator - 8.25.25

Trump on Tariffs, Trade, and Pragmatic Populism

President Trump has: pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord; challenged the greenhouse gas “Endangerment Finding” on carbon dioxide; required that every new regulation must have benefits that exceed costs; enforced work requirements for welfare; expanded production of American oil, gas, and coal production; increased mining on federal lands; supported educational school choice; withdrawn from the World Health Organization; and taken legal control of the bureaucracy, among other positive reforms.

The American Spectator - 7.21.25

The Washington Post Is Wrong: History Proves the Federal Reserve Econometric Models Cannot Make a Fiat Money System Work

The solemn Washington Post editorial warned against the Federal Reserve being forced to make economic policy decisions that are the “product of political pressure, not economic data.” It argued “that the world’s most powerful central bank makes decisions based on economic conditions, not short-term political considerations.” It warned that the Fed “is a critical national asset” and worried that President Donald Trump’s political policy “is eroding it in ways that could be bad for the country and his own agenda.”

The American Spectator - 6.19.25

Pitfalls and Obstacles Plague Defense Modernization

As impressive as the recent military celebration of its 250-year founding was, it was necessarily focused upon its history, upon its past. The challenge is for the future. The good news is that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth promised Congress that the new commander in chief is committed to “cleaning house” to effectively modernize his military. And unlike in much of the past, the new defense leader is actually following through to reorient the world’s largest bureaucracy and reverse decades of decline, especially at the top.

The American Spectator - 5.13.25

A ‘War’ on the Civil Service or Controlling a Powerful Union Political Machine?

The mainstream legacy media and especially the hometown Washington Post have been castigating the Trump administration for its “war” on federal civil servants, especially for proposing to eliminate union collective bargaining at U.S. government agencies.