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 – 7.29.26

Artificial Intelligence’s Bias Is a Conservative Problem – 7.29.26

Artificial Intelligence has become so important it has dominated everyday news, garnering responses worldwide, even from the Pope, some responses good and others less so. This author has been warning for years that AI is a special threat to today’s philosophical conservatism.

The American Spectator – 6.23.26

Is the Supreme Court the Final Word on the Constitution? – 6.23.26

It is astonishing how many Americans have been misled by the progressive law school fable that the Supreme Court is somehow above politics and should be placed at the apex of federal power as the final interpreter and owner of the Constitution—at least as long as progressives have a majority of justices!

The American Spectator – 5.23.26

The Declaration, the Constitution, and the Consent of the Governed – 5.23.26

A recent Fund for American Studies conference asked its panelists to explain what the Founders intended when they used the phrase “consent of the governed” in the Declaration of Independence, which at first blush seemed simple for a PhD in political science and longtime lecturer on the general subject of the Founding. But the more I thought of it, the more complex this question became.

The American Spectator – 4.23.26

Can Liberty Survive Without a Soul? – 4.23.26

It takes a serious intellectual to confront the fundamental questions. The number one problem today, Michael Lucchese has argued, is our “inability to connect the case for liberty to a larger, transcendent vision of life’s ultimate purpose.” The “liberal spirit of toleration” necessary for liberty, which “the West cultivated for 250 years or more,” is now so weakened that it seems Alexis de Tocqueville’s “darkest prophecies” for freedom’s future are coming true

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.