At the 2026 New World Gala, American Compass introduced Reclaiming American Citizenship, a new “project for the people” to confront the existential task of revitalizing what it means to be an American citizen, not merely as a matter of who gets to be here, but about the responsibilities inherent in that privilege. Compass policy advisor Chris Griswold joins Oren to make sense of what doing so means in practice on the eve of America’s 250th anniversary.
They discuss how a fuller understanding of being a citizen breaks from the libertarian notion that liberty is merely a question of maximizing the freedom to do what one wants, and how a commitment to the latter has done so much damage to our body politic. And they outline the pillars of how to reclaim our citizenship, and what America could look like if we did.
Further reading:
Reclaiming American Citizenship, American Compass
