Steven F. Hayward

For the Canadian writer and poet, see Steven Hayward (Canadian writer).

Not to be confused with the English athlete Steve Hayward.

Steven F. Hayward is an American author, political commentator, and policy scholar. He argues for libertarian and conservative viewpoints in his writings. He writes frequently on the topics of environmentalism, law, economics, and public policy.

Career

Hayward earned a Bachelor of Science in business and administrative studies from Lewis and Clark College. He then earned a Ph.D. in American History and a Masters of Arts in government from the Claremont Graduate School. He worked as the Director of Journalism of the group Public Research Syndicated at the Claremont Institute from 1984 to 1987. He was the Richard M. Weaver Fellow at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute from 1985 to 1986. He was the director of the Golden State Center for Policy Studies from 1987 to 1991. He also worked as the Executive Director for Inland Business Magazine from 1985 to 1990.^[1] In 1987, he received the Felix Morley Memorial Prize for distinguished commentary on business and economic affairs.^[2]

From 1990 to 2001, Hayward was a contributing editor at Reason. He served on the Departmental Transportation Advisory Committee of the government of the State of California from 1996 to 2001. He served as well as a Public Interest Member in the California Citizens Compensation Commission from 1990 to 1995. He has worked as a Senior Fellow of the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy since 1992. He has also held various fellowships with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). As of April 2009, he serves as the F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at AEI.^[1] He is also a former President of the Philadelphia Society.^[3]

Articles written by Hayward have appeared in The Weekly Standard since 2000 and in National Review-related publications since 2002.^[1] He has also published writings in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Policy Review, The Chicago Tribune,^[4] Los Angeles Daily News, The Orange County Reporter, The San Diego Union, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Sacramento Bee, The Washington Times, The Columbus Dispatch, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), and The Kansas City Star.^[2] He is, as of January 2010, an Earhart Fellow and the Olive Garvey Fellow of the Mont Pelerin Society,^[4] as well as an adjunct fellow of the Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs.^[2] He regularly posts on the Ashbrook Center's No Left Turns blog.

Hayward has testified before the Committee on Energy and Commerce at the United States House on two occasions.^[5] He created and starred in the documentary An Inconvenient Truth...Or Convenient Fiction?, a rebuttal of many of the claims in Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, saying that while Gore is right about many things, he goes too far in predictions of doom.^[6] He has been co-author of the annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, published by the Pacific Research Institute. The 2009 edition was the 14th version the index, which is downloadable from the Institute's website.^[5] They have been published every Earth Day.^[4] Hayward said he issues the index in an effort to track environmental trends in the U.S. and worldwide.^[7]

He is the author of a two-volume biography of Ronald Reagan. He published The Age of Reagan, 1964-1980: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order (ISBN 978-0761513377) in 2001 and the follow-up The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution: 1980-1989 (ISBN 978-1400053575) in 2009. It took him about a decade to research and write the books. Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institution, who wrote Reagan's famous "Tear Down This Wall" speech,^[8] has called the books Hayward's "definitive work" and praised them.^[5][8] Edwin Meese, an Attorney General under the Reagan administration, called the first book a "fascinating and extremely readable book about a unique era in American politics". William F. Buckley, Jr. labeled it "a patient and comprehensive account of domestic and foreign policy developments". Boston College politics professor Marc Landy called it "the first truly successful effort to treat the phenomenon of Ronald Reagan within a broader historical framework."^[9]

A New York Times review, written by Ross Douthat, described the latter book as "an essentially partisan history, written from the same ideological vantage point as the politician it celebrates". Douthat both praised and criticized that approach. He stated that the book had a "headlong narrative" without a "serious engagement" of liberal objections to Reagan while it successfully detailed exactly how Reagan enacted his policies.^[10]

Hayward had previously also written the books: Churchill on Leadership: Executive Success in the Face of Adversity (ISBN 978-0761508557; Prima, 1997), The Real Jimmy Carter, (ISBN 978-0895260901; Regnery, 2004), and Greatness: Reagan, Churchill, and the Making of Extraordinary Leaders (ISBN 978-0307237156; Crown Forum, 2005).

In January 2011, Hayward began writing for the political/general-interest blog Power Line.^[11]

In 2012, Hayward published The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents: From Wilson to Obama, which included grades of the Presidents in the modern era. He granted Calvin Coolidge an "A+" and Ronald Reagan an "A-" while Barack Obama received a "provisional F".^[12]

Opinions and views

Hayward generally believes that the Earth's environment is far more resilient than public opinion would think. He has said, "we talk as though the earth is so fragile that, you know, we're endlessly insulting it in its doom". He has also said, "environmental concern rightly understood as now a settled middle class value in wealthy countries and will become more so in other countries around the world as they prosper and that's a key point." He supports the idea of an environmental Kuznets curve, in which increased economic development constitutes the best way to help the environment. He believes that modern developing nations such as China could speed through the curve with technological progress.^[5]

He thinks that recent global warming is partially due to human activities, but not entirely. He has demurred from giving exact percentages. He has advocated that the world engage in geoengineering projects to mitigate global warming, such as spraying saltwater in the air to increase cloud cover over the oceans and thus reflect back sunlight. He supports a long-term transition to a low-carbon economy, but he argues that a more rapid, short-term transition done in the next forty or so years would not be worth it. He advocates that the U.S. build a few hundred more nuclear power plants as another necessary solution.^[5]

Generally, he views current global warming advocates as similar to Paul Ehrlich and other past advocates of a 'population bomb' thesis. He believes that both issues represented a serious problem that was blown completely out of proportion by inaccurate estimates about the future. He has remarked, "the environment is too important to be left to the environmentalists".^[5]

Hayward argued in his books about Reagan that Reagan had the important insight that the Soviet Union was internally weak due to socio-economic problems, which distinguishes Reagan from most intellectual conservatives in recent American history. Hayward stated that Reagan's foreign policy and domestic policy should be thought of as two sides of the same coherent worldview. He has referred to Reagan as, on net, more of a tax cutter despite having enacted both tax increases and decreases because the marginal tax brackets shrunk.^[8]

He praised Reagan for trying to reduce the size of the federal government, cutting certain social welfare programs, moving other programs to state control, expanding the U.S. military, advocating Constitutional originalism, and making disarmament pledges with the Soviet Union. He criticized Reagan for his conduct in the Iran-Contra affair, concluding that Reagan let his emotions take over his judgment and wrongly paid for hostages via arms. He also criticized Reagan for declining to push for a Taxpayer Bill of Rights until the latter part of his second term. Hayward estimated that Reagan ultimately failed to create a true Constitution-based ideological movement to succeed him. He also described current conservative views of Reagan as too superficial and focused too much on style.^[8]

Personal life

Hayward is married to former George Mason University Law School professor Allison Hayward. In March 2011, he joked that he won't argue "about campaign finance reform... That’s what I have a spouse for."^[13]

Hayward was described as "big-boned" by an article in The New York Times, and he then lost about 45 lb in dieting shortly afterward. He stated that he gave up eating like Fred Flintstone in order to eat like Bruce Jenner. He also began lifting weights.^[14]

Hayward has written online about his interest in Monster Truck sports and about attending the rallies.^[11]

See also

• List of American Enterprise Institute scholars and fellows
• An Inconvenient Truth...Or Convenient Fiction?

References

External links

• Steven F. Hayward at Powerline.