Jonathan Rau

Jonathan Charles Rauch ( ROWTCH; born April 26, 1960) is an American author, journalist, and activist. After graduating from Yale University, Rauch worked at the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina, for National Journal, and later for The Economist and as a freelance writer. He is a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. He i...

Jonathan Charles Rauch ( ROWTCH; born April 26, 1960) is an American author, journalist, and activist. After graduating from Yale University, Rauch worked at the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina, for National Journal, and later for The Economist and as a freelance writer. He is a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. He is also the author of books and articles on culture, economics, and public policy. Early life Rauch was born on April 26, 1960, in Phoenix, Arizona. He was raised in Phoenix as a Conservative Jew. His father was a lawyer and his mother gave up her graduate education to become a housewife; they divorced when Rauch was 12. His mother subsequently moved to Berkeley, California, and his father raised him and his two siblings alone. Rauch graduated from Yale University in 1982. Rauch did not realize he was gay until he was 25. He later wrote about his experience coming to terms with his sexuality in his 2013 memoir Denial: My 25 Years Without a Soul, and stated: "I felt I was a monster incapable of love ... Love to me would have to mean love for a man." Career After his graduation, Rauch worked at the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina. In 1984, he moved to Washington, D.C. From 1984 to 1989, Rauch covered fiscal and economic policy for the National Journal. In 1990, he spent six months in Japan as a fellow of the Japan Society Leadership Program. In 1996, he was awarded the Premio Napoli alla Stampa Estera for his coverage of the European Parliament in The Economist. His "Social Studies" columns from 1998 to 2010 in the National Journal were award-winning, and also appeared on The Atlantic. Rauch was the winner of the 2005 National Magazine Award, which is considered the magazine industry's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. His articles appeared in The Best American Magazine Writing 2005 and The Best American Science and Nature Writing in 2004 and 2007. In 2011, he won the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association prize for excellence in opinion writing. He also earned two second-place prizes in 2000 and 2001 at the National Headliner Awards. As of 2025, Rauch is a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and a contributing editor of The Atlantic, and is the author of several books and numerous articles in major publications on culture, government, lifestyle, public policy, and religion. During his career, Rauch wrote for many publications, including among others The Advocate, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Daily, The Economist, Fortune, the Los Angeles Times, Harper's Magazine, The New Republic, the New York Post, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Public Interest, Reader's Digest, Reason, Slate, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, and appeared as a guest on many television and radio programs. He also wrote a series of books, including Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought (1993; revised second edition in 2013), Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working (2000), Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America (2004), and The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50 (2018). In 2015, he wrote a short e-book, Political Realism: How Hacks, Machines, Big Money, and Back-Room Deals Can Strengthen American Democracy, arguing that overzealous efforts to clean up politics have hampered the ability of political parties and professionals to order politics and build governing coalitions. In 2019, his memoir was re-published with a new afterword. In 2021, Rauch wroteThe Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, describing the erosion of epistemic commons, the cost to U.S. democracy, and offering solutions. In 2025, he was the author of Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy. Political views A critic of U.S. government public policy in general, Rauch is known specifically for his writing on the government's treatment of LGBTQ+ people since 1991 when he spoke out against hate crime laws in the United States in The New Republic. He is an avid proponent of same-sex marriage, which he believes improves the quality of life of both LGBTQ+ people and married heterosexuals. In 2009, Rauch co-authored an op-ed article in The New York Times that proposed the compromise of nationally recognized civil unions for gay couples, which he did with the goal of "reconciliation" with religious opponents of same-sex marriage. Peter Wehner, a conservative writer and director of the George W. Bush-era Office of Strategic Initiatives, called Rauch "the most formidable and persuasive voice for same-sex marriage." Rauch is well known for an article he wrote in The Atlantic in March 2003. In this article, titled "Caring for Your Introvert: The habits and needs of a little-understood group", Rauch described his own experiences as an introvert, and how being an introvert has affected his own life. For many introverts, his piece became a long sought after explanation of their own personality traits. For a period of years, Rauch's original article drew more traffic to The Atlantic website than any other article. The same article also playfully altered a famous quote by Jean-Paul Sartre ("Hell is other people" from No Exit) into "Hell is other people at breakfast", which was re-produced by blogs, emails, and websites, including The New York Times, which issued a retraction in 2012. In terms of political philosophy, Rauch once referred to himself as "an admirer of James Madison and Edmund Burke" and a "radical incrementalist", meaning one who favors "revolutionary change on a geological time scale". He also summarized Burke's views, and his views, in that "utopianism and perfectionism, however well intended, should never displace reasonable caution in making social policy. It's much easier to damage society ... than to repair it." In 2003, Rauch described himself as "an unrepentantly atheistic Jewish homosexual". He defines his view as "apatheism", in which he respects other people's choices of religiosity or absence of religion without making a big deal of them. He contrasts this with American atheists who seek to evangelize and convert people away from religion, actions that he is critical of. By 2025, he said that he appreciated the positive contributions of religion. In political science and economics, Rauch is known for coining and promoting the term "demosclerosis" as "government's progressive loss of the ability to adapt"—a process in which specific benefits, going to special interests, bill the common taxpayer, which uses the medical term "sclerosis" to apply to government drift. He is a critic of communism, calling it in 2003 "the deadliest fantasy in human history". In 2026, after having previously rejected it while accepting a "semi-fascist" characterization and describing it as "patrimonialist", he argued that "fascist" best described Donald Trump's governing style. Personal life In 2010, Rauch married Michael Lai in Washington, D.C. As of 2019, they reside in Northern Virginia. Selected works Articles Books Bibliography References External links Official website Appearances on C-SPAN Jonathan Rauch at Prospect Jonathan Rauch at Substack Video of debate between Rauch and David Blankenhorn on the issue of gay marriage on Bloggingheads.tv