Rachel Bovard - Compendium of Interviews

Interview (2017): Glamour

For her entire career, Rochester [New York] native and policy analyst Rachel Bovard had been working on policy that, under a Democratic Party administration, was unlikely to ever become law. When last year's election night rolled around, she didn't expect anything to change. Then the evening wore on - and everything did.

Election night [2016-11-08], I was at The Heritage Foundation [where Bovard worked at the time, as Director of Policy Services]. We had a big party. Everybody was like, "It's gonna be another Dem. I'll have a drink and leave." Around 9 p.m., I saw Florida was in play. Then I saw Wisconsin and Michigan, and I was like, "Holy shit. This is real." I've been working in the minority a long time, so it's a little different for me - it was a feeling of "Oh my gosh, we're going to have unified control of the government. This is amazing. All these policy things we've been toiling on in the wilderness, we're actually going to be able to do." That was my first thought.

I have worked around politics for a long time, and I've always had this detachment; it's my job. I have a ton of friends who are progressives, and it's been just fine until this year. Now, for the first time ever, I feel dismissed by them. They're disgusted. I've lost friends I've known since college. Good friends, ones I want to share my life with. These people think I'm a horrible human being. I think my parents have been very hesitant to talk about what I do or share my work, and I don't even send my brothers, who are super liberal, stuff that I write anymore. It's super lonely that way.

People take the basest elements of Donald Trump and use them to define everyone who supports him: "You're a sexist. You're a racist." The left looks at the right and says, "You hate people. You want all brown people to die." The right says, "No, we do care, but the rule of law matters." We want to fix the system.

I'm not waving the flag for Trump, but I'm probably more of a Trump supporter than anyone I know. I appreciate that he's upended this stratified, elite view of Washington. I think he's a small and petty person, but that doesn't matter to me. The policy matters to me. I think the shit about Charlottesville's awful [Unite the Right rally white supremacist rally held 2017-08-(11, 12) in Charlottesville, Virginia], but I don't look at my President as a [moral] leader. I just don't. I don't know if that comes from my Catholicism or what, but I don't expect him to be the North Star. You have these face-palm moments, like, "Are you kidding me? You couldn't just handle it and not tweet that?" But I also don't agree with the hysteria on the left. I don't think he's ruining our country.

I've never been this stressed before. I've done Muay Thai for years, and I've started doing that more. I started going back to my therapist. I'm sad about the world. I'm sad that we all hate each other this much.

Interview (2018): Grove City College

Grove City College has been called "Freedom's College" for its dedication to and advocacy of the principles of self-government that underpin American democracy: individual liberty, free markets, and the rule of law. From its founding a century after the signing of the Declaration of Independence to this day, the 242nd anniversary of that world-changing statement, the College has been committed to developing leaders of the highest proficiency, purpose and principles to advance the common good.

[ ... snip ... ]

Rachel Bovard '06, another Vision & Values alum, has had an impact inside and outside of government. Currently Senior Director of Policy for the Conservative Partnership Institute, Bovard spent a decade as a staffer in the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate before moving on to her current position.

"In a broad sense, much of the work I did on Capitol Hill was focused on protecting individual liberty from the heavy hand of government," she said, particularly in the regulatory sector. Working for Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Bovard oversaw cases that "really crystalize the tension between individual liberty and federal power."

At the Conservative Partnership Institute, Bovard is "building the conservative bench" by training young Congressional staffers to draft and advance legislation effectively. She's also an up and coming spokeswoman for the freedom movement in the mainstream media. "I now engage in a lot of punditry both in op-eds and television," she said. "Much of what I try to do is to articulate the conservative argument - whether in policy or strategy - in areas where it would not normally be heard."

Bovard says the lessons she learned at Grove City College have stuck with her: "The curriculum in the history and political science departments pushed me to contemplate the big questions, which continue to frame how I approach policy and political questions today."

Dr. Paul G. Kengor  [Grove City College faculty profile;  local copy], who counts Skorup, Bovard, and too many others to name as former students, is gratified the work they are doing and satisfied that Grove City College is fulfilling its historic duty.

"Ronald Reagan said 'freedom is always a generation away from extinction,' and it is the duty of every generation to help preserve freedom. We are helping to raise an impressive next generation of students in the freedom movement. They are such a wonderful testimony to the College and what we're doing," Kengor said.

Interview (2018): Grove City College

My time at Grove City College was the first time I really encountered the intellectual side of my faith. Studying the church fathers and church history and pondering how faith interacts with politics and the public square really broadened and deepened my understanding of the rich and meaningful traditions of Christianity. Grove City College began the process of making my faith multi-dimensional.

The field I am in today is the direct result of the personal attention, care, and kindness of the faculty in the history and political science departments at Grove City College. Without exception, each of my professors made time to take an interest in me and my coursework, and their challenge and encouragement meant the world to me as a young student. Dr. Paul G. Kengor  [Grove City College faculty profile;  local copy], in particular, was intentional about nurturing my early interest in politics, which gave me the confidence to pursue a job in Washington, D.C. I am so grateful for his continued mentorship and friendship.

I really benefited from the political science core, in particular Dr. Coulter's [Michael L. Coulter  |  local copy] Classical Political Thought. It was the first time I was given the opportunity to grapple with the "big ideas" that form the foundation of the American ideal, politics, and Western civilization, more generally. It was where I learned to root the "why" of the various questions in modernity into larger normative concepts. Particularly in Washington, where decision making is often done quickly and superficially, the ability to perceive the world through a larger set of philosophical principles sets people apart. (As it happens, it also makes our decision making more sustainable in the long term!)

Interview (2019): Rochester Beacon

Interview (2020): Politico

How/where are you celebrating your birthday and with whom?

By seeking the true, the good and the beautiful. In other words, good friends, good food and good wine!

How did you get your start in your career?

A D.C. internship in 2004 convinced me that going to law school would be way less exciting than working on Capitol Hill. I started working in the House [United States House of Representatives] in 2006 and spent the next decade there and in the Senate [United States Senate]. Highlights include managing Senator Rand Paul's 2013 filibuster of the Brennan confirmation [On 2013-03-(6, 7) Rand Paul engaged in a filibuster to delay voting on the nomination of John O. Brennan as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.], where I learned the hard way that the only beverages allowed on the Senate floor are water and milk, and staffing the House Financial Services Committee [United States House Committee on Financial Services] through the 2008 financial crisis, where all the members of Congress and I learned what a collateralized debt obligation was ... at the same time.

What's an interesting book/article you're reading now or you've recently finished? And why?

I spent most of 2019 co-authoring the book 'Conservative: Knowing What to Keep' with [former] Senator Jim DeMint, which kept me busy! I've just finished reading 'An American Insurrection  [publisher],' by William Doyle, about the riots in Oxford, Mississipi, when James Meredith became the first African-American to enroll at Ole Miss. Anyone who thinks America is irrevocably divided now should take a look at the build-up to, and the insanity of, the Oxford riots. And I've just begun rereading 'American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile' by Richard John Neuhaus. Because even a decade after his death, Neuhaus always seems to be writing for our present moment.

What's a trend going on in the U.S. or abroad that doesn't get enough attention?

I am consistently surprised by the willful ignorance in the mainstream of both parties when it comes to surveillance capitalism. Big Tech -- Google, Facebook, Amazon and others -- follows you across the internet, accesses your health data, listens to your conversations and tracks your physical location, largely without your meaningful consent and even if you don't use their services. Big Tech has more data on you than the NSA, and most of the time you can no longer simply opt out. Human beings are now commodities on a global scale. This is changing not only our concept of privacy, but how we live together. It needs more attention.

• [Comment: Related: Rachel Bovard is the Senior Advisor to the Internet Accountability Project.]

How's the Trump presidency going?

There are few things I've enjoyed more in politics than watching Donald Trump upend the status quo in Washington. Every day there is something new to love. On the policy front, I have been impressed and grateful for how much this [Trump] administration has accomplished for the pro-life cause, an issue I am passionate about. I am so proud of my friends in the administration who continue to work hard, in the face of relentless pressure, for these incredibly important accomplishments.

What's a fun fact that people in Washington might not know about you?

To survive a career in politics, I also have a side career as a sommelier. I do a lot of wine tastings for clients in and around D.C., and teach fun and very relaxed wine classes at DCanter Wine Boutique in Barracks Row [Washington, D.C.]. Come by and see me - my classes are (mercifully) politics-free, and my jokes are mostly funny! (Especially after you've had a glass or two or five.)

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