May 13, 2025

Conservatism Under a True Passport: Look to Harding, Not Wilson

Former Vice President Mike Pence argues in The Wall Street Journal that President Donald Trump needs to return to “conservative principles.” The former Vice President is especially critical of President Trump’s tariff and foreign policies. “Economic warning signs are flashing” he notes, also worrying about the abandonment of Ukraine and the administration’s stance on Iran, which is too gentle by Pence’s reckoning. Vice President Pence is not the only conservative critical of President Trump’s trade policy. The shaky rollout of the tariff policy, negative market reaction, and consistently one-sided “reporting” and “analysis” in the media, have led many in the conservative movement to strike against the President’s protectionism.

John Hendrickson Hendrickson Report
March 24, 2025

More Ted, Less Taxes: A Lesson for State and Local Policymakers

The principles of lowering tax rates, reducing spending, reducing debt, and making state government more efficient are all policies that lead to making a state more competitive. 30-Second Summary: In presidential history, scholars place a higher value on American presidents who took an expansive view of their executive powers and increased the size and scope of government. As an example, […]

John Hendrickson Hendrickson Report
January 9, 2025

Hendrickson Report: Calvin Coolidge and the Principle of Federalism

With states dependent on the federal government, administrative and welfare state costs at an all-time high, and $36 trillion in national debt, the nation’s economic security is on thin ice. The historical documentary by Ken Burns, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, sparked further discussion about the historical legacies of Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt. The Roosevelts is another powerful achievement by […]

John Hendrickson Hendrickson Report
December 12, 2024

Hendrickson Report: Herbert Hoover’s Quest to Rollback the Federal Government: A Lesson for DOGE

This article was published in The Courier, National Review, and The Gazette. What DOGE should learn from Hoover is that eliminating waste and reducing the administrative state are noble policy goals, but even more important is the restoration of constitutional principles back to government. Former President Herbert Hoover described the federal government as having “the instincts of a vegetable” which […]

John Hendrickson Hendrickson Report
October 17, 2024

Hendrickson Report: Herbert Hoover and the Policy of Protectionism

“An unlikely insult has emerged on the 2024 presidential campaign trail: ‘Herbert Hoover,’ wrote Catherine Lucy and Ken Thomas for The Wall Street Journal.[1] Both former President Donald J. Trump and President Joe Biden have both talked about Hoover in a negative manner.[2] President Biden has even gone as far to label the former President “Donald ‘Herbert Hoover’ Trump.”[3] Interestingly, […]

John Hendrickson Hendrickson Report
October 9, 2024

Hendrickson Report: Progressivism – The Undoing of Society or a Way Forward?

To reverse the progressive revolution, it will take a cultural change and a reformation back to constitutional principles. Progressivism is not a new term. Eclipsing the Populist Period of the late 19th century, which embraced a “radical agrarianism” that was tied to “grassroots democracy,” a potpourri of thinkers and practitioners seized the opportunity to use the centralized administrative and technological […]

John Hendrickson and Stephen M. King Hendrickson Report
October 1, 2024

Hendrickson Report: The 30th Anniversary of the “Contract with America”: A Conservative’s Journey

Many of the “Contract with America” conservative policies and reforms remain the foundation of the Republican party today. On September 27, 1994, Republican members of the House of Representatives stood on the steps of the Capitol building and signed the Contract with America. Led by Representatives Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, the Contract with America outlined a series of conservative […]

John Hendrickson Hendrickson Report
August 28, 2024

Hendrickson Report: Economic Patriotism in the Heartland

Whether they are farmers, factory workers, or small business owners, grassroots Iowans understand that Trump is not only standing up to China but also trying to rebalance trade and prioritize American interests. John Deere, founded in 1837, is an iconic American brand, particularly in Iowa, where its machinery is ubiquitous in fields, yards, and construction sites. The brand’s leaping deer […]

John Hendrickson Hendrickson Report
August 27, 2024

Hendrickson Report: The Conservatism of Governor Kim Reynolds vs the Socialism of Governor Tim Walz

This article was published in Townhall. Under the leadership of Governor Walz and a Democrat-Farmer-Labor (DFL) legislature, Minnesota is being transformed into a California-style socialist state. The nation is learning more about the progressive and even socialist record of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Governor Walz’s progressive-socialist record is not a surprise for Iowans. Under the leadership of Governor Walz and […]

John Hendrickson Hendrickson Report
August 26, 2024

Hendrickson Report: A Blue-Collar Republican Party: Defending the American Worker

This article was published in The Gazette. Restoring manufacturing and preventing further outsourcing will require a combination of policies including protective tariffs, pro-growth tax reforms, reducing the regulatory burden, and ending the radical environmental agenda that is preventing energy independence and mining. The Republican Party is becoming a more pro-worker party, which is a direct result of President Donald Trump’s […]

John Hendrickson Hendrickson Report
August 9, 2024

Hendrickson Report: President Biden’s Court Packing Scheme

We must defend American institutions and the Constitution against these so-called reforms and tell President Biden, Hands off the Supreme Court. President Joe Biden recently proposed a series of reforms to the United States Supreme Court. The President and Democrats are furious over not only recent decisions rendered, but also by the conservative direction the Court has taken. As a […]

John Hendrickson Hendrickson Report
August 8, 2024

Hendrickson Report: Civic Responsibility and the 2024 Presidential Election

It is our responsibility to make a serious and informed decision while voting and to realize that our vote does count and that voting as well as not voting brings consequences. In 1924, the nation elected President Calvin Coolidge in a landslide. Coolidge had assumed the presidency when President Warren G. Harding had suddenly died in office. Americans were supportive […]

John Hendrickson Hendrickson Report
July 18, 2024

Hendrickson Report: The Historic Trump-Vance Ticket

The Republican Party is not breaking up with conservatives. It’s actually starting a reformation back to an older conservative tradition. This week, the Republican Party officially nominated former President Donald Trump and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance for President and Vice President. The Republican National Convention was the most unified and inspirational conventions in recent years. The Trump-Vance ticket is also […]

John Hendrickson Hendrickson Report

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