Jonathan Rauch

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

He is the author of six books and many articles on public policy, culture, and economics. His books include Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America (2004);Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working (2000); and Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought (1993; revised second edition in 2013). In 2015, he published a short ebook, Political Realism, laying out tenets of what he called "political realism," the idea that overzealous efforts to clean up politics have hampered the ability of political parties and professionals to order politics and build governing coalitions.

A critic of U.S. government public policy in general, and specifically in its relation to homosexuals, Rauch has pursued gay-related topics as an openly gay author since 1991 when he spoke out against hate crime laws in The New Republic. He is an avid proponent of same-sex marriage, which he believes will improve the quality of life of both LGBT people and married heterosexuals. He co-authored an op-ed article in The New York Times that proposed the compromise of nationally recognised civil unions for gay couples, which he did with the goal of "reconciliation" with religious opponents of same-sex marriage.

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