Center Vision
The American republic was founded as a government by, for, and of the people, to defend the people’s rights — but sadly that aspiration at times seems like a distant dream. Policymakers empower unelected bureaucracies that rule huge swaths of American life. Legislative, judicial, and executive power has become concentrated within the regulatory agencies themselves. As a result, regulatory agencies effect massive shifts in policy that elected representatives never voted on. Various protections empower the career bureaucrats to pursue their own preferred policies with little regard to the views of elected officials. What began two-and-a-half centuries ago as man’s greatest experiment in self-governance looks now like rule without consent of the governed. Meanwhile, the federal government ignores growing threats to American liberties like cancel culture, tech censorship, and state-sanctioned racial discrimination. The Center for American Freedom exists to defend American freedom from both government and non-governmental threats. It will conduct research and generate policies that cut the red tape of burdensome regulations, defend fundamental rights, and restore American governance as originally intended.
The Founders designed the Constitution to protect the people’s rights and hold the government accountable. They believed that concentrated power was vulnerable to abuse, so they divided federal authority between executive, legislative, and judicial branches. They further required the executive and legislative branches to regularly stand for re-election, holding policymakers accountable to those they govern. And they strictly limited the federal government’s authority, leaving most governing power to state and local government. The contemporary administrative state circumvents these constitutional protections. The federal government needs to return to these constitutional safeguards that protect Americans’ liberties. It also needs to take vigorous action to defend the American people’s rights from emerging non-governmental threats, such as cancel culture and tech censorship.
POLICY OVERVIEW
- Holding the bureaucracy accountable
- Preventing bureaucratic abuses
- Cutting red tape
- Reducing Crony Capitalism
- Preventing discrimination based on immutable characteristics
- Protecting freedom of speech from cancel culture and tech censorship
CLICK TO READ THE TOP AMERICA FIRST ACTIONS TO MAKE THE BUREAUCRACY ACCOUNTABLE
ISSUE BRIEF: Biden Administration Proposal Insulates the Bureaucracy from Accountability
James Sherk
EXPERT INSIGHT: Proposed Overtime Rule Would Hurt Workers, Limit Flexibility
James Sherk and Rachel Oglesby
Tales From the Swamp: How Federal Bureaucrats Resisted President Trump
James Sherk
Biden Administration and UAW Leadership Sacrifice Autoworkers’ Jobs
James Sherk, Jacob Sagert, and Matthew Lobel
EXPERT INSIGHT: Federal Union Arbitrators Frequently Misapply the Law
James Sherk
RESEARCH REPORT: Proposed EV Mandate Would Eliminate 117,000 Auto manufacturing jobs
James Sherk and Jacob Sagert
RESEARCH REPORT: Changing Government to Move at the Speed of Business: A Case Study
Brian W. Ness and Rik Hinton
EXPERT INSIGHT: White House Claims that Federal Union Membership Grew Under Biden Appear Incorrect
James Sherk
Request for Comments on FLRA Docket No. 0-MC-33, Miscellaneous and General Requirements
James Sherk
AFGE Corruption Warrants Investigation
James Sherk and Jacob Sagert
At-Will Employment in the Career Service Would Improve Florida State Government
James Sherk and Jacob Sagert
Reforming Florida’s State Career Service
Making the Utah Career Service At-Will Would Improve State Government
James Sherk and Jacob Sagert
Reforming Utah’s State Career Service
Testimony on Ohio House Bill 441
James Sherk
Preventing Big Tech Censorship: How States Can Defend Free Speech Online
James Sherk
Big Government Reconciliation Bill’s Labor Provisions Undermine Workers’ Freedom
James Sherk
Center for American Freedom Overview
The Honorable David Bernhardt and James Sherk
Increasing Accountability in the Civil Service
James Sherk
How and Why the Trump Admin Deregulated
The Honorable David Bernhardt
STATEMENT: AFPI on the Supreme Court’s Decision Rejecting the Environmental Protection Agency’s Overreach
STATEMENT: David Bernhardt on the United States Senate’s Permitting Reform Package
MANY STATES HAVE ENACTED NEW VOTER PROTECTION MEASURES
The Leadership of the America First Policy Institute Provided the Following Reactions and Insight Into the State of America One Year Into the Biden Administration
How the Conservative ‘Save America Coalition’ Helped Kill Build Back Better
Op-Ed: Biden Puts Job Security Over Airport Security
Chad Wolf and James Sherk
Op-Ed: Democrats’ reconciliation bill could stop Americans from becoming their own boss
James Sherk in Washington Times Post
Some in Congress Want Bookkeepers and Secretaries to Be Personally Liable for Oil Companies’ Royalty Payments
David Bernhardt
CLP CASE UPDATE: PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP’S LAWSUIT AGAINST BIG TECH
Op-Ed: The Federalist: Biden Is Refilling The Swamp With Unaccountable Bureaucrats
James Sherk in The Washington Examiner
AFPI AND TPPF SUBMIT COMMENT ON PROPOSED RULE THAT PROMOTES ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA
Op-Ed: Washington Times: Courts: Our Last Line of Defense
Brooke Rollins
AMERICA FIRST POLICY INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES ADDITIONS TO CENTER LEADERSHIP
No Gigs in the Gig Economy
ISSUE BRIEF: Biden Administration Proposal Insulates the Bureaucracy from Accountability
James Sherk
EXPERT INSIGHT: Proposed Overtime Rule Would Hurt Workers, Limit Flexibility
James Sherk and Rachel Oglesby
Biden Administration and UAW Leadership Sacrifice Autoworkers’ Jobs
James Sherk, Jacob Sagert, and Matthew Lobel
Op-Ed: Biden Pushes Electric Vehicles, Which Kill Union Jobs
Linda McMahon & James Sherk
EXPERT INSIGHT: White House Claims that Federal Union Membership Grew Under Biden Appear Incorrect
James Sherk
AFPI 2022 Annual Policy Summit
Testimony Before the Communications and Technology Committee of the Michigan House of Representatives
James Sherk
AFPI Statement on the Biden Administration Final NEPA Rule that Will Delay Infrastructure, Increase Energy Costs, and Cement a Legacy of Build Back Never
Happy First Birthday AFPI!
Testimony on Ohio House Bill 441
James Sherk
The Latest Strategic Petroleum Reserve Release Demonstrates the “Consequence and Peril” of President Biden’s War on Fossil Fuels
Rick Perry and David Bernhardt
Unleashing U.S. Energy Dominance Livestream Discussion
Biden is to blame for rising gas prices. America needs to expand energy production.
David Bernhardt
Promising to nominate a Black woman would be illegal in any other setting
Brooke Rollins
David Bernhardt joined Larry Kudlow on Fox Business to discuss infrastructure
Federal Labor Relations Authority’s Small Victory for Immigration Enforcement
John A. Zadrozny and James Sherk
An Examination of the First Year of Biden’s Presidency
Op-Ed: Failing as Predicted: Joe Biden’s Presidency is shaping up to be a historical disaster.
Brooke L. Rollins
Op-Ed: States are the last line of defense against Big Tech
James Sherk
Secretary David Bernhardt joined ‘Rob Schmitt Tonight’ on Newsmax
Blog: America needs a real infrastructure plan, and this legislation doesn’t cut it.
David Bernhardt grew up outside of a small western rural community, Rifle, Colorado, and serves as the Chair of the Center for American Freedom at AFPI. Bernhardt previously served as the 53rd Secretary of the Department of the Interior, where he furthered conservation stewardship, expanded opportunities for access to hunting and fishing on public lands, drove common-sense regulatory change, and enhanced our Nation’s energy independence. Bernhardt also led the effort to enact the Great American Outdoors Act, which established the most consequential dedicated funding for maintaining critical facilities and infrastructure at our national parks, wildlife refuges, and recreational facilities in history. He also developed and implemented sweeping regulatory changes that were estimated to reduce regulatory burdens by more than $5 billion. Bernhardt is active in numerous charitable and business endeavors, practices administrative law, and enjoys the spectacular outdoors with his spouse, Gena Rae Bernhardt, their two teenagers, and two yellow Labrador Retrievers.
Jacob Sagert is from Dallas, Texas, and serves as a Policy Analyst in the Center for American Freedom at AFPI. Previously, Sagert served as the Director of Issues for Brian Maryott’s congressional campaign in California’s 49th District. He received a bachelor’s degree in international political economy from the University of Texas at Dallas and an M.P.P degree from Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy in Malibu, California. Jacob currently resides in Washington D.C., and enjoys traveling internationally, hiking, going to the beach, and spending time with friends and family.
“Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to fit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision.”
G.K. Chesterton
James Sherk was born in Ontario, Canada, and immigrated with his family to Midland, Michigan while in middle school. He serves as AFPI’s Director of the Center for American Freedom. Sherk previously served as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy on the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Donald Trump. James served as the Administration’s top civil service reform and labor policy advisor from 2017 to 2021. At the White House, he was the principal author of and/or policy lead for approximately two dozen executive orders and presidential memoranda. Sherk also served as a member of the President’s Council on Improving Federal Civic Architecture. Prior to his White House service, Sherk was a Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, where he was a nationally recognized expert on the civil service and labor policy. Sherk received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Economics from Hillsdale College and an Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Rochester. Sherk and his wife, Jill, live in Northern Virginia with three beloved children who teach their parents to ponder inscrutable questions like “how much drawing can go on the walls before we have to repaint them?”
“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.”
G.K. Chesterton