The Republicans' Secret Weapon?

Though little known outside Washington, Yuval Levin, the 36-year-old editor of the policy journal National Affairs and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, has become the conservative "it" boy. As the fight over the future of the Republican party takes shape, many GOP insiders say he's one of the thinkers whose ideas can revive the right. David Brooks cites his work all the time. Paul Ryan calls him the "Irving Kristol of our time."

I was curious about Yuval, so reached out to meet in DC last year. Over coffee at Union Station I came away impressed with his sober demeanor and ambition. I could also see why he’s been dubbed "a young fogey." He’s made National Affairs a must-read for those tracking the evolving conservative mind. In our conversation, I ask Yuval where the GOP has gone wrong, and how conservative ideas can become relevant again to the problems facing everyday Americans. Yuval's first book, The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left,” is due out this December, and seems certain to win him a wider audience. Whatever your political persuasion, I hope our dialogue whets your appetite for more.