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Rachel Wagley

Why are you interested in public service and why did you apply to this internship?
After heading up a few social policy initiatives that are often unpopular among the liberal Harvard community through the Harvard Republican Club, Salient, Campus Crusade, and and True Love Revolution, I jumped at the chance to be surrounded by conservatives for a summer. Former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao came to the Institute of Politics this spring while I was deciding between DC and working at a zoo in Greece and convinced me to join the Heritage team (don’t worry – the National Zoo is fantastic). Heritage treats interns like the crème de la crème, and I spend tons of time writing, yelling at the news, eating free food, meeting other real live conservatives, and representing Heritage on the Hill.

In about two sentences, please describe the main responsibilities of your internship this summer.  
I'm a social policy guru in the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society. Poverty, social justice, charity, religious liberties, abstinence, family, marriage, babies - you name it, I've spent hours laboring, fuming over, and writing about it.

What are you working on this week?
I’m studying the intersection between religious liberty, moral rhetoric, and the gay rights movement. It’s pretty interesting stuff, and I’m currently a regular reader of every blog, legislative hearing, and advocacy website out there.

Have you had any "face time" with the head of the office yet? 
Definitely; Ed Feulner is the man. He's the only person at Heritage I dare not call by first name. He's given me his book, "Getting America Right," and it's in the extensive queue of Heritage books now in my possession including Hayek’s Road to Serfdom and Bastiat’s The Law.

Out of the people in the office, whose job would you want?
Heritage is the mecca of conservative scholarship, and never before have I met so many outstanding scholars. In the future, I’d love to be on ground zero building a strong civil society (interpret this freely as I’ve no defined idea what I’ll do to advance grassroots conservatism!) rather than hanging out at a desk from 9-6, but we’ll see where life leads.

Have any really exciting guests/visitors come by the office recently? 
Through Heritage and other events on the hill, I’ve befriended Jim DeMint, Trent Franks, Sam Brownback, Michelle Bachman, Mike Pence, Jason Chaffetz, Joe Pitts, Steve King, and many other great American leaders. I helped organize events with Marvin Olasky and Michael Novak, both of whom are fantastic religious intellectuals who outwit and out-faith anyone in DC. For those who are on the lookout, Reagan haunts these halls. Needless to say, I’m in conservative Heaven.

Have you worked on any fun events/projects yet at your job?
I learned about film editing while working on a series encouraging Americans to build a strong civil society to help the needy. I don’t know how film editors do it though – watching version after version after version can really hurt your will to achieve perfection.

In one sentence or less, tell me something you learned either from or about your job that everyone should know. 
It isn’t one sentence, but it is one heck of a good lesson, so as Barry Goldwater put it: “Broken promises are not the major causes of our trouble. Kept promises are. All too often we have put men in office who have suggested spending a little more on this, a little more on that, who have proposed a new welfare program, who have thought of another variety of 'security.' We have taken the bait, preferring to put off to another day the recapture of freedom and the restoration of our constitutional system. We have gone the way of many a democratic society that has lost its freedom by persuading itself that if 'the people' rule, all is well."  

Have you had an experience during your internship recently that has shown you the importance of politics and public service?
The overarching project I’ve worked on this summer is a social justice film series encouraging people to look at poverty, welfare, and empowerment in a new light. Ultimately, the root of poverty is relational deficiency; many people lack role models or families that instill skills necessary for success. Nurturing individuals and communities through civil society combats this relational battlefield. It’s a tragedy that families have fallen apart, but renewing a strong civil society can reverse America’s descent into government dependency. Churches, families, businesses, and charities all step up and treat people’s real needs more effectively than government programs. I’m feeling inspired on a daily basis: restore humanity! Help the broken! Honor the spirit of the individual! I adore Heritage.