[9] In its pages, he has called for a revival of Republican policy thinking by applying conservative ideals to contemporary problems and emphasizing the concerns of the middle class.

Ponnuru has long been one of the nation's leading conservative voices in making the case for increasing the child tax credit to properly compensate parents for the cost of raising children, and won praise for finding common ground with progressives and Democrats on the issue.

The Institute's website has described "the Fellows" as "a dynamic and distinguished group of political practitioners and journalists who will lead seminars and interact with UChicago students and faculty.

Peggy Noonan celebrated the book as "the most significant statement of the need to protect human life in America since Ronald Reagan's Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation".

[citation needed] National Review Online Editor at Large Jonah Goldberg, wrote of the book: "Ponnuru scrupulously sticks to nonreligious arguments, accessible to everyone.

The philosophical passages strictly follow the Golden Rule of religious apologetics, which is: The conclusion is known in advance, and the task of the intellectual is to erect supporting arguments.

[29][30] Ponnuru has long been a much sought after speaker on conservative domestic policy and their political implications; he has regularly been a featured guest at retreats for congressional Republicans, including the party's leadership.

hinges on jettisoning its age-old doctrine — orgiastic tax-cutting, the slashing of government programs, the championing of Wall Street — and using an altogether different vocabulary, backed by specific proposals, that will reconnect the party to middle-class and low-income voters.

[35]) The book was widely praised; New York Times columnist David Brooks described it as a "policy-laden manifesto... which is the most coherent and compelling policy agenda the American right has produced this century.