Hi! I’m Dean Clancy, and I wear a lot of hats.
I’m a health freedom advocate, policy analyst, consultant, opinion writer, and public speaker. I have more than twenty years’ high-level policy experience in Congress, the White House, and the U.S. health care industry. I’m president and founder of HSAs for All, and a partner at Adams Auld LLC, a public policy consultancy. And I’m, a member of the board of directors of Opportunity Solutions Project (OSP), an advisor to the Compact for America Educational Foundation (CFA), and a member of the Debt Default Clock Review Committee. And yes, I have time to sleep. I even have a few hobbies, like vaping and watching old movies.
I have some policy passions, which dominate my personal website. The most important of these is what I call ‘renewing the promise of American life.’ The basic idea is that we can and should restore our country’s happiness, by restoring the principles of the American founding to the center of our national life.
We already know the formula for happiness. We just have to follow it!
I’m absolutely passionate about the need for us to follow the Constitution as originally understood, and I basically oppose monopoly and stand for the little guy and common sense.
In political terms, I describe myself as a ‘decentralist,’ rather than using a more familiar label like ‘conservative,’ ‘liberal,’ or ‘libertarian’ — terms that have lost their usefulness through overextension.
I believe in equal opportunity for all and the traditional American policy mix of ‘balanced budgets, honest money, and no income tax.’ I think we need to firmly dedicate ourselves to civil rights, federalism, separation of powers, and local self-government. And oh yes — an end to the judicial usurpation of democracy.
My passion for social renewal has led me to compile what I call my ‘American renewal plan.’ It consists of fourteen planks that try to answer the question, What would it really take to make America happy again? It doesn’t try to be feasible today. It tries to answer the deeper question about what the common good really requires.
E.F. Schumacher and Orestes Brownson have been important influences on my thinking, as have a trio of British Christians with initials for first names: C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and J.R.R. Tolkien. I like to say James Madison is my homeboy, Walker Percy is my spirit guide, and Toshiro Mifune is my BSF (best samurai forever). And I would rather be George Smiley than James Bond.
I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and grew up in Aurora, Colorado. I’ve spent my entire career living and working in Washington, D.C. These days, I work remotely from Sarasota, Florida. My wife and I have been married for nearly thirty years. We have been blessed with four children and, so far, two grandchildren.
To me, the happiest kind of life is the one in which you forget yourself in the service of others, pursue justice without fear, and let yourself be moved by wonder and beauty.
Do you want to be happy? Here’s my advice. Be of good cheer! There’s always hope. After all, life’s an adventure, each new day is an opportunity, and every person is a miracle — even the annoying ones.
Dean Frazier Clancy