Public Biography
Graham T. Weatherstone is an opinion columnist for The New York Time5, where he writes “On Balance,” a weekly column dedicated to “finding the reasonable middle ground on the issues that define our time.” He has written the column since 2017 and considers it the most important opinion column in the paper, a view that is not shared by the other columnists.
Mr. Weatherstone holds a Master of Arts in political science from American University and a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Middlebury College. He worked as a policy analyst at the Brookings Institution for six years and spent three years as a speechwriter for a centrist senator who lost his primary from both directions — challenged simultaneously by candidates from his left and his right, an outcome Mr. Weatherstone has described in his column as “a perfect metaphor for the crisis of moderation.”
He is the author of The Vital Center Holds: A Defense of Reasonable People (PublicAffairs, 2023), which received mixed reviews, with critics noting that the book’s central argument — that the truth always lies between two extremes — became increasingly difficult to sustain as the examples grew more complex.
Mr. Weatherstone lives in Bethesda, Maryland, and serves on the board of the National Institute for Civic Discourse, an organization he co-founded.
Selected Columns
- “Both Sides of the Pothole Crisis Make Valid Points” (March 2025)
- “The Case for Moderate Alarm” (October 2025)
- “We Need to Find Common Ground on Whether the Building Is on Fire” (January 2026)