Month: December 2014

It is too big a jump, I believe, to claim, as neoconservative John Podhoretz at Commentary does, that “that what has befallen the New Republic is, in some ways, what has befallen liberalism writ large. It became unserious, and is about to become more unserious still, because that [is] what has happened to liberalism as a governing philosophy.”^[1] What seems to have happened instead at the New Republic is that a great many writers and editors, possibly a critical mass, have resigned, “believ[ing] that [Chris] Hughes and [Guy] Vidra now intend to turn TNR into a click-focused digital media company, at the expense of the magazine’s strong editorial traditions and venerable brand, according to sources who attended the gathering at [Franklin] Foer’s house.”^[2] The feared outcome would be something like what has happened to Atlantic, which I still think is a worthwhile publication, but which has clearly spread itself thin.^[3] Read more →

1. ^[1]John Podhoretz, “You’ll Never Guess What Happened to This Magazine! Click Here for More!” Commentary, December 4, 2014, http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/12/04/youll-never-guess-what-happened-to-this-magazine-click-here-for-more/↩
2. ^[2]Dylan Byers, “After shake-up, New Republic staffers resign en masse,” New Republic, December 5, 2014, http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/12/new-republic-staffers-resign-en-masse-199595.html↩
3. ^[3]Dylan Byers, “After shake-up, New Republic staffers resign en masse,” New Republic, December 5, 2014, http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/12/new-republic-staffers-resign-en-masse-199595.html; John Podhoretz, “You’ll Never Guess What Happened to This Magazine! Click Here for More!” Commentary, December 4, 2014, http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/12/04/youll-never-guess-what-happened-to-this-magazine-click-here-for-more/↩

One of the ‘features’ of the U.S. system of governance is supposedly that it offers checks and balances. At the top, we are told as schoolchildren, the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches all balance each other, and will check each other’s authority. Which of course explains legislative and, generally, judicial complicity with torture, other war crimes, the invasion of Iraq, the fraud that led to the financial crisis of 2007, etc. Read more →