I don't like labels. Labels are an unfortunate legacy of our evolution which once required that instant "is it friend or foe" decisions be hard-wired as a matter of life and death. You would think that civilized human beings would have had enough time by now to evolve something better than simplistic warning labels like liberal and conservative, but for some reason we still haven't done it. Liberals would label me a conservative although I am often in agreement with ideas which liberals claim to be theirs exclusively. Conservatives would label me a "closet liberal" because I didn't meet some ludicrous litmus test criteria; but frankly, there is no litmus test of what it means to be a conservative that I really give a dam about. And both gladly take my contributions. So why am I rambling on about my personal philosophical leanings? Because I am distressed about the sorry state of "The New Republic" magazine. The latest issue (Feb 2015) was
"Anything you can't spell will never work." --Will Rogers