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The New Republic - RIP

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 a pathetic waste of my time and I'm considering dropping my subscription entirely. I discovered the magazine in the early 1980's when I became a fan of it's then editor Michael Kinsley. I have been reading TNR religiously ever since because it has been one of the best sources of well reasoned and well written "liberal" commentary (and conservative rebuttal) that one could find anywhere. I frequently disagreed but still had great respect for the opinions in its' pages. In my opinion, things began going wrong and have never been the same since Peter Beinart left in 2006. I don't completely understand what caused The New Republic's most recent implosion, but it's sad to see something that was so good deteriorate so quickly, whether you agree with it or not.

TNR - RIP

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