The Nation Asks

by Stephen Fleischman

“Will the Progressive Majority Emerge?” the Nation Magazine asks, in a recent issue (7/9/07) featuring a cover story by Rick Perlstein.

Perlstein proves, by the polls, that a progressive majority does, indeed, exist as measured by the public’s stance on most major issues. But where is it hiding?

Will the progressive majority please stand up!

The problem is, Perlstein says, the Democrats are reluctant to pin a “Democratic label” on themselves, even though polls show that a majority of voters believe in the liberal principles of the Democratic Party.

Looks like we have a perception problem, here. Can The Nation figure that one out?

The Nation has always been a classy magazine with a venerable history. I’ve had a subscription to it for as long as I can remember.

The Nation was founded in 1865 as an Abolitionist publication and is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States devoted to politics and culture. Today, it defines itself as “the flagship of the left” (How far left, it’s not saying). In 1881, railroad-baron Henry Villard acquired The Nation and converted it into a weekly literary supplement. In 1918, Villard’s son, Oswald Garrison Villard, gave it a liberal orientation.

In its 142 year history, The Nation has had illustrious editors—Socialist Norman Thomas, Victor Navasky, Carey McWilliams, Freda Kirchwey, to name a few.

Contributors have included Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gore Vidal, I.F. Stone, Leon Trotsky, John Steinbeck, Jean-Paul Sartre, and many, many more. Today, the magazine is supported by such luminary liberals as Paul Newman, Calvin Trillin and Alexander Cockburn. The current publisher and editor is Katrina vanden Heuvel.

Paradoxically, although coming from an old and staunch capitalist family, vanden Heuvel is married to New York University history professor, Stephen F. Cohen, an expert on the former Soviet Union. She should be conversant with the contradictions of capitalism.

So why are we stuck in trying to answer the question, “Will the Progressive Majority Emerge?” The answer is simple. Yes—when the economy tanks.

Third Party Gambit

by Stephen Fleischman

We, the people of the United States of America, with a great tradition of third party movements, need a major third political party, and we need it now, because the leadership of the two major parties, Bush Administration Republicans and the Democrats’ Leadership Council are corrupt to the core and not fulfilling the needs of the people. Changes must be made before it’s too late.

If most members of Congress are not in the pocket of one American corporate interest, or another, they’re beholden to an alien interest and aren’t even registered as agents of a foreign power. Elections have become a race for big bucks, sort of an auction among the big guys.

We must act now. Let’s go back to the beginning. Call it “The Democratic-Republican Party.”

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison created The Democratic-Republican Party in 1792 to oppose Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Party, which supported the interests of the bankers.

The Democratic-Republicans supported the small farmers over bankers, industrialists, merchants and other monied interests. And that’s the sort of thing we need today.

We can do it again. Third parties have had successes and failures throughout our history, but whichever, they’ve contributed to the dialogue of democracy and kept our political system vibrant.