FROM THE DECEMBER PRINT ISSUE: A LIBERAL MANIFESTO. Recently, Tony Judt wrote a piece for the London Review of Books entitled “Bush’s Useful Idiots,” which charged American liberals — not “some” or “too many” American liberals, simply “American liberals” — with “acquiesc[ing] in President Bush‘s catastrophic foreign policy.” The essay caused a big stir — and made Todd Gitlin and Bruce Ackerman a bit mad. It inspired them to write this manifesto, a statement of liberal principles for the waning Bush era: “We Answer to the Name of Liberals.”
Clearly this is a moment for liberals to define ourselves. The important truth is that most liberals, including the undersigned, have stayed our course throughout these grim five years. We have consistently and publicly repudiated the ruinous policies of the Bush administration, and our diagnosis, alas, has been vindicated by events. The Bush debacle is a direct consequence of its repudiation of liberal principles. And if the country is to recover, we should begin by restating these principles.
…
We refuse to confine our criticisms to personalities. We believe that the abuses of power that have been commonplace under Bush’s rule must be laid not only at his door — and the vice president’s — but at the doors of a conservative movement that has, for decades, undermined government’s ability to act reasonably and effectively for the common good.
We love this country. But true patriotism does not consist of bravado or calumny. It resides in faithfulness to our great constitutional ideals. We are a republic, not a monarchy. We believe in the rule of law, not secret prisons. We insist on justice for all, not privilege for the few. In repudiating these American ideals, the Bush administration disgraces America and damages our claim to democratic leadership in the larger world.
Read the whole thing here, including the 44 signatories who have endorsed the manifesto. If you would like to add your name to that list, e-mail us here, and check the continuously updated list here.
–The Editors
