When I became editor of The American Prospect in 2008, a few people pointed out to me that it was a little odd that I'd never actually worked at a magazine before. And it's true: I'd been writing for the Prospect since 2001, and blogging for TAPPED, and had a column in the magazine since 2005, but my main jobs had been at a think tank (the New America Foundation), a grant-making foundation (George Soros's Open Society Institute), and government. And I'm not looking at this as a stepping stone to Esquire.
The point is, for me, the Prospect is the Only Magazine that Matters. And there's continuity with what I've done before because throughout my career, I've been involved in trying to build a new base for progressive ideas. The Prospect is the magazine version of it, and magazines are as important as think tanks. A magazine/website is not only a way to get ideas out to the public, but can be the hub of the internal conversation or debate, on questions like how to guarantee universal health care, or whether the Obama Cabinet appointments are sufficiently progressive. Every successful political era has had a magazine at the heart of it, whether it was The New Republic as edited by Herbert Croly in the Progressive Era and in the early New Deal years, or The Weekly Standard in the recent conservative era.
All such magazines need support from someone; none of them make it on ads and subscriptions alone. And if you read us on the Web, you know how much substantive daily content, in addition to the articles from the print magazine, we provide for free. But there's one difference between the Prospect and The Weekly Standard: They have Rupert Murdoch. We've got you. As the editor, I'm gratified that we get support from a broad base of people who are also our readers. It helps us maintain our independence and perspective. We're producing TAP and TAP Online for you, our readers.
But to maintain that independence, we actually need the support, and so we have to ask for it. Because we educate readers about policy, TAP is a nonprofit, and your contribution is tax-deductible.
The next two or three years, as the new era of progressive possibility takes shape, will indeed be, as Paul Waldman generously said, “our moment.” That's not because we'll always agree with the new administration. Rather, you'll find here the range of views, the internal debates, and the powerful narrative journalism that will help explain what makes progressive policy possible and how to further open the window for the kind of ambitious, imaginative liberalism that the times demand.
--Mark Schmitt
