By Ezra
Folks here know the deep reservoir of affection I have for The Washington Monthly. I love that magazine -- its writers, its editors, its tone, its editorial line, its willingness to do big-think...and so, when I say this, I say this with love. But their package on The New Progressivism is truly, sadly underwhelming.
[T]here's another, more populist strain of that tradition, one that has sought to use government to empower individuals to protect themselves (think Ralph Nader's 1960s consumer movement). We've been wondering if it might be possible to update that sort of thinking. And so we asked the five writers whose work follows to come up with ways to strengthen the hand of the average American in the 21st-century marketplace.
Sounds promising enough. Particularly since they set it up as the enlightened response to Bush's Ownership Society. God knows a competing vision, preferably one lacking the Republican's green tint but retaining the power of the theme, is needed. But this isn't it. The package is Paul Glastris's hit on the conservative vision, Robert Gordon and Derek Douglas's piece inveighing against hidden credit card fees, Zachary Roth's call for a la carte cable, Karen Kornbluh's argument for widespread use of flextime, and Kevin Drum's piece on identity theft and who should pay. Inspired yet?
