Letters

Letters

Miami vice… Hillary fever… our new look…

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Miami Vice

I always enjoyed Carl Hiaasen’s humorous writing about the corruption in Miami, but I thought he was exaggerating. After reading Ken Silverstein’s “Miami: Where Luxury Real Estate Meets Dirty Money” [Oct. 21], I realize that Hiaasen has understated the level of corruption.

Nell Farr
elk grove, calif.


Hillary Fever

Richard Kim provided a refreshing note of dissent regarding the premature anointing of presidential candidates [“It’s Not Hillary’s Turn,” Oct. 21]. I share his lack of enthusiasm for being stampeded into accepting Hillary Clinton, or anyone, until there is an understanding of a candidate’s position on the issues that face America. Kim’s call for vigorous debate on these issues (e.g., “the yawning gap between the rich and everyone else”) to help determine the best person to lead us forward provided me with one more good reason to renew my subscription: the hope of finding that debate continuing in The Nation.

Dave Johnson
yuba city, calif.


I admit that “It’s Not Hillary’s Turn” was not as frightening as its headline. Kim made some valid points, but I believe Hillary Clinton, like this president, understands the inequality plaguing this country.

Cathey Dayton
sevierville, tenn.


If you print another piece as rebarbative as Richard Kim’s sexist assault on our former secretary of state, I will cancel my subscription. Meanwhile, when I walk my incontinent schnauzer I will take with me the pages containing Kim’s ugly words.

Joel Conarroe
new york city<
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I already have an I’m Ready for Hillary bumper sticker on my car. Vera

I want Hillary for president because she knows how Washington runs, she knows where the bodies are buried, she knows everything and everyone, and she is tough. Elizabeth Warren is great, and I hope someday she’ll run for president, but she is too new to the game right now.

Elaine Hendrie
bellport, n.y.


I agree with Richard Kim. I’m afraid Hillary Clinton would be the same old, same old in drag.

Gayle Voeller
carmichael, calif.<
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What’s needed is a hard-ass moderate-lib politician with clout, insider connections and a sure win just to keep the lunatics at bay. Hillary is likely the closest we have to that. Guest

Hillary is not a moderate-lib. As Bill Maher astutely observed, the Democrats have moved to the right, and the right-wingers have moved into the nuthouse. Hillary is a warmonger in Dem clothing. Mass Independent


Fight the Power!

Joshua Clover, in his October 21 “Pop & Circumstance” column, tells us protest songs are in decline. But there’s quite a lot of protest song-making these days, maybe more than in the 1960s. There are star performers (Tom Morello, Springsteen, Ani DiFranco, Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, Ry Cooder, John Legend, Neil Young), and there are movement minstrels who sing to and for the grassroots movements, what might be called the Guthrie/Seeger project—for example, Sweet Honey in the Rock, David Rovics, Charlie King, Si Kahn, Emma’s Revolution and Holly Near. A four-disc compilation of Occupy songs is evidence of these current protest songs. Or give a listen to the radio show I’ve been hosting for thirty-two years—Culture of Protest (kcsb.org).

Richard Flacks
santa barbara, calif.


Our New Look

Just wanted to let you know that I very much like the redesign you unveiled in the October 21 issue. It makes the entire magazine a much more engaging publication. Well done!

Ted Gostomski
cable, wis.


I don’t like the new look. The pages are too cluttered and busy, with too much tiny print. And why is there no masthead?

William Blackwell
ithaca, n.y.


Well, thank goodness you left the crossword page alone! The smaller print is hard to read, and the many sidebars (in color, yet) are confusing to the eye and distracting. But then you don’t really care about the older readers, do you?

Joyce Parkhurst
long beach, calif.


The newly redesigned front pages of The Nation, with their sidebars of tweets and factoids, remind me of Time magazine (and that’s not a compliment).

Jim Rudolf
minneapolis


I remember when Newsweek was a fairly serious newsmagazine. Later, the opening page resembled an AOL or Yahoo homepage, cluttered with crap, tiny factoids, etc. I don’t read The Nation for little factoids or crap. One of its great features is its substance.

Tim Withee
los angeles


I understand why you wanted to look less gray, but you went too far in the other direction. The layout is too busy. And you went wildly overboard on the Letters page. Web comments are OK if the writers are properly identified; anonymous posts have no place in the print version. Worse yet are tweets, for chirping out loud. Oscar Wilde could say pithy things in 140 characters; most tweets, as illustrated in the October 21 issue, are tripe. I’ll be twerked if I’m going to waste precious seconds on Twitter litter.

Fenwick Anderson
takoma park, md.


The new look is too cluttered, too busy and visually distracting.

Joseph F. DiBlanca
highland, n.y.


I think the new design makes The Nation more up-to-date and more readable. It is more inviting (although I suppose some will prefer a more stodgy appearance). Keep up the good work.

James Teske
tampa


None of your other redesigns have fazed me, but this one goes beyond mere presentation. The Nation has sacrificed substance in the interest, presumably, of attracting “readers” inured to distraction and intimidated by a page of uninterrupted text.

Jon Reinsch
seattle


As a longtime reader of, and a sometime contributor to, The Nation, I am so happy with the recent covers of the magazine. They are smart, colorful and spirited.

R.O. Blechman
ancram, n.y.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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