Print Magazine

May 30, 2011 Issue

The editors on Tony Kushner and academic freedom, Allison Kilkenny on US Uncut, and Alexander Cockburn on President Obama and Osama bin Laden.

Cover art by: Cover design by Milton Glaser Incorporated

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Editorial

Taking Back the States

In Republican "trifecta" states, the backlash against the GOP's radical social agenda has begun.

The Editors

The Kushner Affair

It is shameful that CUNY colluded so thoughtlessly in an attempt to narrow the bounds of acceptable public discourse.

The Editors

South Asia Without Osama bin Laden

Bin Laden's death offers President Obama a chance to end the war in Afghanistan and to prevent one in Pakistan.

Graham Usher

The Fatah-Hamas Accord

The agreement to end the schism between the two Palestinian factions reflects the profound political changes underway in the Middle East.

Mouin Rabbani

Honoring Baltasar Garzón

The Spanish judge who dared to hold brutal human rights violators to account is now fighting for his legal career.

David Cole

Fantasy Islands

When the lines between fantasy, desire, action and intent have been so blurred, the thought itself becomes the crime.

JoAnn Wypijewski

We’re pleased to announce that Liliana Segura will be joining our staff as associate editor. Liliana, a former senior editor at AlterNet, where she was responsible for civil liberties and international coverage, was most recently a Wallace Global Fund Fellow, where she researched and wrote about prisons and harsh sentencing. Richard Kim, formerly senior editor, is now executive editor of TheNation.com, where he will be overseeing the website’s expansion and redesign. Mark Sorkin is now copy editor/associate editor, and senior editor Richard Lingeman has returned from leave. Read More

The Editors

Noted.

Liliana Segura on Obama's immigration policy, D.D. Guttenplan and Maria Margaronis on the UK's faltering Liberal Democrats, and Frank Askin on electoral reform in New Jersey.

Various Contributors

Column

Welcome to Obama’s 2012 Campaign

To launch his reelection bid, the president took up a longstanding American tradition: extrajudicial political assassinations.

Alexander Cockburn

Women Who Ran With the Republicans

The GOP's hardcore antichoice policies are turning off more and more female voters, creating a huge opportunity for Democrats.

Katha Pollitt

The Best Thing You Can Be Is CEO

“CEO Pay Exceeds Pre-Recession Level.” —Associated Press The best thing you can be is CEO. No matter what, you always get your dough. However many people out of work, You still get every single little perk. If fired, you are properly consoled, By floating ‘neath a parachute of gold. The best thing you can be is CEO. No matter what, you always get your dough. Read More

Calvin Trillin

Letters

Uncle Sam, Closet Socialist West Plains, Mo. John Nichols’s “How Socialists Built America” [May 2] is an instant classic and can’t-miss candidate for inclusion in the next annual Best American Essays. DAVID DUNLAP Woodbridge, Va. The fact that Vivian Gornick’s review of The Letters of Rosa Luxemburg, brimming with Luxemburg’s trenchant and subtle perceptions about the vagaries of socialism [“History and Heartbreak,” May 2], appears in the same issue as John Nichols’s piece reveals weakness of editorial judgment. Compared with Luxemburg’s, Nichols’s views of socialists and socialism are sophomoric. Luxemburg knew that socialist governments often evolved into harsh dictatorships. In Chile, as the president of a 135-year-old democracy, Salvador Allende introduced a new social compact that Luxemburg would have applauded. Allende’s approach paralyzed his government. His cabinet and advisers discussed every alternative course of action in grievous detail, intensively, intelligently and endlessly. No decisions were taken. Hugo Chávez came to power in Venezuela as a populist committed to socialism. He has avoided the trap of chronic indecision by moving resolutely toward dictatorship. It should be clear that America has not been built by socialists of either the Allende or Chávez variety. Norman Thomas realized that he would not gain such power. He employed indirect and pragmatic means to inculcate creative social-democratic innovations into mainstream policy. LAWRENCE J. O’BRIEN Auburn, Ala. John Nichols’s article was such a pleasure and relief to read. I am so weary of politicians tossing the term “socialism” around as a fearmongering epithet. They equate socialist ideas with Stalinism, and are not honest enough to admit that much of what makes America great is positive socialism. Not only do the programs Nichols cites (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, school lunch and others) owe a great deal to socialist ideas; fire and police departments, public libraries and the Interstate system also reflect socialist tendencies. Even the revenue sharing of Major League Baseball is socialist. Not so long ago the word “communist” was hurled at anyone whose views threatened some people. Now the fearmongers hope to use the respectable word “socialist” as a term of derision. It must not happen. We must join Nichols in loud affirmation that there is such a thing as good socialism. O.C. BROWN Amherst, Mass. May I add to John Nichols’s welcome cast of socialist-leaning characters Benjamin Franklin, our senior and perhaps most important founding father, a rags-to-riches capitalist who first proposed (I believe) public fire departments, public libraries, public parks, public schools, public streetlights, etc. FAYTHE TURNER Reno, Nev. John Nichols mentions James Fulton as a GOP moderate who worked with Socialist Party members. I was Fulton’s Congressional aide from 1957 to 1959 while I was attending George Washington law school. Fulton was a “liberal” Republican from a steelworkers’ district in Pittsburgh. He served fourteen terms and died in office. Back in the ’50s Republicans believed in “Government.” They thought they could do a better job of managing it than the Democrats. Too bad the modern Republican Party doesn’t have any Jim Fultons in its ranks! ALAN HUTCHISON Homage to the Deadline Poet Washington, D.C. Whenever the Rs say “deficit” or “debt” to a man, The Ds should say, over and over again: Afghanistan. REPRESENTATIVE BOB FILNER (Calif-51) Read More

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