 Premier issue, summer 2006 | |
| Type | Quarterly political magazine |
|---|---|
| Format | Magazine |
| Owner(s) | Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Inc. |
| Editor | Michael Tomasky |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Political alignment | Progressive / Liberal |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
| ISSN | 1931-8693 |
| Website | democracyjournal |
Democracy is as an American quarterly political journal. As of 2023, its website describes its focus as not being on policy papers but on bigger-picture, outside the box thinking. [1]
It was founded as a forum for progressive and liberal ideas by Kenneth Baer and Andrei Cherny in 2006. Modeled after conservative journals like Commentary and The National Interest, [2] the editors put forward Democracy as "a place where ideas can be developed and important debates can be spurred" at a "time when American politics has grown profoundly unserious." [3]
Baer told The Hill : "We think that the [Democratic] party is rich in tactics and poor in ideas. What we really need for long-term success is deep, serious thinking about how we’re going to apply long-held progressive values to new challenges." [2] Cherny added: "I had started thinking about where all of the conservative ideas, for better or worse, had come from. Every big idea — Social Security privatization, supply-side economics, preemption, faith-based initiatives — had come out of one of their journals in their intellectual infrastructure." [2]
In an editorial for the Los Angeles Times on July 10, 2006, Baer and Cherny laid out a case for making a break with what they characterized as the "ad hoc approach to politics" they claim the current Democratic Party is engaged in. [4]
On March 3, 2009, Michael Tomasky replaced Kenneth Baer as editor when Baer left to become associate director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget. [5]
The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was a non-profit 501(c)(4) corporation that was active from 1985 to 2011. Founded and directed by Al From, it argued that the United States Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it had taken since the late 1960s. One of its main purposes was to win back white middle-class voters with ideas that addressed their concerns. The DLC hailed the election and reelection of Bill Clinton as proof of the viability of Third Way politicians and as a DLC success story.
David Brock is an American liberal political consultant, author, and commentator who founded the media watchdog group Media Matters for America. He has been described by Time as "one of the most influential operatives in the Democratic Party".
David J. Sirota is an American journalist, columnist at The Guardian, editor for Jacobin, author, television writer, and screenwriter. He is also a political commentator and radio host based in Denver. He is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, political spokesperson, and blogger. In March 2019, he began working as the senior advisor and speechwriter on the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign. In 2022, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for conceiving the story for Netflix's Don't Look Up alongside co-writer and director Adam McKay. He is founder of The Lever, an independent investigative news outlet.
Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which supports unregulated laissez faire capitalism with very few government services.
Conservative liberalism, also referred to as right-liberalism, is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or simply representing the right-wing of the liberal movement. In the case of modern conservative liberalism, scholars sometimes see it as a more positive and less radical variant of classical liberalism; it is also referred to as an individual tradition that distinguishes it from classical liberalism and social liberalism. Conservative liberal parties tend to combine economically liberal policies with more traditional stances and personal beliefs on social and ethical issues. Ordoliberalism is a influential component of conservative-liberal thought, particularly in its German, British, French, Italian, and American manifestations.
The term liberal hawk refers to a politically liberal person who supports a hawkish, interventionist foreign policy.
In United States politics, modern liberalism is a form of social liberalism that is one of two current major political factions in the United States. It combines ideas of civil liberty and equality with support for social justice. Economically, modern liberalism supports government regulation on private industry and opposes corporate monopolies. It opposes cuts to the social safety net, while simultaneously promoting income-proportional tax reform policies to reduce deficits. It supports a role for government in reducing economic inequality, increasing diversity, providing access to education, ensuring healthcare, regulating economic activity, and protecting the natural environment. This form of liberalism took shape in the 20th century as the voting franchise and other civil rights were extended to a larger class of citizens, most notably among African Americans and women. Major examples of modern liberal policy programs include the New Deal, the Fair Deal, the New Frontier, the Great Society, the Affordable Care Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Progressive talk radio is a talk radio format devoted to expressing left-leaning viewpoints of news and issues as opposed to conservative talk radio. In the United States, the format has included syndicated and independent personalities such as Arnie Arnesen, Michael Brooks, Alan Colmes, Jon Favreau, Al Franken, Brad Friedman, John Fugelsang, Norman Goldman, Amy Goodman, Thom Hartmann, Kyle Kulinski, Jon Lovett, Rachel Maddow, Mike Malloy, Stephanie Miller, Michael Moore, David Pakman, Mike Papantonio, Dan Pfeiffer, Bill Press, Randi Rhodes, Ed Schultz, Sam Seder, Hal Sparks, and Tommy Vietor.
Fred Siegel was an American historian and conservative writer who was a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a conservative think tank which focuses on urban policy and politics. He served as a professor of history and the humanities at Cooper Union and was a contributor to numerous publications, including The New York Post, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, Commonweal, Tikkun, and Telos.
The Democracy Alliance is a network of progressive megadonors who coordinate their political donations to groups that the Alliance has endorsed. It has been described by Politico as "the country's most powerful liberal donor club".
Kenneth S. Baer is an American political advisor and author who served as Associate Director for Communications and Strategic Planning and Senior Advisor for White House's Office of Management and Budget from 2009 to 2012. He is the founder and co-editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. Baer is a former White House speechwriter, author, and analyst. And he is the CEO and Founder of the strategic communications firm, Crosscut Strategies.
Andrei Hugo Cherny is an American lawyer and political speechwriter. Cherny served as the co-founder and CEO of Aspiration, Inc., an eco-friendly financial firm based in Marina del Rey, California, from 2013 to October 2022. Earlier in his career, Cherny co-founded Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. He is a candidate in the 2024 Democratic primary in Arizona's 1st congressional district.
Michael John Tomasky is an American columnist, progressive commentator, and author. He is the editor of The New Republic and editor in chief of Democracy. He has been a special correspondent for Newsweek, The Daily Beast, a contributing editor for The American Prospect, and a contributor to The New York Review of Books.
American political ideologies conventionally align with the left–right political spectrum, with most Americans identifying as conservative, liberal, or moderate. Contemporary American conservatism includes social conservatism, classical liberalism and economic liberalism. The former ideology developed as a response to communism and the civil rights movement, while the latter two ideologies developed as a response to the New Deal. Contemporary American liberalism includes progressivism, welfare capitalism and social liberalism, developing during the Progressive Era and the Great Depression. Besides modern conservatism and liberalism, the United States has a notable libertarian movement, developing during the mid-20th century as a revival of classical liberalism. Historical political movements in the United States have been shaped by ideologies as varied as republicanism, populism, separatism, fascism, socialism, monarchism, and nationalism.
Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and conservatarianism, is a political and social philosophy that combines conservatism and libertarianism, representing the libertarian wing of conservatism and vice versa.
The Age of Uncertainty is a 1977 book and television series about economics, co-produced by the BBC, CBC, KCET and OECA, and written and presented by Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith.
Dana D. Nelson is a professor of English at Vanderbilt University and a prominent progressive advocate for citizenship and democracy. She is notable for her criticism—in her books such as Bad for Democracy—of excessive presidential power and for exposing a tendency by Americans towards presidentialism, which she defines as the people's neglect of basic citizenship duties while hoping the president will solve most problems. Her scholarship focuses on early American literature relating to citizenship and democratic government.
Progressivism is a political philosophy that holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political reform or through government mandates. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, technology, and social organization. Adherents hold that progressivism has universal application and endeavor to spread this idea to human societies everywhere. Progressivism arose during the Age of Enlightenment out of the belief that civility in Europe was improving due to the application of new empirical knowledge to the governance of society.
The 2012 presidential campaign of Stewart Alexander war formed soon after the 2008 presidential election. Alexander, who had previously campaigned for the Socialist Party USA nomination in 2008 and served as their Vice Presidential nominee, selected Alejandro Mendoza as his running mate. He was often discussed as a potential candidate for the 2012 Socialist Party USA presidential nomination.
Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the left or the right.