Finally put up a long-overdue permalink to the excellent Shakespeare's Sister. Helpful readers are encouraged to head over to her site and apologize for my tardiness.
Also, you guys should read Tomasky's piece on progressivism's estrangement from philosophy. One thing I think he omits is that, in addition to talking strategy, we talk a lot of policy, and we generally mistake the latter for philosophy. I think that has something to do with empiricism becoming a stealth philosophy for liberals, but that's a side issue.
More to the point, I've already sent in my critique and suggestions for The Prospect's magazine, so I'll put this one here. Tomasky is completely correct that liberals don't have a strong grasp of their own ancestry. He's also one of the few people in the country able to do something about it. I'd love for his magazine to feature a monthly history lesson, zooming in on an important progressive person or event. By the time I became conscious of politics, the Clinton years were basically over, so my only connection to my movement's foundations come from the books I read. That generally works out okay -- I'm pretty excited to read Parker's biography of Galbraith (so excited I put it in my wishlist, hint, hint), even though that Plumer kid has beat me to it -- but trying to stay current on Iran and Iraq and Social Security and the EU and Medicare and elections and every other crisis developing right this very second only leaves so much time to engage books on the past. If the Prospect offered a short dose of history each month, I doubt I'd be alone in finding it a major help.
For that matter, I wonder if they couldn't partner with some historical societies and policy groups and give the history of an issue more attention in their Special Reports. Seeing the genesis of something like Social Security or Health Care or voting laws is, in my opinion, much more powerful than simply getting a briefing on it.
Update: While I'm talking about the Prospect, I should mention that this month's cover image is very, very cool. Between this and the Missing Donkey cover, it looks like the days of stock photos are dying their rightful death.
