the Greater Nomadic Council

For History Geeks

The New Republic is a magazine with a fascinating liberal/progressive history. In 1980, for example, they decided to endorse John Anderson for president, as a "rebuke" to Carter. That same year, the Libetarians were running strong as well. For their part, The Nation decided to endorse a far left progressive candidate who finished 5th. I can certainly understand why they preferred Anderson or other 3rd parties on substance, but I imagine both TNR and The Nation went on to regret their decision, regardless of how ineffective a president Carter was.

A far worse judgment (underlining, perhaps, how the emotional violence accompanying war gradually distorts the faculty of reason) TNR refused to endorse Hubert Humphrey in 1968 because of his stance on Vietnam, even though there was no palpable 3rd party alternative.

But these endorsements are not merely lessons on the folly of getting too caught up in 3rd partyism. TNR was also the scene of the philosopher John Dewey's "pragmatic" endorsement of Al Smith in 1928--where he detailed, with remarkable vision, the folly of voting Socialist and the deficiencies of Hoover. TNR also had a variety of views on the 3-way race in 1924 between Coolidge, Davis, and La Follette that was actually a more important race than many of us realize, as WWI reparations, prohibition, nationalism, and the post-Bolshevist discussion of socialism were all at issue.

I look forward to them continuing to put up past endorsements as a way of reflecting on rationales for voting and how they seem different in the light of history.