Spring Break
Editor's Note: A Change in Attitude Needed
James Coan '09, Publisher
Issue date: 11/3/08 Section: Opinion
Welcome to the first Princeton Progressive Nation (PPN) issue of the year! PPN is the only left-of-center political publication on campus, and we provide your only opportunity to write publicly from a liberal perspective on state and national political issues. We also welcome articles about the campus and international affairs. We print this magazine quarterly, but we also have a weekly column page distributed in dining halls and various other buildings, including Frist and Robertson. PPN welcomes new article and column writers.
By now you have a sense of the landscape of political publications on campus - there is the conservative Tory, the internationally-focused American Foreign Policy, and the new ethics publication Cornerstone that perhaps ironically shares its name with a consulting firm.
Today is an excellent and exciting time to be a progressive (or whatever you identify yourself as - leftist, liberal, liberal-leaning, moderate, Clintonian, Blue Dog, even a social libertarian Republican Dan May who has an article in this issue). We are on the cusp of an election that could usher in a wave of progressive policies in Washington.
Our cover story recognizes that these policies will come with a change in attitude. But I should add that this attitude change should also include the recognition of the importance of consensus-building that involves conservatives, even though Democrats will have more power in Washington than they have had in at least a decade.
I can initially provide an example of an opportunity for political civility and progress at Princeton. If you read the October issue of the Tory, you may have shared my initial misinterpretation that it did not bode well for dialogue across the political spectrum. Quite a few of the articles were angry in tone rather than calmly expressing debatable opinions, and I thought Joel Alicea in his editor's note had actually apologized for once holding moderate opinions, such as a willingness to criticize elements of the Religious Right and to support a cap-and-trade program to combat global warming.
By now you have a sense of the landscape of political publications on campus - there is the conservative Tory, the internationally-focused American Foreign Policy, and the new ethics publication Cornerstone that perhaps ironically shares its name with a consulting firm.
Today is an excellent and exciting time to be a progressive (or whatever you identify yourself as - leftist, liberal, liberal-leaning, moderate, Clintonian, Blue Dog, even a social libertarian Republican Dan May who has an article in this issue). We are on the cusp of an election that could usher in a wave of progressive policies in Washington.
Our cover story recognizes that these policies will come with a change in attitude. But I should add that this attitude change should also include the recognition of the importance of consensus-building that involves conservatives, even though Democrats will have more power in Washington than they have had in at least a decade.
I can initially provide an example of an opportunity for political civility and progress at Princeton. If you read the October issue of the Tory, you may have shared my initial misinterpretation that it did not bode well for dialogue across the political spectrum. Quite a few of the articles were angry in tone rather than calmly expressing debatable opinions, and I thought Joel Alicea in his editor's note had actually apologized for once holding moderate opinions, such as a willingness to criticize elements of the Religious Right and to support a cap-and-trade program to combat global warming.
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