National Affairs magazine

About a year and a half ago, I began reading a quarterly publication called National Affairs. It’s published by National Affairs, Inc in Washington, D.C. Today, I want to spend a short time hopefully being persuasive in suggesting you take a careful look at it.

The following from Wikipedia provides a pretty good overview and a testimonial from David Brooks:

National Affairs, Inc. … publishes a public-policy quarterly by the same name. It began publishing National Affairs in September 2009, describing itself as "a quarterly journal of essays about domestic policy, political economy, society, culture, and political thought. It aims to help Americans think a little more clearly about our public life, and rise a little more ably to the challenge of self-government."

On September 7, 2009, David Brooks of the New York Times reviewed the first issue. He wrote that "The Public Interest closed in 2005", leaving "a gaping hole. Fortunately, a new quarterly magazine called National Affairs is starting up today to continue the work." Brooks continued by noting that the magazine occupied "the bloody crossroads where social science and public policy meet matters of morality, culture and virtue." "In a world of fever swamp politics and arid, overly specialized expertise," Brooks wrote in his closing, "National Affairs arrives at just the right time."

The articles are contributions by a number of men and women who hold positions that tell me they have intelligent opinions. So far I’ve not been disappointed. In fact, this is just what the doctor ordered for me, a relatively inarticulate, wannabe deep thinker who tends toward the free market with a slightly right of center prayer, but who cries out at the people who respond to pain by just saying, “oh, she made poor life choices and now has to pay the price—her bad.” I’m a progressive entrepreneur, I guess. Never made much money but enjoyed the ride and believe I continue to make a difference.

It’s fair to say the magazine has a center-right feel. Most, but certainly not all, of the contributors are in that camp or maybe even a bit more right than that. But, I’ve never read an article that I didn’t think offered a good beginning, at least, to some careful thinking about big issue matters. The economy, health care, main stream Americans, what drives our political thinking, childhood obesity, states’ interests vs federal interests, and just about anything that matters regarding American public policy are all found between the covers.

If you, like me, really care beyond knee-jerk, you will really enjoy reading this every few months. This thing is less than $30 a year and just beats the heck out of Oberman and O’Reilly yelling at and talking on top of each other.