Matt Welch on The New Republic, Cheerleader for State Power
In March 2012, baby-faced Facebook billionaire and Obama social media guru Chris Hughes purchased The New Republic, the flagship magazine of American progressivism. After nearly a year of hiring, expanding, and reorganizing, Hughes unveiled a redesigned New Republic, featuring on the cover a laughably softball interview that Hughes and TNR Editor Franklin Foer conducted with President Barack Obama. (Sample question: "You spoke last summer about your election potentially breaking the fever of the Republicans. The hope being that, once you were reelected, they would seek to do more than just block your presidency. Do you feel that you've made headway on that?") As Reason Editor in Chief Matt Welch observes, The New Republic has returned to its Progressive era roots as a cheerleader for state power.
