As editor of The New Individualist – until I can hire a new fulltime one – I obviously vote for my publication. But I’ll add that I always enjoy reading Free Radical – good show, Linz!
To Alec’s inquiries I offer the following differences between the New Individualist and Navigator:
To begin with there are articles by me. I haven’t had anything in Navigator for some time. Further, I’m trying to include some more interesting material that doesn’t sound like an academic treatise. See, for example, the two pieces in the Jan-Feb. issue by the late Charles Tomlinson, which would not have appeared in Navigator. (Note that Charles had posted a piece on SOLO that was rejected by Navigator.)
The real difference is that I want social, cultural, public policy or moral commentary in our journal that is connected with the theme of rational individualism. We want to occupy a particular market niche. (See my article at http://www.objectivistcenter.org/text/ehudgins_new-individualism.asp?navigator )
Unlike the value-relativist libertarians, we understand that individual liberty is necessary because we are rational creatures with free will who should have happiness and flourishing as our individual goals. We understand that the principles appropriate to these goals must be written in our hearts and minds, moral code and moral habits, culture and institutions. Unlike conservatives, we understand that THIS is the value-basis of society, not intrinsicist commandments.
I’m looking for articles from this perspective aimed principally at non-Objectivists who might be sympathetic to us or who we might come around to our perspective, if not to the whole philosophy at least to parts of it. I want articles to focus on particular social, cultural, public policy or moral issues and say: “Look, the reason why you purported friends of freedom keep losing battles over tax policy, regulations or whatever policy is because you keep accepting your enemies premises and offering social rather than individualist moral justifications for keeping your own wealth;” “come on, or “if you accept that need equals entitlement we’ll never get rid of the welfare state;” or “if individuals truly love themselves, they will not screw themselves up on drugs -- the deepest sense of self-worth and self-respect, not armies of drug agents, would eliminate the tragedies of addiction.”
I want the articles to be the Objectivist equivalent of pieces we might find in National Review, the Weekly Standard or the American Spectator at their best (if such a thing is still possible), that is, interesting, informative, thoughtful yet with a unique Objectivist perspective.
It obviously will take a bit of time to get such material in the pipeline for future issues and I welcome ideas for articles.
Will we put the New Individualist on newsstands? I’d love to but that’s tough. I think we need to focus first on making it the kind of publication I discuss above.
We do offer the New Individualist as a subscription publication as well as to our members. I distribute about 150 copies to various DC policy-wonk types – not just politicians – as well as reporters, etc. and I want to expand the list of those who receive it. I want more political and cultural opinion-makers – commentators as well as actual politicians, and others – to receive it. But again, I want to work on getting good material first.
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