“…Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed…so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger.” — Patrick Henry

“The government of the Western nations, whether monarchical or republican, had passed into the invisible hands of a plutocracy, international in power and grasp. It was, I venture to suggest, this semi-occult power which….pushed the mass of the American people into the cauldron of World War I.” — British military historian Major General J.F.C. Fuller, l941

“The real menace of our republic is this invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy length over city, state and nation. Like the octopus of real life, it operates under cover of a self created screen….At the head of this octopus are the Rockefeller Standard Oil interests and a small group of powerful banking houses generally referred to as international bankers. The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually runs the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both political parties.” — New York City Mayor John F. Hylan, 1922

“Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.” — Spencer Johnson

“A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away.” — Barry Goldwater

“Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature … If the next centennial does not find us a great nation…it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.” — James Garfield in 1877

Eric Alterman
Noam Chomsky
Robert Kuttner
Lewis Lapham
Bill Moyers
Tom Tomorrow
Howard Zinn

as well as contribute these:

Bob Altemeyer
Eric Foner
Todd Gitlin
William Greider
Sam Harris
George Lakoff
Michael Lind
Juliet Schor
Gore Vidal

I think you raise a great point. Because humans are so diverse it really is hard to stereotype any person into any distinct category. That is what makes politics what it is, a hodgepodge of diverse opinions loosely strung together by party affiliation. I don’t know if that is a bad thing or a good thing but it is what we have so I suppose we have to go with it

A mild hold-the-f-up backatcha…the original request to Barry was for ‘academics, thinktankers, columnists, even politicians.’

Cesca is as qualified as any other blogger (let’s take Kos for instance), and bloggers are basically as qualified as columnists (just what has Mo Dowd or George Will actually ever done besides opine?).

Your point is nonetheless well taken in that the core of any school of thought begins with the ‘deep thinkers.’ But without the evangelists and popularizers in the mass media much of that deep thought remains buried and ultimately useless. (Etzioni may be an exception in that he’s been a relentless self-promoter for the 30 years I’ve lived in Washington.)

Excellent statement Barry – I guess we should first start by the definition of Libertarian – which by asking any one of them to define – would be different than the others – and of course any defining of ..Wanting… a current definition of Libertarian is NOT reality based – a political reality today is untenable by anyone’s current reality.

For johnnieA – I believe for a fair amount of $ – DeLorme has a map of “out of the way CAVES in the USA

finally “defining me” any “me” by any other person, does not understand my conservative and my liberal attitudes after considering the pre-potent prejudices of the accuser.

Having said that – Howard Zinn is the ultimate – having gone to his after hour lectures at BU 45 years ago. – of course my opinion.

I saw Bill Clinton mentioned buy Bubba was a centerist Democrat. Observers of his Admin. are generally of the opinion that it was Hillary’s undue influence that moved Bill, (time-and-again,) to the left. Here is a woman who believes there isn’t a problem that can’t be solved by big/federal government; that health care is a “right” and she didn’t make the cut?

Yet, when it comes to issues of personal lifestyle & behavior, especially in financial matters, there is no person more truly conservative on this earth than this pinko liberal mother of mine. She didn’t start working until after raising 4 children (all of whom went to college on their father’s tiny Unitarian minister’s salary), and in spite of that managed to accumulate a sizeable nest egg that has sustained her in comfort and security in her later years. And all of it due to unrelenting frugality and a tight hold onto every nickel. Every purchase was scrutinized, credit cards were avoided, and prudent investments were made at every step. So what is she, liberal or conservative?

In this general vein, I nominate Andrew Sullivan. Sure, he’s a self-professed conservative who is concerned about an unwise expansion of government activity in economic matters under Obama (who he strongly supported in both the primaries and general election), but he’s also been relentless in his criticism of Bush “conservatives” on issues of torture, illegal government surveillance, and anti-science know-nothingism in contemporary conservativism (favorite “liberal” causes, all), and is a rarity among mainstream political commentators in his forthright if not strident defense of full rights for gays.

As far as the question of bringing dirty politics into discussions of economic issues goes, it’s ridiculous to assume that there is no connection between the two. Pretending as though there isn’t is fantasy and denial.

There are foundational thinkers that inform liberalism — and while Bob Cesca is funny, he’s not, you know, a THINKER.

John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice attempts to reconcile liberty with equality through application of “fair choice”. This books pretty much is the foundation and philosophical justification of modern American liberal thought.

Thomas Nagel is a Hungarian American philosopher who has written extensively about liberal moral and political theory in The Possibility of Altruism.

Richard Rorty traced modern American Liberal thought back to the Pragmatism of Charles Pierce and William James, through John Dewey in Achieving Our Country. His sees the Liberal tradition as an attempt to bring the promise of American democracy to fruition. He suggests the best way to organize a diverse Liberal society is a collective opposition to cruelty.

Amitai Etzioni’s ideas around Communitarianism informed a lot of Clinton’s social policies and to an extent Bush’s.

And of course John Kenneth Galbraith for championing Keynesian economics in North America.

Buckminster Fuller and Rachel Carson contributed a lot of understanding of resource management and ecology.

It’s funny, because it seems to me (grand sweeping generalization here) that liberals don’t have that strong of a sense of their own intellectual history, and I wish that wasn’t the case. It’s a really shame, because there is some really rewarding stuff out there.

What I mean is, anyone to consider Arianna Huffington, her writers, and/or her pop star Hollywood fluff web site as “thinkers” must still be in high school locking themselves in their bedroom lip syncing to Rihanna.