Radical Middle Newsletter
Thoughtful Idealism, Informed Hope

 

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Feisty E-mails to the Editor, 2006

Feisty E-mails to the Editor, 2005

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WHO WE ARE:

About the Editor (In-House Version)

About the Editor (By Marilyn Ferguson)

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About Our Sponsor, the Center for Visionary Law

RADICAL MIDDLE  CONGRES- SIONAL SCORECARDS:

109th and 110th Congresses (2005-08)

108th Congress (2003 & 2004)

107th Congress (2001 & 2002)

RADICAL MIDDLE POLITICAL BOOK AWARD WINNERS:

1980 - 2009, Complete

SOME PRIOR RADICAL MIDDLE BOOKS:

50 Best "Third Way" Books of the 1990s

25 Best "Transformational" Books of the 1980s

25 Best "New Age Politics" Books of the 1970s

SOME PRIOR  BOOKS BY MARK SATIN:

New Options for America (book drawn from New Options News- letter, 1983-92)

New Age Politics: Healing Self and Society, 1976

Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada, 1968

"Great source for other links in the great center uprising"
-- Annie Gottlieb, AmbivaBlog, February 24, 2005

50 Great Radical Centrist Political Blogs

I. INTRODUCTORY NOTE FROM EDITOR MARK SATIN

Hundreds if not thousands of blogs are radical middle in orientation now -- it may be the fastest-growing category of instant Internet political commentary!  (By "radical middle" I mean you listen to & genuinely learn from all political perspectives, and USE your learnings to address our fundamental socio-economic problems in creative new ways.)  The blogs we've linked to below strike me as not only radical middle but as unusually

-- original,
-- thoughtful,
-- guileless,
-- information-rich, and / or
-- smart.

I've also included all the blogs cited by John Avlon in his 2006 article "Centrist Political Blogs Are On the Rise."  John is author of Independent Nation (pbk. 2005), advisor to Radical Middle, and a true member of the Internet generation, having been born in 1973.

I hate to sound churlish, but in my opinion NO political blog can do us much good unless we also read (a) books, and (b) a really good daily newspaper [see "Critique of Pure Blogging" elsewhere on this Website].  That being said. . . .

//////////

II. MY 10 FAVES (AT THIS MOMENT)

AmbivaBlog -- from Annie Gottlieb, author of Do You Believe in Magic?: The Second Coming of the Sixties Generation

Donklephant -- from Justin Gardner, former editor of a Kansas City-based political newsletter

How the World Is Really Run -- from David Rothkopf, author of Superclass (reviewed by us HERE)

James Fallows Blog -- from James Fallows, national editor of the Atlantic Monthly (one of our top 10 radical-middle magazines; see HERE)

Matt Miller's Blog -- from Matthew Miller, author of The Tyranny of Dead Ideas (2009) and The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America’s Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love (discussed by us HERE)

Moderate Voice -- from Joe Gandelman, former San Diego Union staff writer

Passport -- from the editors of Foreign Policy magazine (one of our top 10 radical-middle magazines; see HERE)

Ross Douthat Blog -- from Ross Douthat, one of the thinkers pushing conservatism in a more radical centrist direction (see our article HERE)

Ta-Nehisi Coates Blog -- from Ta-Nehisi Coates, former Village Voice staff writer & author of an extraordinary book about life in black America, The Beautiful Struggle

Washington Note -- from Steve Clemons, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation (Washington DC's great radical centrist think tank; see our conference report HERE)

//////////

III. ANOTHER FAB 40 OR SO

Abu Aardvark's Middle East Blog -- from Marc Lynch, associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University

Across the Great Divide -- from Charlie Quimby, chair of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts

Althouse -- from Ann Althouse, law professor at the University of Wisconsin

American Scene -- from creative young conservatives

Another Opinion -- from Paul Hosse, long-time Louisville KY community & political activist

Argument -- from a changing mix of authors & policy analysts representing a variety of viewpoints

Art Levine Confidential -- from Art Levine, Contributing Editor of The Washington Monthly (one of our top 10 radical-middle magazines, see HERE)

Asymmetrical Information -- from Megan McArdle, thirtysomething writer on business, economics, government, and Life

A View from the Radical Middle -- from Per Kurowski, former Executive Director of the World Bank for Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela

Booker Rising -- from Shamara Riley, 30something Chicagoan who swears by Booker T. Washington

Camlaw Blog -- from Michael Cohen, author of Beyond Complementary Medicine: Legal and Ethical Perspectives on Health Care and Human Evolution

Centerfield: A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics -- from Rick Heller and other good people at the Centrist Coalition

Charging RINO: A Centrist Voice in a Period of Extremism -- from Jeremy Dibbell (B.A. '04),  self-described "voice of moderation in a period of extremism"

Christopher Hitchens Web -- from Christopher Hitchens, author of Why Orwell Matters

Daily Dish -- from Andrew Sullivan, former editor of The New Republic

Daniel W. Drezner -- from Daniel Drezner, professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

Dead Armadillos -- from J.D. Whitlock, Medical Service Officer in the U.S. Air Force

Democratic Strategist -- from Ed Kilgore, Ruy Teixeira, and other sensible and well-connected Beltway Democrats

Eduwonk.com -- from Andrew Rotherham, co-director of Education Sector (education policy think tank)

Gruntled Center: Faith and Family for Centrists -- from William (Beau) Weston, self-described "sociology professor . . . AND married father of three"

Indistinct Union -- from Chris Dierkes, Gen-Y explorer of "unity consciousness and Christian life"

Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion -- from Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan

Liberal War Journal -- from Rafique Tucker, self-described "center-left liberal who is pro-defense [and] anti-hysteria"

Man in the Middle -- from James F. Strasma, educator and Methodist minister in suburban Chicago

Moderate Voters -- from Gary Butts, a Southern California voter

NDN Blog -- from Ilan Graff and others at NDN (formerly New Democrat Network)

NeoMugwump -- from Dennis Sanders, "30something, gay, African American, Republican minister" in Minneapolis

Neo-Neocon -- from a female therapist who claims she was mugged by 9/11

New Moderate -- from Rick Bayan, author of The Cynic's Dictionary

OxBlog -- from young Americans who met as grad students at Oxford University in England

Plank -- from Michelle Cottle and others at The New Republic

Political Animal -- from Steve Benen and others at The Washington Monthly (one of our top 10 radical-middle magazines, see HERE)

Radical Civility: An Experiment in Grace and Truth -- from Mark Grimsley, award-winning history professor at Ohio State University

Radical Middle -- from Mark Satin, author of Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now (described by us HERE)

Random Fate -- from Jack Grant, scientist based in Ohio

RConversation -- from Rebecca MacKinnon, "participatory media" scholar and activist

Right Democrat -- from a Democrat who claims that "for too long both parties have ignored the concerns of working and middle class Americans"

Stubborn Facts -- from the latest team of bloggers to join the Centrist Coalition (see "Centerfield" above)

TomPeters! -- from Tom Peters, co-author of In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies

Winds of Change -- from Joe Katzman, former Ernst & Young consultant, and Marc Danziger, consultant on "broken projects"

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IV. STILL NOT SATISFIED?

See our list of over 250 Great Radical Centrist Groups and Organizations.

THE RADICAL MIDDLE CONCEPT:

WHY "Radical Middle"?

50 Thinkers and Activists DESCRIBE the Radical Middle

50 Best Radical Middle BOOKS of the '00s

10 Best Radical Middle MAGAZINES

25  Arguably Radical Middle POLITICIANS

GREAT RADICAL MIDDLE  GROUPS AND BLOGS:

Over 250 Great Radical Centrist GROUPS and  Organizations

50 Great Radical Centrist BLOGS

NOT JUST RADICAL MIDDLE:

10 Best U.S. Political NOVELS

50 Current Activist MEMOIRS

50 Current Political IDEOLOGIES

Organizations REFLECTING 50 Political Ideologies

50 Current Political  MANIFESTOS

Fiction and Memoirs ABOUT Ideologies

25 RED- HOT RADICAL MIDDLE INITIATIVES:

Ashoka

Breakthough Institute

Center for Court Innovation

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

Consensus Building Institute

Environmental Defense Fund

Ethical Markets

Future 500 [corporations & NGOs]

Giraffe Heroes Project

Global Business Network

Information Technology & Innovation Foundation

Institute for Alternative Futures

Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies

International Network on Therapeutic Jurisprudence

National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation

NDN/New Politics Institute

New America Foundation

No Labels

Politics of Trust Network

Progressive Policy Institute

Republican Main Street Partnership

RESULTS

Search for Common Ground

Third Way

Transpartisan Alliance

World Future Society

SOME PRIOR RADICAL MIDDLE INITIATIVES:

Generational Equity and Communitarian platforms,1990s

U.S. Green Party's "Ten Key Values" statement, 1980s

New World Alliance, 1970s

Civil Rights Movement, 1960s (your editor is HERE, 6th from bottom)