Lawrence Davidson: Marty Peretz And The Dangers of Obsessive Love
[Lawrence Davidson is Professor of History at West Chester University, West Chester, Pa and author most recently of Foreign Policy, Inc.: Privatizing America’s National Interest (2009).]
Martin Peretz is editor-in-chief of The New Republic. He acquired that position by simply buying the magazine in 1974. Although he resold it to a group of investors in 2002, they were, and apparently remain, his ideological soul mates for he continues to this day to be the magazine’s executive editor.
Peretz’s New Republic is a far cry from the original magazine. The origin of The New Republic goes back to 1914 when it was established by Herbert Croly and Walter Lippman. From the first the magazine was liberal and progressive. Between the First and Second World Wars it took a stand against the growing ideological enmity that bred the Red Scares and their accompanying violations of the civil rights of Americans. In the 1950s it took a principled stand against both Soviet tyranny and the McCarthy witch hunts. In the 1960s the magazine took a position opposing the Vietnam War. Little of this survived Peretz’s remaking of The New Republic. Within a year of gaining control he fired most of the staff and shifted the editorial direction toward the center/right. The new New Republic supported Reagan’s foreign adventures, including alliances with terrorists such as the Contras, and later both Persian Gulf Wars. Sometimes the magazine would selectively back Democrats. It backed Al Gore (a personal friend of Peretz) for president and waxed elegant about the likes of Joseph Liberman. One progressive policy the magazine decided to support was universal health care. Peretz claims to be a life-long supporter of the Democratic Party but that has not stopped the ultra conservative National Review from touting The New Republic as “one of the most interesting magazines in the United States.”
One of the reasons we can get this mixed bag of positions from Peretz’s New Republic is because domestic policy is but a secondary interest of the editor-in-chief. “I care most about foreign policy” Peretz admits, and there is one aspect of foreign policy toward which he is down right obsessive. That aspect is U.S.-Israeli relations. In more ways than one he keeps declaring that “I am in love with the state of Israel.” And how does he tell the world of his love? Mainly through the pages and blog of The New Republic. He has made it into his mouthpiece, his vehicle for declaring his abiding passion for “Zion.”...
Martin Peretz is a good example of that subset of Americans whose single-minded dedication to Israel makes them, for all intents and purposes, agents of a foreign power. Indeed, in his willingness to pronounce his affection in the most indiscrete way, Peretz can be seen as their spokesman. These folks get very upset when you describe them this way, but that is because they have so mixed up America and Israel that, in their minds, there is no real difference between the two. As the Bard once said, “love is blind and lovers cannot see what petty follies they themselves commit.” Alas, these follies are far from petty....
Read entire article at Informed Comment (Blog)
Martin Peretz is editor-in-chief of The New Republic. He acquired that position by simply buying the magazine in 1974. Although he resold it to a group of investors in 2002, they were, and apparently remain, his ideological soul mates for he continues to this day to be the magazine’s executive editor.
Peretz’s New Republic is a far cry from the original magazine. The origin of The New Republic goes back to 1914 when it was established by Herbert Croly and Walter Lippman. From the first the magazine was liberal and progressive. Between the First and Second World Wars it took a stand against the growing ideological enmity that bred the Red Scares and their accompanying violations of the civil rights of Americans. In the 1950s it took a principled stand against both Soviet tyranny and the McCarthy witch hunts. In the 1960s the magazine took a position opposing the Vietnam War. Little of this survived Peretz’s remaking of The New Republic. Within a year of gaining control he fired most of the staff and shifted the editorial direction toward the center/right. The new New Republic supported Reagan’s foreign adventures, including alliances with terrorists such as the Contras, and later both Persian Gulf Wars. Sometimes the magazine would selectively back Democrats. It backed Al Gore (a personal friend of Peretz) for president and waxed elegant about the likes of Joseph Liberman. One progressive policy the magazine decided to support was universal health care. Peretz claims to be a life-long supporter of the Democratic Party but that has not stopped the ultra conservative National Review from touting The New Republic as “one of the most interesting magazines in the United States.”
One of the reasons we can get this mixed bag of positions from Peretz’s New Republic is because domestic policy is but a secondary interest of the editor-in-chief. “I care most about foreign policy” Peretz admits, and there is one aspect of foreign policy toward which he is down right obsessive. That aspect is U.S.-Israeli relations. In more ways than one he keeps declaring that “I am in love with the state of Israel.” And how does he tell the world of his love? Mainly through the pages and blog of The New Republic. He has made it into his mouthpiece, his vehicle for declaring his abiding passion for “Zion.”...
Martin Peretz is a good example of that subset of Americans whose single-minded dedication to Israel makes them, for all intents and purposes, agents of a foreign power. Indeed, in his willingness to pronounce his affection in the most indiscrete way, Peretz can be seen as their spokesman. These folks get very upset when you describe them this way, but that is because they have so mixed up America and Israel that, in their minds, there is no real difference between the two. As the Bard once said, “love is blind and lovers cannot see what petty follies they themselves commit.” Alas, these follies are far from petty....