Interesting Roundtable

The New York Times had a recent roundtable discussion on liberalism with three prominent editors of liberal magazines.

Peter Beinart, the editor of The New Republic
Michael Tomasky, the executive editor of The American Prospect
Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of The Nation

Interesting discussion but too short. Points I found interesting:

" ... perception that liberals are illiberal and nondemocratic"

"... the Bush administration's guiding principle is a belief in military power"

"... do not have a sufficient appreciation of the nonmilitary aspects of American power in this struggle" (against terrorism)

"the Bush administration pursues a more market-oriented philosophy while liberals tend to pursue a more government oriented philosophy. Is there some meeting ground?
TOMASKY. Not on Social Security. Social Security returns efficiencies that very few private programs of its sort can return. It's the greatest social insurance program devised by any government, ever. A lot of Democrats are open to some kind of private account on top of it. But as a principle Social Security is inviolate."

"BEINART. ... New Democrats on the question of trade. It might have produced a kind of synthesis about America pushing for expanded trade deals that have labor and environmental protections -- as opposed to no free trade deals at all, or free trade deals that have no protections whatsoever, which is what the Bush administration generally favors. I think unfortunately that conversation, because the party is not in power, has come to a halt."