Confessions of a dying publication

Now that that traditional media wagered what was left of their credibility to elect Obama, there's no point anymore in pretending to be objective, much less conservative, as this Newsweek article shows:

We remain a center-right nation in many ways—particularly culturally, and our instinct, once the crisis passes, will be to try to revert to a more free-market style of capitalism—but it was, again, under a conservative ((that should be in so-called quotes -- Jemison)) GOP administration that we enacted the largest expansion of the welfare state in 30 years: prescription drugs for the elderly. People on the right and the left want government to invest in alternative energies in order to break our addiction to foreign oil. And it is unlikely that even the reddest of states will decline federal money for infrastructural improvements.

If we fail to acknowledge the reality of the growing role of government in the economy, insisting instead on fighting 21st-century wars with 20th-century terms and tactics, then we are doomed to a fractious and unedifying debate. The sooner we understand where we truly stand, the sooner we can think more clearly about how to use government in today's world.

...and the larger the battles will become over harnessing government to force people to adhere to a particular agenda, whatever that agenda might be. This is the antithesis of freedom. But Newsweek does a service by pointing out what many on the internet (including me) have been shouting for some time: despite the two-party front, there is but one governing philosophy in Washington--big government socialism. The difference is merely to what end they want to put the overwhelming power of the State.

If you are for small government and individual freedom, you have few friends and allies left in government or the media, as Newsweek finally admits. Ironic, though, that their confession, such as it is, should come as the magazine, like so many other print publications, is dying. Guess we didn't kill off the free market fast enough to save them.

(HT: Vox)