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Honorable Pundits on the Left?
My morning routine, for years, consists of going through posts on Ricochet, Instapundit, Powerline Blog, etc. I’ve felt that I need to read intelligent commentary from the Left, but haven’t found it yet. I know it’s out there, so I appeal to the Ricochet Hive Mind to enlighten me — who is worthwhile reading on the Left?
I don’t miss commentary from The Left, but I find that The Left does obsess about many news-type stories that most conservatives would almost never think or care about. It can sometimes be helpful to know what is out there, and how they think.
I don’t like commentators who are Left or Right if they feel like they can’t be anything other than a cheerleader for “their side.”
A good commentator, in my opinion, is one that provides context and balance.
I want to know all of the arguments that are being made and on what basis.
I’m an open borders righty, and I can still stand to listen to Kaus and even Mark Krikorian. It’s good to expose yourself to the smartest people that disagree with you. It improves your own thinking by thinking through the best arguments of the opposite side, not to mention it lets you continuously check yourself to make sure you don’t hold wrong positions.
Just to echo my favorites already mentioned: Slate Star Codex, Glenn Loury, John McWhorter, Sam Harris. These are the only ones who I check in on regularly. I had to ditch Loury and McWhorter in 2008, as they were far too giddy about Obama, triggering my gag reflex. Now, with the initial thrill of that victory in the distant past, they have far more balanced views, and don’t get them started on Ta-Nehisi Coates, who they rightly loathe.
If I can plug my friend’s blog here too. He’s not on the left per say, he’s more of a radical libertarian like me, but he’s main bugaboo is the drug war, which makes it kind of leftist. He is incredibly insightful, and he doesn’t get enough traffic/credit for how good it is.
GrokInFullness
Can’t agree here. She now mocks everybody who holds the positions she held pre-Trump. That’s not honorable.
You can find better and more informed leftist commentary here. Usually, almost always, someone can elucidate the left liberal position better than the average liberal. Mostly because liberalism has deteriorated into nothing but a series of irritable mental gestures.
I think I approach Jimmy Dore the same way. He’s so entertaining and genuinely funny. I can hang with him through much wrongness, until he gets to the point where his wrongness is so fundamental that it has me thinking that although I don’t question his sincerity I do question 1) his values and 2) his commitment to examining conflicting indicators instead of simply fitting all facts to his bias.
Much of the so called IDW can be lefty. So far, though, I find that they at least are not disingenuous and they tend to address the opposition’s arguments in good faith and they tend to address the best of the arguments. True, sometimes some of them brush up against the line of disingenuousness (don’t we all?), especially the atheists on matters religion and morality.
I like the consistency that the atheists employ in their Islam bashing. They are willing to bash Christianity too and Mormonism and Scientology. But this gives them credibility when they bash Islam, which needs to be criticized.
I find atheists to be tedious. I get it, you don’t believe in a supreme being and a spiritual afterlife. Yeah, sometimes our beliefs sound silly. But over the past 2,000 years we’ve been criticized by better men than you.
I don’t bash anyone’s religion. People believe what they believe for lots of reasons. Some simple and some complicated. We westerners have made an accommodation, believe what you want provided you don’t expect me to adopt your beliefs nor will you use the force of the state to establish a state religion.
Marginal Revolution is a great blog that is mostly left of center, even though Tyler Cowen teaches at George Mason University.
Several of us mentioned Scott Alexander at Slate Star Codex and his friends. One friend of his runs the blog PutANumOnIt, and though I don’t know PutANumOnIt’s politics specifically (I’d guess center-left), the blog’s writer, Jacob Falkovich, is sometimes published in Quillette, and says pretty interesting stuff. I put up a post about it here.
I suggest the columnists at the Washington Post. The cost of a full year subscription is only $99.
Let me add Camille Paglia to the list of progressives who are worth reading.
Thanks for that one, I forgot about McWhorter – a wonderful writer, too.
With Camille Paglia and some of the others, let’s admit what we’re doing. Or at least what I’m doing.
I’m not getting the intelligent left’s view on health care or taxes. I’m reading her specifically on issues where she expresses views that match my own, views generally associated with my tribe.
She’s good to read on the other stuff as well, because she’s not shy about pointing out where the left has gone off the rails. Then you can argue against the left from both sides; not only do you disagree with their principles, but they aren’t living up to their principles anyway.
That column is just . . . fantastic.
Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit. He might be a tad more libertarian than really left, but he’s probably L of Center.
While Harris isn’t nearly as hyperbolic as many nasty liberals, he’s the king of smarmy insulting elitism. The problem is he’s not nearly as smart as he thinks, but he chose religion bashing as his forte…so he can get away with being fundamentally uneducated about his subject matter.
Anyway, stick with FOX for decent liberal thought. Thats one thing good about FOX….liberals can’t stay employed there by spouting hate and propaganda. It makes them up their game. Juan Williams is a good example. Nate Silver is another good one, although I suspect he’s caved to the crazies by now.
I’ve been reading Instapundit nearly since its inception. Glenn is definitely both a small government and Fi-Con. Definitely libertarian leaning, and not a SoCon. The recent additions of co-bloggers have reinforced those leanings and made them a bit more edgy.
Thanks to all for your suggestions.
@midge Thanks for recommending this article, I meant to say so earlier but had forgotten who mentioned it to me.
I can’t think of *anything* I’ve ever read from Glenn Reynolds that made me think he could in any way be classified as “left of center”.
Kevin Drum, back during most of the Bush 43 admin was pretty hard left but intellectually honest and a reasonable guy. Unfortunately his comments section was a nightmare, and he seemed to follow that lead – I can’t even recall the last time I read his stuff.
Thanks for the thanks!
More Slate-Star-Codex goodness discussion on Ricochet here, for the interested. This time it’s Overton Windows.