Dear Progressive Reader,
The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday, 232 to 196 (mostly along party lines), to formalize the impeachment inquiry that has been underway for more than a month. (About time, right?) And, as Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern explained in his opening remarks, “I truly believe that 100 years from now, historians will look back at this moment and judge us by the decisions we make here today. This moment calls for more than politics. It calls for people concerned not about the reactions of partisans today, but of the consequences of an action decades from now.” The Progressive has long advocated the importance of this process, and especially at this time in our history. We will continue to watch, and report, as it moves forward. Perhaps investigators will even look back before the July 25, 2019 phone conversation to the role played by Trump associates in Ukraine before the 2016 election (some of which was reported last February in The Progressive).
Donald Trump is currently campaigning around the country, attacking the inquiry, and the witnesses. As photographer Joeff Davis documents, it did not go so well in Chicago. Trump’s style is to impugn the character of those who question his imperiousness. As op-ed writer Leslie Hahner points out, “it seems that anyone who speaks against the president, even if they are speaking for their country, will be accused of treachery. These attacks, reminiscent of others waged in our nation’s past, reveal how little today’s conservative commentators understand patriotic devotion.” This past week, these attacks even included an accusation that Lieutenant Colonel Alexander S. Vindman had been a “double agent” since he was an infant. Needless to say, cartoonist Mark Fiore eagerly took this accusation to task.
Elsewhere around the globe this week, Kathy Kelly writes about the role of the United States in fueling extremism in the Middle East; Reese Erlich provides important background on the Brexit conundrum; and Nicholas Frakes reports on the current popular uprising in Lebanon. Plus, Roger Bybee reviews an important new book on the GI resistance movement during the Vietnam War.
And today is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the untimely death of Progressive editor Erwin Knoll. Current editor Bill Lueders provides this reminiscence of the man he first interned for, who gave him a “life-changing experience” in the summer of 1984, and “made being a romantic possible for others.”
Finally, if you are in Arizona, New Mexico, or Colorado, please come join us at a series of events – especially on November 4 in Tucson with Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian, plus two free events on November 7 in Colorado Springs and November 8 in Boulder, where I will join David Barsamian in speaking about “the role of independent media in 2020.”
Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
P.S. – We have begun our annual “Fall Harvest” fundraising drive, where we seek to reap the harvest of all the seeds we have planted during the past year with hard-hitting, independent reporting on issues that matter to you. Your donation today will help keep us on solid ground and help us continue to grow in the coming years. Please use the wallet envelope in the current issue of the magazine, or click on the “Donate” button below to join your fellow progressives in helping sustain The Progressive as a voice for peace, social justice, and the common good. |
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