Editor's Desk: The New Indulgences

by Sherrie Gossett
Summer 2009 issue --  President Obama seems to have taken a page from Pastor Rick Warren’s playbook. POTUS is calling us to the National Purpose-Driven Life. A “New Era of Responsibility” is upon us. Whether you’re a shovel-ready serf or a repentant millionaire, opportunities for atonement abound.

To paraphrase Johann Tetzel’s 16th-century ditty: Every time a coin in the coffer rings, a citizen from this phony purgatory springs.

POTUS is calling us to the National Purpose-Driven Life.

 The Obama administration kicked off the “New Era of Responsibility,” not in sackcloth and ashes, but with a stimulus package so stuffed with pork that the Democrats managed to outdo the Bush Republicans’ arrogant gluttony at the trough. It’s a wonder these porcine representatives managed to wedge themselves through the creaking doorframes of House and Senate chambers in order to vote on it. One could be forgiven for concluding that the true White House motto is “Responsibility is irresponsibility. Irresponsibility is responsibility,” and in this, Obama seems to owe a debt to Orwell, as well as to Warren.

In this issue’s themed section, “Who Owns You?”, we take a closer look at President Obama’s “New Era of Responsibility.” David Kelley explains how Obama is signaling his philosophical agenda, and what this agenda means for your future as an individualist. After all, self-ownership and self-responsibility are intertwined. Will Thomas weighs in on calls for greater regulation and explains how regulation undermines your freedom of choice, and Ed Hudgins takes a dig at the “Servile Citizen.”

The GOP and some key conservatives get hung out to dry in this issue as well. Don’t miss Ilana Mercer’s hilarious skewering of “La McCain” or Roger Donway’s quizzical, then lethal reaction to Mark Levin’s bestseller, Liberty and Tyranny.

When Donway takes his pen to Outliers, the hapless Malcolm Gladwell winds up pierced in a number of Valid Target Areas.

Changing gears, I’m happy to note that Kira Newman, who interned with us last summer, is back with us. Kira just completed a writing program in Paris. Another young, up-and-coming individualist, Anja Hartleb-Parson, who hails from Rockford via the former East Germany, also will be freelancing with TNI. Supporting the next generation of talented New Individualists is an important part of our mission here at TNI.

Lastly, we were pleased to see the overwhelmingly positive response to the redesign and re-conception of TNI—and there’s more yet to come.Some of these responses are in the “Speak! For yourself” section of this issue. TNI relies primarily from donations to the publisher, The Atlas Society. We run a tight operation, but subscription fees don’t begin to cover the cost of producing the magazine. If you value this publication, would you consider supporting it by making a donation to The Atlas Society?

You can donate either online at www.atlassociety.org or by phone, by calling 800-374-1776.

Thank you.

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