Big news for the centrist ecosystem out in Semafor last night:
A group of left-leaning writers and journalists are starting a new publication on Monday aimed at arguing in favor of what liberalism is for, rather than just what it’s against.
Jerusalem Demsas left The Atlantic in recent weeks to launch The Argument, a new publication that aims to push back against the populist right by strengthening the ideas and arguments of modern liberalism and convincing readers of their legitimacy.
“To move out of this post-liberal, populist moment towards a better future — one with equal rights, material prosperity, and commitment to human progress — will require our government, culture, politics, and people to recommit ourselves to liberal values,” Demsas said in a statement. “Persuading people here is not the work of 5,000 word treatises on the importance of liberal democracy or lectures about how bad the post-liberal world order is (we get it and no one cares; see the 2024 election!). It’s going to happen if people are convinced the lives they want — prosperous, safe, and free to live how they want — are best protected under liberalism.”
In addition to Demsas, who will serve as the publication’s editor-in-chief and CEO, The Argument is launching with a team of well-known political writers and editors: The organization hired Kelsey Piper, a former contributing editor for Vox’s Future Perfect, and Jordan Weissmann, a former political editor at Semafor, as staff writers. It has also brought on Lakshya Jain as director of political data and Kate Crawford as chief of staff.
But its other draw will be its extensive network of high-profile contributors.
Among the most recognizable names: Substackers Matt Yglesias, Kyla Scanlon, Alice Evans, Joey Politano, and Charlotte Swasey; Abundance co-author Derek Thompson; Atlantic contributor Adam Harris; blogger Matt Bruenig; Heatmap News’ Robinson Meyer; New Yorker contributor Rachael Bedard; Biden administration alumni Mike Konczal and Zach Liscow; the Center for Public Enterprise’s Paul Williams; academics Eric Goldwyn and David Schleicher, economists Adam Ozimek and Maia Mindel; and novelist Adelle Waldman.
The publication will also launch with solid financial backing: Demsas told Semafor The Argument raised around $4 million at a $20 million valuation. The company’s investors include Arnold Ventures, Open Philanthropy, Susan Mandel, Gaurav Kapadia, Rachel Pritzker, Simone Coxe, John Wolthuis, and Patrick Collison. The organization also said it received a grant from Tyler Cowen’s Emergent Ventures.
Many of The Argument’s writers have supported (or, in Thompson’s case, authored) the ideas of Abundance, a recent book advocating for reforms to improve government efficiency, lower the cost of housing, and improve public transportation, among other initiatives.
Their introductory post & video are subtitled How to save liberalism (without being boring).
This is a welcome addition! Back in 2001, we echoed calls for more such outlets in Popularism, But For Organizing:
The Liberal Patriot … called for new investments in a set of organizations and outlets to build a new political narrative.
Liberals need to invest in big-picture, meaning-making institutions and outlets outside government, academia, existing think tanks, and major media outlets. They cannot outsource their narratives to academics, activists, and political journalists, or rely on think tanks that exist to shelter technocrats and increasingly see unrepresentative activists chart their courses to do the job. Looking forward, a new breed of institution that can see and describe the whole picture from an outside perspective will be necessary to build new liberal political narratives that connect particular policies and programs with underlying principles in a compelling and easily comprehensible way.
More explicitly, in “The Future is Faction,” Steve Teles and Robert Saldin of the Niskanen Center articulate our current reality of highly organized political factions on the extremes, and what the majority-making center should do about it. Writing in National Affairs, they propose the tactical path forward to build political identities distinct from the national party brand:
… activists, donors, and intellectuals alienated by the polarized direction of their respective parties will need to redirect their activity toward finding a base of support to mobilize and creating organizations to facilitate their pursuit of power. In places where their respective national parties are weak, these moderate factions will have an opportunity to establish a power base for intra-party conflict. They will need to form new coalitions of elected officials — along the lines of what the Democratic Leadership Council established in the 1980s — to create a political identity distinct from that of the national parties for aspiring officeholders.
As demonstrated on the far-left by Justice Democrats and others, operationalizing this approach has never been easier. As journalist Matt Zeitlin notes, “the parties themselves have never been more flexible and open to political entrepreneurs who can bring in or consolidate a bloc of voters and elected officials.”
Back here in 2025, the world is unfolding as it must. With just 904 days until the next presidential primary, this addition is not a day too late. Cheers to
, , , , , and the rest of the team! Check out their intro post and subscribe below.
Interesting to see Matt Bruenig in there with a lot of more centrists figures