The Dish

Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 5 pm.

Words to live by:

"Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on ‘I am not too sure.’"

It’s H. L. Mencken. My version:

"The defining characteristic of the conservative is that he knows what he doesn’t know… The first thing to say is that this philosophy is not warmed-over relativism or nihilism. While the fundamentalist knows the truth, the nihilist believes it is an illusion, that nothing is true, and everything is valid. The conservative differs from both. While not denying that the truth exists, the conservative is content to say merely that his grasp on it is always provisional. He may be wrong. He begins with the assumption that the human mind is fallible, that it can delude itself, make mistakes, or see only so far ahead. And this, the conservative avers, is what it means to be human."

For a full treatment of the political and theological consequences of this, see "The Conservative Soul."

A debate from 1969, in two parts, with themes directly relevant to today. Below is the first. Here is the link to the second. There used to be television like this; and people used to watch it. Now, at least, it’s online.

"Unbeknownst to me, certain people in the White House were thinking, ‘We had to federalize Louisiana because she’s a white, female Democratic governor, and we have a chance to rub her nose in it. We can’t do it to Haley (Barbour) because Haley’s a white male Republican governor. And we can’t do a thing to him. So we’re just gonna federalize Louisiana.’" – Former FEMA head Michael Brown, alleging that even Katrina relief was filtered through Karl Rove’s partisan calculus.

Some readers have asked if the blog will be behind a firewall at the Atlantic.com. Are you kidding? The answer is: Nope; nuh-huh; never; not even close; why would I ever do that? The Dish will be free as always and accessible to all – more accessible, once we implement a whole bunch of changes to expand and deepen the blog. Stay tuned. And thanks for all the emails. I’m as excited as some of you are.

After a wonderful year of growth and innovation at Time.com, the Dish is about to move to a new mother-ship, the Atlantic.com. We’ll be moving in two weeks’ time, when my current contract with Time.com expires. If it seems odd to leave a place that has been so good to me, and to the blog, that’s because it is. Time’s editors were wonderfully supportive and never touched a word. I’m immensely grateful to them. They helped me add video and photography and a higher level of professionalism to the blog than I would ever have achieved on my own. They understood that marrying the new media to the old would be difficult, but they made it look easy. I’d like to thank in particular Jim Kelly, Steve Koepp, Cathy Sharick, Josh Tyrangiel and Rick Stengel for their support and talent.

But every now and again, an offer comes your way that seems so right a decision makes itself. There is no better proprietor in America than David Bradley, whom I have known and respected for years. And I know of no editor I’d rather work for and with than my old friend, James Bennet, who is the new editor of the Atlantic. Their combination of talent and integrity is very, very rare, and I’m lucky to join them.

I went through some research with this decision and one thing really clinched it. It’s the founding Declaration of Purpose of the Atlantic Monthly. The magazine’s history is a deep and distinguished one. It was founded in 1857 by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., and James Russell Lowell (who would become its first editor). When they came up with a statement of principle, it ran as follows:

"In politics, The Atlantic Monthly will be the organ of no party or clique, but will honestly endeavor to be the exponent of what its conductors believe to be the American idea. It will deal frankly with persons and with parties, endeavoring always to keep in view that moral element which transcends all persons and parties, and which alone makes the basis of a true and lasting prosperity. It will not rank itself with any sect of anties: but with that body of men which is in favor of Freedom, National Progress, and Honor, whether public or private."

That’s what this blog, at its core and at its best, is about; it’s what the readers of this blog care about; and it’s what the Atlantic stands for. The prospect of being part of taking this deeply American institution into a new medium in a new century is, for me, an English immigrant, a real honor and privilege. The blog retains its complete editorial independence, of course. You have that guarantee. But it will, I hope, be part of something bigger as well: a voice in a new conversation, dedicated to the American idea, of no party or clique, in pursuit of freedom, national progress, and honor. Come along, will you?

Did Oprah just wreck a child’s life? Dan Savage thinks so.

Today has been somewhat swamped with mundane issues, and I haven’t had time to compose a worthy response to Sam Harris yet. I promise to do so tomorrow, and we’ll continue the blogalogue next week. Apologies for the brief lull.

My English roots are showing, I guess. But he’s a great pop artist, with a sense of humor and irony, sadly lost on much of America. Here’s the new video: "She’s Madonna." Very post-straight.