Editor’s Page

The publication schedule of Dissent doesn’t fit neatly with the political schedule of American democracy — so we were not able to “cover” the electoral disaster of November ’94. But the role of a quarterly is, in any case, to reflect on the meaning of such events, and this issue features a series of reflections on America’s Right Turn. We can’t say that we foresaw the full dimensions of the turn, though we have been worrying about the weakening position of the liberal left for some time. The ideological fervor of the contemporary right is a bit surprising; the strength of the economic interests that the ideology masks is not surprising at all. A fierce populist rhetoric co-exists easily with an extraordinary deference to the wealthy and powerful few. But why is the co-existence so easy? The left’s failure is intellectual as well as political.

The right turn is not the result of a mass conversion. It’s not the case tha...