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Introducing &c., a Newsletter by Jonathan Chait

Photo: New York Magazine

You may have noticed that I have a lot of opinions. But the fact is, I have even more opinions than you may realize. Some of those opinions become articles that run on our website or in our print magazine. The rest of them just bounce around in my head or are inflicted on my friends and family. I’m turning those opinions into a newsletter.

The goal is to share all the other ideas I want to get off my chest but don’t naturally work in the format of a column. A lot of those ideas are just going to be arguments or observations about the news. The experience will feel a lot like sitting next to me in a coffee shop while we read the newspaper. Cozier, more informal than writing an article that has a beginning, middle, and end. (See how I just wrote a sentence that isn’t, grammatically, a sentence? You can do that in a newsletter!)

I’m calling it &c, a somewhat old-fashioned representation of etc. that I always liked. It was used in the old “Notebook” section of the New Republic, which I always enjoyed as a reader and as a frequent contributor.

If you’re unfamiliar with my oeuvre, or if you’ve heard of me only as a left-wing coastal elitist (via Fox News) or a neoliberal reactionary (via left-wing Twitter), here’s the deal. My views are liberal, meaning center left. One thing that distinguishes me from other liberals is I consider it acceptable to argue with other people on the left — not only acceptable but necessary since liberalism by its nature requires open debate. I am not here to preach the Truth to fellow believers but to strive toward it imperfectly through trial and error. And to try to make it enjoyable when possible.

My plan is to send out the newsletter once a week or so, though I may wind up revising the frequency upward or downward. I think it will be fun.

Introducing &c., a Newsletter by Jonathan Chait