For Immediate Release

Contact: Karin K. Freedman/Kyra Jennings
(202) 547-0001

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) hosted a Friday Forum on Friday, December 10 at 12:30 pm featuring Peter Beinart, editor of The New Republic, who discussed his provocative new cover story A Fighting Faith: An Argument for a New Liberalism. The forum featured responses by John Judis, author of The Folly of Empire: What George W. Bush Could Learn from Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson and senior editor of The New Republic, and Gayle Smith, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a former member of the National Security Council.

Beinart argued that, for better or worse, U.S. conservatives have reshaped their national security thinking to confront the Jihadist ideology that motivated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America. Yet liberals have yet to formulate a clear and compelling response to this new brand of totalitarianism, which threatens not only the United States, but liberal democracies everywhere. Beinart challenged progressives to fight the Jihadist creed with as much passion and conviction as they fight injustices at home.

PPI President Will Marshall moderated the discussion. PPI's Friday Forum program is a discussion series featuring Washington's most influential policy and opinion leaders.

The forum was broadcast live on C-SPAN 3 and will be aired on C-SPAN throughout the weekend.

The Progressive Policy Institute's mission is to define and promote a new progressive politics for America in the 21st century. Through its research, policies, and commentary, the Institute is fashioning a new governing philosophy and an agenda for public innovation geared to the Information Age. For additional information, Web users may access The Progressive Policy Institute Online or contact PPI's communications office at (202) 547-0001.