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First of all, a disclaimer about my own views: I vote Democratic but my views on individual issues are all over the place.
Secondly, for those of you who don't know (and there's really no reason you should), "The Nation" is a magazine that was first published in 1865 to combat racism after Lincoln freed the slaves. It is self-described as: "The Flagship of the Left". It is also the longest-running continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. (thanks Wikipedia) The only reason that I know about it is because my parents have had a subscription for almost 30 years (they're card-carrying members of the ACLU as well).
While I'm sure that the mag started out with great ideas, it has become the MOST HYPOCRITICAL publication that I have ever come across. Many times each year, "The Nation" publishes passionate articles ranting against fundamentalist Christianity. At the same time, it constantly publishes articles complaining about civil rights violations (all over the world) of any other religion besides Christianity. Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, you name it.
The rag spent the past eight years ranting against George W (whom I despise), but offered only unrealistic neo-communist solutions to the problems that his administration supposedly caused. The rag has countless articles each year whining about the super-rich and their "quest" to destroy the middle-class. However, almost every other page in the mag-rag (trying to use new nouns to describe the piece of garbage) is asking for money for subscriptions, its "Foundation", or causes not even specified. The back cover of last week's garbage has an ad for cell phones. Yet the ink-covered toilet paper is constantly ranting against the dangers of dependence on mass electronic media.
The publication is passionately anti-gun. I'm talking they don't even want cops (whom I also despise) to have them. Yet the writers describe the U.S. and many other countries as dangerous fascist police states where any minute anyone can be picked up, thrown in a cell, and tortured to death without any trace of them ever having existed. If this were the case, I would want to be armed to the teeth.
The coffee table coaster is against the death penalty in every situation, but it constantly has articles about "murderers" not being brought to justice. The Editors complain of soaring U.S. population, but want anyone to be able to move to the "Land of Opportunity" (illegally) and be given full citizenship.
Lastly, the advertisements in this despicable weekly collection of essays include pamphlets "proving" Jesus never existed (I'm an agnostic but I certainly believe there was a dude named Jesus Christ living about 2,000 years ago.), cheesy novelty T-Shirt companies, erotic 900 numbers, and many other fine-print scams.
I hope you get the idea. The only views I agree with that "The Nation" constantly discusses are the decriminilization of illegal drugs (pretty much just pot) in America, the right for a woman to choose, and an immediate end to the WAR in Iraq.