Inconsistency?

Dear Madam:

In the past year,my reading of the Spectator has exposed a rather glaring inconsistency which I hope you will address. The last page of each issue gives credit to the Foundation for Intellectual Diversity and its motto, “ideas without labels.”This is a laudable goal that deserves currency in the contemporary political climate.Institutions such as Brown University seek to instill the notion that ideas must be evaluated on their merits, not merely on the basis of whether they are considered “liberal” or “conservative.”The front cover, however, proudly advertises the Spectator as “A monthly journal of conservative and libertarian thought,” a clear indication that its purpose is to disseminate “ideas with labels.”At the outset,the publication categorically rejects viewpoints that it does not consider conservative or libertarian. Indeed, Spectator articles regularly denigrate liberal and left-wing opinions.This ideological orientation is fundamentally incompatible with the unbiased spirit of inquiry that the Foundation purports to rep-resent. Perhaps the Spectator repudiates the stated views of the Foundation for Intellectual Diversity, the very institution that gives it financial viability? Or is the Foundation practicing a form of intellectual dishonesty by claiming to support “ideas without labels”yet exclusively funding conservative activities?

Sincerely,