The American Prospect was founded in 1990 as an authoritative magazine of liberal ideas, committed to a just society, an enriched democracy, and effective liberal politics. Robert Kuttner, Robert Reich, and Paul Starr launched the magazine initially as a quarterly.

Since then, the Prospect has grown into a magazine with a paid circulation of 55,000, a special in-depth report in most issues, and a daily Web magazine (www.prospect.org) with more than 300,000 monthly visitors.

Our mission, simply put, is to rise to the momentous occasion that confronts all Americans who seek a just society built on our greatest traditions. Contemporary conservatism stands to thwart those traditions; it advances its agenda by way of stealth, fear-mongering, and a massive propaganda apparatus. It is our mission to expose that agenda and the lies that support it.

Rising to our historical occasion also means reviving and rebuilding liberalism, renewing its connections both to American history and to people's lives in the 21st century, and giving progressive political leaders the weapons they need for battle. Through dogged reporting, cool analysis, witty commentary and passionate argument, the Prospect strives to beat back the right wing and to build a majority of true patriots who understand what really makes America great.

The Prospect's articles generate debate, further ideas, and set agendas. We explore and challenge the conservative views of policy and politics that have been so seductive in this era. Political leaders and journalists look to the Prospect to see what smart, resolute liberals have to say. The American Prospect does not back political candidates, nor does it attempt to achieve unanimity or even consistency among its writers. It seeks to provide a forum for working through the heated controversies and hard choices that vex its editors and writers as much as other Americans.

Our readers include notables and ordinary citizens who want a practical politics for a progressive America. It is a magazine of public ideas, firmly committed -- however unfashionably -- to public improvement.

We founded the Prospect out of a conviction that the conservative undertow in American political life is profoundly influenced by the dominance of conservative media and think tanks. Our conservative counterparts have played a critical role in pulling the entire national debate to the right. We intend to take it back.