Since 1955, National Review has been standing “athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.” When Buckley wrote those famous words in the first issue of NR, he noted that NR was “out of place,” contrasting his magazine with the capital-L Liberals and with fringy or ineffectual elements of the Right.
As this magazine makes a big change from a fortnightly to a monthly, it’s worth taking stock — and, sure enough, we are still out of place, and still committed to the ideals that made us so then and make us so now.
On this occasion, we thought it made sense to recapitulate our core commitments. Below, you’ll find a mission statement and brief explication of what we’re fighting for. This is necessarily a broad-brush exercise, so not every policy priority of ours makes an explicit appearance (for instance, border security and a merit-based legal-immigration system). But the big, encompassing categories are there, as well as the overriding devotion to the American way, and in particular the ordered liberty favored by our Founding Fathers.
All of this is important, but none of it is new. Indeed, there is a direct line from Buckley’s founding editorial and the seven-point credenda he included at its end to the statement below, and it runs through the nearly 70 years of journalistic effort in between.
As for still being out of place, it almost goes without saying.
The popular and intellectual culture in which we operate is dominated by the Left, and we remain unafraid to stand up against its pieties. No matter what the New York Times or CNN or 123 signatories on an open letter from university professors say, there are only two sexes, babies in the womb are human beings, and there is no epidemic of police violence against black men, or men of any other skin color for that matter. The battle for objective truth and against relativism rages on, and we’re on the front lines every day.
Despite communism’s evils having been repeatedly demonstrated over the last century, more than 1.5 billion people remain under communist rule today. About 11 million of them live on an island 90 miles off our shore. And too many here at home are beguiled by socialism’s false promises.
The tinkerers, the social engineers, the sort of people who believe they can uproot long-standing habits with just the right government program, or rejigger society, working in tandem with corporate titans enamored with stakeholder capitalism or the latest fad — these are our permanent ideological and political enemies. They work for the government, for the universities, and for the Fortune 500. They want to skirt the Constitution, corrupt our youth, and coerce other people’s capital to their cause. They are ultimately doomed to fail, for the same reason central planning is always doomed to fail, but they can do plenty of damage between now and then.
The United States of America is not just another country on the U.N. roll call, or just one of several great powers, each with an equally legitimate claim on world leadership. It is the greatest political project man has ever embarked upon, and it must be preserved. The U.S. is more important than any one person in it. It doesn’t need a politician-savior, and it never will. The political salvation of America will always be where its Constitution begins, with the people.
We are used to the Left rejecting our premises, as it has done from the beginning. We are also familiar with, though we do not gratuitously seek out, occasions during which disagreeing with our ideological kin becomes necessary. This is sometimes mischaracterized as an unwillingness to fight or a willingness only to chide our own side; to the contrary, it reflects a belief that only a healthy and sound conservatism can save America.
To the extent that voices on the right counsel a rejection of tenets conservatives rightly hold dear — a constitutional state, equality before the law, a confident America on the world stage, a free economy — they are a funhouse-mirror version of the Left, employing its fallacies to their own ends.
The battle of ideas is fierce, and we’ve never coddled our (truly extraordinary) readers, as a sign of our mutual respect. As a journalistic institution, we affirm and practice the American tradition of lively public debate on the issues of the day. We’ve always rejected the false conformity of thought that would come with publishing only pronouncements of our editorial line. We run articles on art, literature, and philosophy that are meant to broaden and deepen our perspectives.
In short, when the Left assaults our constitutional order and way of life, when demagogues thrive, and when public discourse is increasingly focus-grouped and dumbed down, National Review stands athwart. Again, we’re out of place. But we’re fighting for the greatest country in the history of the world. And we like to think that still makes NR today what Buckley wrote it was in 1955: just about the hottest thing in town.
Mission Statement
National Review defends and advances the ordered liberty that is necessary to human flourishing and to a free, prosperous, and strong America.
The United States grew from seedbeds in Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem, and especially in the English traditions of accountable government, from Magna Carta to the Glorious Revolution. America built on the best of this inheritance through the colonial experience, the Revolution and the Declaration of Independence, the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, and seminal events since — including the Civil War and the extension of civil rights — to create a great experiment in self-government and a truly exceptional nation.
All our efforts are geared toward preserving that experiment and the foundations of American exceptionalism — in particular the ordered liberty that reflects the Founders’ belief in our ability to govern ourselves as well as their clear-eyed view that we need institutional and cultural constraints, personal virtue, and, above all, religious faith to maintain the predicates of freedom.
Our priorities include:
Constitutional Government
The U.S. Constitution is the best governing document created by man. Its protection of rights, its latitude for democratic decision-making constrained by guardrails, its balance among the branches of government and between the federal and state governments, and its allowance for the diversity of a vast continent-spanning country within a framework of national cohesion reflect a work of genius. The Constitution must always be defended as the foundation of the American republic.
Free Enterprise
Without economic liberty, people cannot be free and cannot express their God-given creativity and drive. Free markets have made possible the extraordinary economic and technological advances that have made us prosperous and powerful. Economic freedom and its associated elements — the rule of law, property rights, and social trust — are necessary to a free, just, and vibrant society that has ample opportunity for individual advancement. In debates about government intervention in the economy, our presumption should always be in favor of freedom.
Moral Bedrocks
Freedom depends on an intrinsic moral order and fundamental virtues, without which lives lose meaning and society loses cohesion. The traditional two-parent family is the most basic building block of our society. All human beings, born and unborn, deserve the equal protection of the laws. Personal responsibility is foundational to individual achievement and orderly social life. Community is a guard against atomized individualism and a source of countless other social goods. Belief in objective truth is necessary to pursue the higher things and to protect against relativism and nihilism. Religious faith is not only useful as a check on selfishness and a pillar of civilizational self-confidence; America’s faith in God is a conduit of blessing upon the nation and its enterprises.
A Strong Defense
Peace through strength is an enduring American idea beginning with the strategic thought of George Washington. It is the approach to national security most consistent with a realistic appreciation of human nature and the protection of our sovereignty, interests, and values. It depends on a strong military, a vibrant military-industrial base, and technological innovation. We must preserve a forward-leaning posture abroad — better to counter threats before they come to our shores — and an American-led system of alliances as a force multiplier. Our overwhelming priority is advancing our national interests. When it is consistent with that priority, we should be friends of the true advocates of freedom everywhere.
Love of Country
Patriotism is the lifeblood of a nation. We should revere our national symbols, heroes, and traditions, as well as our founding documents. America’s survival depends on teaching our children to do the same and protecting the schools from ideologically driven distortions of our history. Our patrimony deserves civic and cultural institutions dedicated to our national memory and highest ideals. Military service should be encouraged and honored. Whatever America’s imperfections, we can never forget that she is great and good.
Defending Western Civilization
We need to know the sources of our civilization in the ancient, medieval, and early-modern world. We must defend the West from its enemies in academia and popular culture, restore to our schools the teaching of Western Civ, and ensure that our children know about — and engage with — the statesmen, thinkers, artists, and writers whose extraordinary contributions changed the world.