I am a donor to National Review Online. Not a big-money donor — but I contribute my mite or two. Let me tell you why.
I love NRO. It is my favorite website. I visit it every day, multiple times. I get a huge kick out of it. It’s fun. I also learn from it, and am edified by it. Sometimes I am consoled by it.
I don’t agree with every word, obviously. No one does. The writers often disagree with one another. But I want to hear what they have to say. I like the polished and pretty stuff, and I like the rough-and-tumble.
As I have written many times, National Review meant a lot to me when I was younger. But I don’t write my check because of the past. “History is bunk,” said Henry Ford (and sometimes I agree). I write it because NR and NRO mean a lot to me now.
I also know this: NRO needs the money. (So does NR, but that’s another, though related, story.) Advertising revenue doesn’t cut it. We cannot get by without donations from readers.
If you can write a big check, great. If you wish to become our sugar daddy, greater! If you can write just a modest check, like mine — also great.
Just to be clear (“perfectly clear,” Nixon used to say), NRO doesn’t need money for extras. For frills. It needs money for the basics, just to keep going.
I write for NRO, but I read a lot more, and I recognize my dependence (and enjoyment). I know no one makes me pay. But I feel I should.
Yes, I’m employed by NR, Inc., so my livelihood is involved in this whole question of fundraising. But I also think — I really mean it — that our mag and our site do some good for the world.
Is that too mushy? I believe it’s true, regardless. So, thank you so much.
— Jay Nordlinger is a senior editor of National Review. To make a donation to NRO, click here.