Conservatism Lives — Even in Mamdani’s New York

Waldorf Astoria, New York City — “The world is going to change dramatically over the next five or ten years in a lot of very positive ways,” Joe Lonsdale said as he received the 2026 William F. Buckley Prize at National Review’s annual dinner. The tech entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and founding chairman of the board of the new University of Austin, which is an alternative to the ideological radicalism that tends to strangle a sincere desire for truth in academia, is a young father of six and a breath of fresh air.

With these midterm elections, we’re going on a decade of people saying to me on a somewhat regular basis two things: (1) “Well, at least we know the victory is won.” Meaning: In Christianity, none of these political or cultural battles is the ultimate victory over sin and death, so we’ll be okay, as long as we stay the moral course. Or: (2) “Jesus might be coming soon, right?”

And that’s not even touching the debates and genuine fear of what artificial intelligence — “super intelligence,” if you’re looking to avoid a presidential scolding — means for the future of humanity. But that’s exactly what Lonsdale had in mind. Economically, he’s optimistic: “We should have a very disinflationary 2030s.” He says the “massive productivity” — along with the impact of AI — “is going to affect our culture. It’s going to have a lot of disruption. I’m very positive on it. But the thing about disruption is, you need to stay true to your foundational values. And unless we stay true to these values of our civilization, unless we fight for them really hard, it can very easily get swept aside.”

The hope, then, is based on principle; it’s rooted in truth. It necessitates a clear view of identity as something that is gifted to us rather than something fluid and subject to fashionable and convenient, and often destructive, pressures. A future that resembles and builds on the greatness of our past “requires,” Lonsdale said, each of us to say, ‘This is what I believe.’” This is how we solve problems. This is how we meet challenges.

We had a ballroom full of conservatives in the New York of Zohran Mamdani, the mayor who has declared himself a proud democratic socialist. And so, from the vantage point of someone who appreciates the Christian gratitude for and stewardship of the American experiment with which William F. Buckley Jr. lived his life, I know these are disconcerting times. Steve Forbes was the other Buckley Prize recipient this year, and he pointed to the “unique challenges facing us today,” including the “strange coming back of socialism and communism — one of the most hideous things of the last century,” including especially pernicious antisemitism. “It sounds like we’re back in the 1930s,” Forbes said.

At the same time, the vice president of the United States, JD Vance, who is plausibly one of the main contenders for the next Republican presidential nomination, was on Fox News addressing audience questions. A young woman asked an honest question about how one builds a family life when everything is so expensive, when homeownership is so out of reach for many young people. She’s right to call him on it. Having babies is expensive. Instead of acknowledging that the most important work in the world could use some friendlier public policies across the board, Vance decided to point out that no one had yet asked him about an Ohio senator’s backside. He was obviously joking, making reference to one of Donald Trump’s favorite rally riffs of the moment. The problem is that the vice president just confirmed the fear that some members of our political leadership are not serious people but opportunists willing to accommodate their values to whatever works for winning.

But the next election isn’t the most important victory. How we raise our children and whether our priorities reflect our values are what we’re going to be judged on. The tenderness with which I saw Lonsdale guide his two eldest children after his remarks at the dinner inspired a lot more confidence than much of what most politicians say — and don’t say — these days. That tenderness is needed also in steering the strategy shaping the future of AI.

We need prudence rather than cynical fights for power and credit — in our leadership roles in our families, communities, and the world. Don’t rely on the politicians; they can only ever get us so far. That said, the erosion of moral guideposts — and of restraints rooted in our patrimony — is a long-term political and civilizational danger. It leaves people thirsting for a secular leader to follow, vulnerable to charlatans and worse. And what happens on our screens — the culture, the ever-expanding reach of AI — may play the most pivotal role in who and what we trust.

The point is: There is hope. But sharing in it requires us to commit fully to the continuing work of building a healthy civilization. We need not repeat some of the worst mistakes of history. Instead, we can build on it, learning from what was shameful and what was magnificent in the lives of those who came before.

I’m glad we at NR could honor Forbes, who knew and loved Bill Buckley, and Lonsdale, who I think Bill would have been pleased to see helping shape the next chapter.

This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal’s Newspaper Enterprise Association.