Congressman Bob Turner. I don’t know about you, but to me, that special-election victory was a pleasant surprise. The election of a conservative Republican — pro-life and pro-marriage — in New York City was cause for celebration, and the more so because of some of the reasons for the win: growing opposition, even among registered Democrats, to liberal economic policy, liberal health-care policy, and even the cultural and legal push for a redefinition of marriage.

Bob Turner, by the way, got his first national coverage from yours truly on National Review Online. That was in 2010, when he challenged Rep. Anthony Weiner. Conservative-party chairman Mike Long and pollster John McLaughlin knew it was a long shot with the power Weiner then wielded. But Turner didn’t do too badly that first time round, gaining 40 percent of the vote against a six-term incumbent, despite the lack of resources and of mainstream-media attention. And now Turner — the guy who decided he’d had enough while watching his congressman on The O’Reilly Factor — has provided a little hope and change in the 9th district of New York.

I know not all readers of National Review and National Review Online agree with me, or with NR corporately, on all the issues — including some of the contentious ones that played a role in the Turner race — but, given that you are here, reading this, I suspect we have much in common. We want to preserve what has made our nation that shining city on a hill, that beacon for those who seek freedom. And you come back here because you know that Mark Steyn and Jonah Goldberg and Ramesh Ponnuru and Rich Lowry and Andy McCarthy and Victor Davis Hanson and Thomas Sowell and Charles Krauthammer and Kevin D. Williamson and — the list goes on and on — are in the business of conserving the constitutional values that have stood the test of time.

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— Kathryn Jean Lopez is editor-at-large of National Review Online.