I sent our readers an email a few weeks ago asking why they choose National Review. We received hundreds of responses within a few hours.

One person said they read NR “to get the truth.” Another said NR communicates the “conservatism I have embraced for my entire life – limited government, adherence to the constitutional perspectives of the Founders, an engaged and proactive foreign policy, free trade and a muscular national defense.” Another wrote that we keep them “informed in an entertaining way. . . . I feel encouraged every time after reading” NR.

We are blessed with truly remarkable readers, and we’re grateful for you.

In the early 1950s, when William F. Buckley was seeking initial investment in National Review, he wrote that the “philosophy of freedom” needed to be “expounded systematically, brilliantly, and resourcefully.” Our commitment to doing so has never wavered, never changed, and never will.

What has changed over the years, radically, is the media landscape. The lines between journalism, entertainment, and activism are becoming increasingly blurred. The pace and scale of media distribution have accelerated. To continue to effectively advocate for the principles we believe in, we need to grow and expand our efforts.

Over the last few months, we have adopted a new vision statement and strategic framework. We still “stand athwart,” but in a political moment when we’re yelling stop at the woke left and their unhinged gender agenda, their war on meritocracy, and so much more, we felt we needed to make clear what we stand for, too.

We stand for truth and sanity in the war of ideas.

I admit, when we were discussing this vision statement, I thought saying that we stand for “truth and sanity” was like saying, “I stand for air because I like breathing it.” The more we discussed it as a team, though, it became clear that these are endangered virtues, that somebody has to stand for them. If not National Review, who?

Not only do we have remarkable readers, but we have remarkable writers and leaders across our organization. We are deeply grateful for their dedication that produces the incredible commentary and coverage on NRO and in the print magazine. We are also positioning ourselves to improve and expand how and where we bring National Review to you. As a part of this effort, we have recently brought on several new leaders. I am excited to announce the addition of a new chief development officer for NRI, chief marketing officer, chief of staff, and chief technology officer. A little about them:

  • Chief development officer for National Review Institute: Adam Novak joins us from the American Enterprise Institute where he served as senior major gifts officer. He has nearly two decades of fundraising experience; prior to his time at AEI, Adam served as adviser to the president for donor relations at the Heritage Foundation.
  • Chief marketing officer: Emily Butler joins us after nearly a decade of leading digital marketing at the Daily Wire and Young America’s Foundation. She oversaw substantial growth in social media engagement and video views at both organizations.
  • Chief of staff: Erin Rapa spent much of her career with Stand Together and served in the Trump White House during the first term where she managed departmental operations and events and programs.
  • Chief technology officer: Brian Wilson joins after nearly a decade of leading software development at i360, a data and technology company that serves conservative organizations.

With these experienced hands joining an already-stellar team at National Review, I carry the same optimism today that Buckley did in 1955. I can echo his earnest pledge that “we have nothing to offer but the best that is in us” — and that, besides ourselves, that includes “a position that has not grown old under the weight of a gigantic, parasitic bureaucracy, a position untempered by the doctoral dissertations of a generation of Ph.D’s in social architecture, unattenuated by a thousand vulgar promises to a thousand different pressure groups, uncorroded by a cynical contempt for human freedom.”

Truth. Sanity. Onward.