The goal (arbitrary) of raising $350,000 – it’s now (also arbitrary) $425,000 – has been surpassed, thanks to 2,898 kind souls who have contributed $387,527 to our March webathon, which ends at midnight on March 29. The annual deficit – the task (the cause) of relentlessly attacking the Left – is a (no fib) seven-figure, red-ink-swimming reality. Also a reality (besides our deep appreciation): Our ability to survive and thrive is dependent upon a certain number of our readers accepting membership in a very special and broad and democratic band of brothers and sisters; the cost of belonging begins at the Widow’s Mite.
Just because a goal has been met does not nullify the bigger need, so we hope that those who have been intending to donate – especially readers who spend hours a day on NRO, who are conscious that their ability to lounge and loiter and sup freely is possible only because other readers have, through their generosity, kept the flags flying. Here are some who, along with their contributions, provided some comments saluting the cause:
- Thomas spots us a cool $100 and clicks his heels: “Reporting for duty, Mr. Fowler! Thanks for all you and the folks at NR do!” Thanks and you get a weekend pass, Thomas.
- Another Thomas gives another sweet $100 and a note of appreciation for Buckley life-saving: “WFB and NR rescued me from the malaise of soft liberalism while in law school in DC (in the very belly of the proverbial beast). Plotting a course during the (doctrinally) tumultuous years of the Trump administration, NR proved to have a true north compass of conservatism! May it always be so!” It will be as long as we have comrades like you. God bless, Thomas.
- Don finds fifty bucks, hits the DONATE button, and calls us a name: “I’m a long time reader and recent subscriber to National Review. NR is one of the first places I go for political information, so don’t stop doing what you’re doing. You are indispensable!” We’re blushing. Thanks, Don.
- Another Don, another $50, and another pleasing assessment: “I don’t buy into all you say but you keep me thinking and engaged. And we need a reasonably sane place where we can see the other sides perspective.” You want sanity, we got sanity. Thanks, Don.
- Ronald offers $50. “I did previously contribute but I do not recall ever having been given an exiguous token in return. I did not even know what ‘exiguous’ meant. Somehow this seems to demand a little extra contribution.” Nothing little about that Ronald. Thanks.
- Paul drops two sawbucks into the collection basket. He has instructions: “Keep up the excellent work. I need you guys the keep all of Biden’s lies organized. One thing you need to stay on top of is who really is president now and in the future. I would like to know and understand who is running our country into the muck and mud of an extreme pro-leftist agenda. Biden is not smart enough so who or what is it? Thanks.” On it, Paul!
- Jason affords us a $50 gift and guilt-cleansing: “I am embarrassed for not contributing earlier. I was reminded today how valuable NR is when I read Charles Cooke’s article on Biden’s ‘lying’ on the filibuster. That kind of writing deserves support. Thanks for all you ALL do.” You’re welcome, but Jason, we need to be the ones doing the thanking here.
- Chris unloads a Franklin from his wallet, and speaks for many: ”I support your work. I enjoy reading the work of your writers and I urge you to continue to focus on editorial content that highlights how often and in how many ways we are being lied to by Joe Biden and his administration and many others on the Left. Thank you for what you do and I strongly support you in continuing to do it.” We are on the Lie Watch and can do it well, Chris, because we have friends such as you.
- Ruth hits a $300 homer after calling it: “If Congress is stupid enough to send me COVID relief money (gee, ‘relief’ used to be the term for government aid before it became ‘welfare’), I’m smart enough to invest some of it with NR. Thanks for all you do, especially nurturing the next generation of conservative writers and reporters with your amazing summer interns.” You are plenty more than “smart enough,” Ruth. Thanks.
- Lee tosses $100 thisaway and doesn’t realize the eloquence of the attending message: “I imagined I would write some eloquent and memorable thing to accompany this donation. Instead, I simply offer that you need this more than I do. It is a noble and just cause and I am happy to support it.”
- Kurt also figures that $100 is a good amount to send, and he was right to think that. And then there was his advice: “America is in crisis. Conservatism is in crisis. Without NR we are doomed, but now is not the time to circle the wagons. Instead we must proclaim ideas, alternatives, and actions consistent with our founding documents. We must be FOR good ideas not simply against bad ideas. Time to get off the thwarts, stop yelling, and start rowing. $100 bucks is not much of an oar, but it is a piece of one anyway.” Rowing! Thanks, Kurt.
- Peter snaps our noggins with his $2,500 act of generosity, and floods the zone with kind comments: “Indispensable, inspirational and lapidary, is National Review. Herewith, my exiguous subvention.” There is nothing ex about your iguous Thanks terribly.
- Finally, K sent an ungodly amount of money. If I wrote the number you’d be shocked. Actually, it was so much it’s probably correct to consider it godly. Along with it came an admission to a preference for rockabye babies and Bronx accents: “Jack Fowler has a silver tongue. I always capitulate to his dulcet lullaby.” His silver tongue is speechless in the presence of such unrivaled generosity.
Giving it the old dulcet try here: Whatever you can do to help, please do. If we don’t get a penny more in donations, we are nonetheless blessed for what has happened over these past three weeks. But as our needs so outpace the goals we have set, anything you can do to help us attain the new and final aspiration ($425,000) will be money well spent on the defense of conservative principles and truth-telling about the baloney being thickly sliced on Pennsylvania Avenue.
To help, donate securely here. Generosity sent the old-fashioned way, via check, is still acclaimed in these parts, so if that is how you roll, make one payable to “National Review” and mail it to National Review, ATTN: Webathon, 19 West 44th Street, Suite 1701, New York, NY 10036. Thanks so much to all who have helped, and to all who will in these last hours.
