As you probably know if you read National Review and NationalReview.com regularly — and why wouldn’t you? — there’s never been a time when there was a greater need not only for NR’s writers, but for an NR community. That’s where NRPlus comes in.
“What,” you may ask, “is NRPlus?” It’s like this website, but plus. It goes to eleven, whereas National Review Online goes to ten. Specifically, NRPlus offers community benefits like a Facebook group with other NR readers and writers, periodic members-only conference calls like this week’s call with Rich Lowry and Victor Davis Hanson, and special events like last month’s meet-up in DC.
From Bill Buckley’s earliest days, National Review has had two complimentary but conflicting missions. To stand athwart history yelling “stop” requires a stringent commitment to principles and a willingness to stand against the grain. To work through a fusion of the welter of conservative and libertarian ideas — traditional and classical liberal, universal and particular, neo and paleo, individualistic and communitarian, global and American, Reagan and MAGA — requires a conversation and a community. That’s where you come in. For a price so reasonable even Elizabeth Warren wouldn’t try to subsidize it, you too can be part of the NRPlus community.
I confess I have a personal bias towards community engagement: I spent twelve years writing at RedState, and the early years at RS in particular, engagement between the writers and the regular commenters was often a valuable part of our creative process and our ability to keep the pulse of the community. Open comments sites can quickly become an open sewer, spoiling the value of that process; a subscription-only community allows you to engage with others who, like you, have a stake in a serious conversation.
As Ronald Reagan would say, come, walk with me.