For Jonah and the 3-5 percent: I assume that Edmund Burke doesn’t count, so I think I’ll go with Russell Kirk. My personal politics are more of the fusionist Frank Meyer variety, but I have a deep fondness for Kirk because: 1) Reading him as a college student taught me more about conservatism than any other writer I’ve ever encountered; The Conservative Mind and The Portable Conservative Reader (especially the introduction) are treasures; 2) We’re both from Michigan, and when it comes to my home state I’m a Wolverine nativist; 3) I had a chance to meet him personally, at his home in Mecosta, when I was 20 years old–a wonderful experience, made possible the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. (In the evening, he told ghost stories to candlelight.) So he’s my guy. The best thing I’ve ever read about Kirk, by the way, is by our own David Frum.