There’s Lots of Work to Do

It's time to fight for a conservatism that can win.

Dear NR reader, I'm not ashamed to admit it — I believed in the Republican wave.   I thought the massive win by Ron DeSantis early on Election Night was a sign of things to come, when, of course, it proved an (inspiring and consequential) outlier.   This was extremely frustrating and depressing. I've being doing a lot of cursing under my breath since about 10 p.m. Tuesday night.   Yet, as Bill Buckley liked to say, despair is a sin. There's no alternative to continuing to make the case for our ideas, and for a Republican Party that can win and effect them.   This may not always be easy, but it's absolutely necessary, which is why I'm asking you to pitch in to our quick post-election webathon.   I know you may not be in a particularly exuberant mood, and maybe not in a giving one. Let me urge you not to give in to despond, though. JOIN THE FIGHT The successful conservative model is out there, flight-tested and proven, in Georgia and Florida. If Republicans are fearless, are armed with good policy ideas, are serious about implementing those policies and defending them, and don't let themselves get drawn into Donald Trump's self-serving vortex, they can move the ball substantively and win politically.   Brian Kemp and Ron DeSantis show that beyond a doubt.   But we need powerful voices making the case for their approach, and that's what we try to do at NRO every day.   If you appreciate that, perhaps even more than you did prior to Tuesday night, please consider helping us continue to do our work.   I tend to think that, these days, if NR didn't exist, no one would invent it. Indeed, the fact that we don't do clickbait, that we don't follow the latest trends if they are clearly a dead end, and that we will tell uncomfortable truths doesn't make for a good business model. JOIN THE FIGHT It never has. This is why NR has always been a joint venture with its readers. Without your help down through the decades, we wouldn't be here today. We do everything possible to repay that devotion with our work.   We don't care whether truth and reason, the Constitution and free markets, and free speech and basic biological realities are fashionable or not — we will always be fierce in defending them.   And we will always insist that conservatism must be tethered to right reason, that it can't give in to conspiratorial thinking or thoughtless bombast without turning its back on its birthright — and losing the fights we desperately need to win.   If you need evidence of that, there were, unfortunately, examples scattered all across the electoral landscape on Tuesday night.   To me, the election hung a lantern on two possible paths for conservatism, one of which points toward victory and perhaps a national majority in 2024 that can make a conservative reform agenda a reality — and the other toward frustration and defeat.   We are wholly devoted to the first path. We will continue to combat the excesses of the Left and call out the asinine and lawless Biden administration, while assiduously working for a conservatism that can, and will, succeed.   We need your help, though, now more than ever. If you appreciate what we do here, and if you, too, know we can and must do better than Tuesday, please chip in any amount from $5 to $5,000.   Every dollar makes a difference (I used to say every penny, but inflation) and is deeply appreciated. Thanks for reading, and onward and upward.   Standing with you,    Rich Lowry Editor in Chief NATIONAL REVIEW JOIN THE FIGHT No longer wish to receive our notifications? Adjust your preferences.