For 50 years, Chronicles has been the leading publication articulating America First conservatism. For most of that time, Chronicles stood outside the mainstream of conservative thought as alternative visions, namely the fusionism of neoliberal economics and militarism promulgated by William F. Buckley and his National Review, forcefully protected its monopoly of conservative ideas. As a result of that stifling control, conservative thought grew timid and stale. 

In the last decade, the intellectual right has been compelled to change course. It’s been forced to reexamine its thinking in response to the existential threats to the American order posed by a pervasive left. The era through which we are living will forever be defined by Donald Trump, a leader who has unmistakably challenged a Republican leadership that offered nothing but corporate tax cuts and war. More than a year into Trump’s second term, it remains to be seen whether that displaced ruling class has learned anything. As I write, Senate Majority Leader John Thune is preparing an Oscar-worthy act of political Kabuki theater rather than doing what is necessary to pass the Save America Act, a crucial federal voting registration law that would prevent election fraud. At this critical time, Chronicles, once crying in the wilderness, has reemerged as a prophet whose time has come. 

With a new institutional home at the Center for Renewing America (CRA), the magazine returns to the forefront of conservative thought, uniquely positioned to shape the minds of its leaders and future generations of the right. This dissident magazine has something that money can’t buy: authenticity. Chronicles offers half a century of consistently honest political and cultural thought that puts America and its people first.

But… a magazine? Have we, as my Center for Renewing America colleague and author of this month’s cover article, Wade Miller, eloquently put it, “inherited the last Blockbuster?”

Ours is an attention economy, and politics soaks up a lot of bandwidth. CRA is heavily invested in waging battle on the political front. Yet we understand that every bad policy began as a bad idea. Critical theory, diversity, equity, and inclusion, environmental, social, and governance rules, the administrative state, substantive due process, abortion, the United Nations, environmentalism, white privilege, feminism, and every awful lie that has been inflicted on our country began with somebody scribbling their thoughts on paper. Eventually, those ideas worked their way through the academy into popular media and then into the hands of lawyers, corporatists, activists, and policy makers. 

To defeat bad ideas and renew America, conservatives must be engaged in the battle of ideas that will eventually affect Washington, D.C. That’s why Chronicles exists. Here we fight for truth as the makers and propagators of ideas. We attract a niche audience with outsized influence over the fate of our nation. 

If I have one priority as the new publisher & CEO, it is to preserve the independent voice that has characterized this magazine. My job is simply to amplify that voice and to expand its reach. You may notice how we approached that task in this issue. Please note the new cover art, binding, and paper. Chronicles is a magazine of weighty ideas worthy of deep consideration; it deserves to look as impressive as its contents. I’m particularly pleased to introduce a new monthly column featuring younger voices. Gen Z has been left with very few examples of courageous conservatism, and, as Bradley Haley writes, we see the odious alternatives  provided by those who filled that gap. 

Thank you for being one of our readers. Taking the life of the mind seriously is a rarity in our time, but those, like you, who do take it seriously, will determine the fate of the nation.