The great mission of The Jeffersoniads as an alliance of Virginia new media outlets in 2007 was to get people talking to one another. Ideas, thoughts, culture, backyards, farms, careers, opinions, book reviews — the Virginia new media circle was born at a time when having read Infinite Jest was a calling card, alcohol-soaked writers such as Christopher Hichens were celebrated, and conservatism was defined by the triumph of the Cold War and the collapse of Soviet Communism.
Today, we are living in a changing world, one where much of the change is both technocratic and undemocratic, all the while supported by a civil society. This society struggles to achieve an increase of liberty between the two poles of tyranny one one hand and license on the other.
In Virginia, we sit upon tremendous resources: intellectual, regional, economic, cultural, and historic. Our 400 year history on this continent gave birth to representative government and the rule of law. In a burst of talent, it was Virginia who gave birth to the idea of America but surrendered our western counties to cement the Union. Through the travails of war and ages, Virginia has transitioned from her agrarian past to an industrial present.
The transition once again into a service and trade economy, our proximity to a growing federal center, and the advantages of our natural harbors and energy resources will challenge us yet again.
In this exchange, it is absolutely critical for Virginia’s to meet the challenges of the future mindful of the traditions of old. With each opportunity, the question should be the same: Can we meet these challenges with more freedom?
William F. Buckley Jr. wrote in his now-famous Mission Statement for National Review that it was the role of conservatives to write “out of place” — insofar the reactionaries of the left were considered to be in place. Interestingly enough, it was Buckley who in 1964 described the very condition many conservatives writers and thinkers see as self-evident today:
Radical conservatives in this country have an interesting time of it, for when they are not being suppressed or mutilated by the Liberals, they are being ignored or humiliated by a great many of those of the well-fed Right.
Such is the world we find ourselves in today. As information continues to flatten, as consumers continue to be more discerning regarding what is known and true against what is marketed and manufactured, it is perhaps more important than ever that those of us who are the inheritors of this small place in the world to be far more conscientious about those who occupy it: our dreams, our thoughts, our conceptions, our shared traditions and history.
That, a thousand Liberals who read this sentiment will say with relief, is clearly not enough! It isn’t enough. But it is at this point that we steal the march. For we offer, besides ourselves, a position that has not grown old under the weight of a gigantic, parasitic bureaucracy…
Our mission here — our credenda, if you will — is to expand the sphere of human freedom.
- That free markets, free minds, and a free society are the virtues of a republican form of government, and these are best defended by self-government, not good government.
- That intellectuals such as Richard Weaver, G.K. Chesterton, Russell Kirk, Friedrich Bastiat, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and the long tradition of Virginian leaders hold the lamp of freedom high.
- That the fusionism of libertarianism and conservatism within the grand classical liberal tradition survive and serve as the only true path to carry the promise of the Declaration of Independence: that there are certain inalienable truths, that men are created equal, that all do have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of their own happiness.
In service to this great tradition, and in the effort to facilitate the free exchange of thoughts, opinions, and ideas… this is the reason this publication exists.
“The most important goal in my life is to have some significant impact in preserving and expanding the realm of personal freedom in the life of this country.”
— State Senator Richard “Dick” Obenshain (1935–1978)