Our vision is to reawaken the genuine American spirit of living in a good, great, and growing nation of free-born individuals.
Our mission is to uphold American liberty, prosperity, constitutional law, and humble government.
To the Readers of The St. Croix Review: I Have a Proposition for You
Barry MacDonald — Editorial
The team of the St. Croix Review, and the foundation that publishes it, Religion & Society, have been fortunate to be working with Robert E. Russell, of Robert Russell & Associates, for two years (2018-19). Robert has a long history of working with conservative causes, and he is an expert researcher.
We have been considering the different ways that we might expand our mission and our vision. We have been reviewing the span of The St. Croix Review’s fifty-two years of publication, and have been assessing our character and our strengths. As part of our efforts, Robert has made a careful study of our readership.
We have known that among our writers and readers there were a Nobel Prize-winning economist, Milton Friedman; and a founding philosopher of the modern conservative movement, Russell Kirk; and a former Attorney General of the United States, Edwin Meese; and a Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas. From the beginning, Angus MacDonald, the founder of The St. Croix Review and Religion & Society, has had a magnetic quality, drawing people of consequence to him.
But what we didn’t know, and what Robert Russell has revealed, is the high quality of our readership. The readers of The St. Croix Review are among the most well-educated and supremely accomplished Americans. Our readers are intelligent, innovative, vigorous, and patriotic Americans. Many of you have been receiving The St. Croix Review for decades.
It turns out that our enduring publication has always been founded upon the excellence of our readers! I doubt whether any other publication has a readership equal to ours!
Among those who attended our 2019 annual meeting in October at the Lowell Inn in Stillwater, Minnesota, were two judges. There were also several military veterans who served as infantry and pilots in the Korean and Vietnam wars; one of them became an airline pilot, and discussed with me his experience of 9/11 — he was not flying that day but he shared his insider’s perspective. We had dinner with a state senator and a mayor. And there was a young man who, with his wife, founded, and is now managing a private school, educating children from kindergarten to twelfth grade.
Many of our subscribers are different types of medical doctors. One is an internationally respected specialist in heart and lung transplantations. There are many educators — from primary schools to universities. We have readers who are retired military officers up to the rank of generals. The clergy of many Christian denominations are subscribing. Our publication is included in the libraries of prominent universities and seminaries throughout America.
There is a retired captain of a U.S. Navy submarine. We have readers who were Eagle Scouts. We have presidents and vice presidents of corporations, who were also long-time civic leaders in their communities. We have a military veteran who established an educational foundation and an endowment fund. There is a former Green Beret who became a senior executive in several corporations. We have specialists in equity and venture capital funds. We have CEOs, and chairmen of boards of corporations, who are also generous benefactors of the arts and culture. We have a retired general manager of the New York Times. We had a Chairman of the Board of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Two of our writers and readers have worked in the White House as advisors to the President. One reader founded many companies, and was a Russian language interpreter. One Army veteran of 82nd Airborne Division wrote 18 books, and became a Lutheran pastor. Another veteran served in five European campaigns, including Normandy, where he was a commander with the 610th Tank Destroyer Battalion, and where he earned the Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars; he went on to found and chair a major manufacturing company in the defense industry. One of our readers was awarded the Navy Cross for actions in the Vietnam War; he served in the Marine Corps. We have distinguished lawyers (one who has been designated a “super lawyer”) and judges. One subscriber is in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame, and he founded Parts Unlimited Distributing under his umbrella company, LeMans Corporation. A subscriber is currently serving as an ambassador in Europe.
I could go on and on listing the marvelous achievements and accolades of our subscribers. We have a seemingly endless list of distinguished and accomplished readers who are patriotic and good-hearted Americans. All of us together are making America a beautiful, idealistic, prosperous, and liberty-loving nation.
Our Religion & Society team would like to express our gratitude to all of you — our wonderful subscribers! And I have a proposition for you — the same proposition I made to those who attended our annual meeting last October.
Each of us has a story to tell about our experience of growing up and living in America. We each see America from a unique point of view. We are striving every day to preserve America as a nation of open-ended dreams and unlimited potential.
I invite you, our readers, to send us your memoirs and essays. Please tell us about your American life. Please inform us about your memories, discoveries, accomplishments, aspirations, and concerns. You have a wealth of experience and energy — please share it with us! Let us give all of our other readers something to ponder better than the toxic news narratives originating from New York City and Washington, D.C.! *
