“Both of America’s major parties are feckless, impatient, cliquey, myopic, rabid, and suicidal. . . .  In large part, these defects are the direct result of the failings of their leaders and tastemakers, who have no useful conception of history and no earthly clue as to what normal Americans are actually like.”

Tell us how you really feel, Charlie . . .

And he does, in his cover piece for the August issue of National Review. The deeper problem, argues Charles C. W. Cooke, is that the incoherence of our politics reflects badly on us. On the fringes, we have hyper-partisans yelling about things that don’t begin to touch ordinary people’s lives; but the middle — the normal people who just want things to work — doesn’t get off easy in his analysis. “We have a polity that wants low taxes and high spending, that wants a strong America and an isolationist America, and that wants mass deportations and to be a nation that welcomes immigrants. And so, this being a democratic republic, that is exactly what the people get.” Charlie’s keen assessment of the present political moment is not to be missed.

Elsewhere on the American scene, the August issue brings you:

As always, NR’s Books, Arts & Manners section brings you the latest from the cultural realm. In addition to book reviews on subjects ranging from conservative political philosophy to the career of Woody Allen, we have Ross Douthat on the last installment of Mission: Impossible, Bryan Garner on language (this time, a consideration of text and tradition), Brian Allen on the National Gallery’s Semiquincentennial art-sharing initiative, and, of course, the funny stuff: while James Lileks visits Rome, Rob Long is a fly on the wall in a Trump-Musk therapy session.

Our dedicated editorial team encourages you to read it all.

Right now you can try NRPLUS (which provides access to the normally paywalled magazine) for just $1 per week.

Or, if you’d like to receive the next twelve issues of the print magazine in the mail, I suggest you try out the print-and-digital bundle for just $65 (that’s 50 percent off the cover price). The bundle is the best way to support NR’s conservative journalism.

We at National Review strive to deepen conservatives’ understanding of the times we’re living in. Join us in the project begun by William F. Buckley — together, with the wind at our backs, we strengthen conservatism.