The current issue of the magazine lately known for such cover stories as “Unpatriotic Conservatives” and “We’re Winning” includes an essay by Justin Logan and Christopher Preble on “what’s wrong with nation-building,” as well as one by Bing West urging “We must quickly prepare the Kabul government to win its own war.” And instead of glorifying a Republican or demonizing a Democrat, they’ve put Ayn Rand on the cover. Inside, Ron Radosh even has kind words for Saul Alinsky (more than Radosh could muster for Stan Evans). What gives?

I’m tempted to recite an old Stephen Tonsor quip, but I’ll refrain. What is significant here is that NR is providing what its readers want, and that evidently no longer includes celebrations of democracy as America’s greatest export. Whether any of the editors have come around is another question, but it’s worth considering that even the most devout apparatchik eventually had to face up to the Soviet Union’s collapse.