About The Federalist

By Mark Alexander · Thursday, December 28, 2000

Thank you, our loyal supporters, for making this a very successful year for The Federalist. Not only did we meet our subscriber objectives for 2000, but we registered more new subscribers in the last month than any month on record.

For new and veteran readers alike, once at the end of each year, we publish a special edition about The Federalist. Please take a moment to get acquainted or reacquainted with our publication.

Perhaps the most often asked question we receive is, “Who are you?” The reason for the notable absence of individual identities for our editors is, in a word, humilitas. It is out of humility and uniformity of purpose that we do not promote the personalities associated with The Federalist (though a general description of our Editorial Board appears in the footer of each edition). Our objective is to convey the central theme of liberty, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." These God-given rights are timeless and originate, as declared by our Founders, with the Author of life.

Breaking with publishing convention, The Federalist promotes the commerce of ideas without promoting personalities. In this era when the stature of media icons tends to overshadow the real-estate of ideas, we have chosen to publish under the pseudonym "Publius," as did the authors of the Federalist Papers. (Additionally, this serves to protect the identities of Editorial Board members in politically sensitive occupations.) However, if you have questions or inquiries, our executive editor, Mark Alexander, may be reached by e-mail to

Also contrary to publishing convention, The Federalist depends on the goodwill and voluntary support of our readers -- creating some consternation among our accountants and bankers. We believe this method of fair trade represents the purest form of free enterprise and is, thus, in keeping with the spirit of our publication. Your goodwill has provided for The Federalist's publication and distribution since its inception, advancing the ideas expressed in its pages to an ever-increasing audience including, notably, political, media and academic groups, which might not otherwise pay for conservative perspective.

Another question we often receive is, “Why do you call yourselves 'The Federalist"?” We think Madison, Jay and Hamilton had it right. We believe that there is a need for a “strong central government” as defended in the Federalist Papers. But read the Papers, and you will quickly discover how far contemporary Sociocrats (those who have liberalized the perimeters of the Constitution far beyond its original intent) have departed from the sound and reasoned notion of the role of “central government” as defined in The Federalist of 1787. We call ourselves The Federalist to inspire an understanding of "federalism" as intended by the Founders, and to encourage a better understanding of why the current size and role of our federal government are diametrically opposed to those limited purposes originally established by our Constitution.

About the “religious” content in The Federalist -- we are not members of the “separation of church and state” crowd. We know what the Founders had to say about the integral role of faith in government, and we know what Thomas Jefferson meant when referencing "a wall of separation” in his letter to the Danbury Baptists. None anticipated the secular cleansing of all levels of government enforced by judicial activists today. The Federalist is written, edited and published by men and women who are Christians. We believe that our national foundation rests on Judeo-Christian principles. We do not hide, or conversely, hide behind, our faith. You will note, however, a range of faith perspectives represented in our publication.

The Federalist's rapid circulation growth has not come without enormous technical burdens. The fact is, much of the software technology we are using had to be developed or modified in-house because of our unique service and delivery formats. We are not only breaking new ground with the format and content of our publication, but also with the technology needed for its distribution. We continue to add server capacity and modify our software to keep up with demand and hope to have no service interruptions in the coming year. In our efforts to make our publication more reader friendly this year, we added HTML printer-friendly text editions for both the Brief and Digest. Each can be accessed from -- http://www.Federalist.com/current2001.asp Friday's PDF can, as always, be accessed from this page, and if you did not receive an expected Brief or Digest, you can have either edition e-mailed to you from this page. Please Bookmark this URL for future reference.

Of course the current edition can also be retrieved by linking to our Web site, selecting “Current Edition” from the menu, and entering your password (e-mail address as subscribed).

There is a significant amount of housekeeping information in the footer of every edition, including instructions for subscriptions, reader comments, support and sponsorship, and other information such as mission and purpose statements. (Please scan the footer in today's edition to familiarize yourself with the additional information there.)

About our occasional editing mistakes, this past year we made 26 editing errors out of a total 665,243 words in 52 editions -- a lower error rate than leading print publications. Most mistakes were related to keystroke errors that occurred between final edit and publishing. Unfortunately, every mistake reflects poorly on our efforts, however diligent. (We know how to have a good laugh at our own expense, and hope, when you come across an error, you will do so likewise!) It should be noted that when there are apparent editing errors in direct quotes (sic), we take no editorial license by correcting the original source.

And last, regarding content and formatting, we listen carefully to our readers. The feedback we receive on content runs about 40-1 in favor of the current topics, style and length of The Federalist. While we strive to improve our content, readers tell us they want us to keep it coming “as is.”

From the Executive Editor, Editorial Board and staff of The Federalist, THANK YOU for your support and vigilance. In the coming year we hope you will find The Federalist indispensable in your efforts to avoid the abyss of political, social and media liberalism, and a good resource in your resolution to stand firm for the "unalienable rights" endowed by our Creator -- the fundamental rights of all people. We hope and pray this will be a prosperous year for you and your families!