Note From the Founders
Every new magazine should be an intimation of a possible future, a glimpse of how the world might be. Our editorial choices are shaped by our desire for a strong social-democratic state that defends community—local and national, familial and religious—against a libertine left and a libertarian right.
Our name evokes our aspiration, and defines its limits. A compact is a political union drawing together different people for a common end. It is neither a contract nor a covenant, neither a market relation nor a religious sodality. It depends not on shared blood, but on shared purpose. We are concerned with advancing this properly political form of solidarity.
We believe that the ideology of liberalism is at odds with the virtue of liberality. We oppose liberalism in part because we seek a society more tolerant of human difference and human frailty. That is why, though we have definite opinions, we publish writers with whom we disagree.
Compact will challenge the overclass that controls government, culture, and capital. Whoever does this is bound to be called radical. We do not shy from the label, but we insist on its proper meaning. Rightly understood, to be radical does not mean going to extremes. It means getting to the root of things. That requires talking about class as well as culture, material realities as well as ideologies.
Compact is a membership-supported publication. Unlike many magazines, which rely on foundations and donors, Compact depends on readers like you. Please join us in this work by subscribing today.
Who we are
Sohrab Ahmari is a founder and editor of Compact. Previously, he spent nearly a decade at News Corp., as op-ed editor of the New York Post and as a columnist and editor with the Wall Street Journal opinion pages in New York and London. In addition to those publications, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The Spectator, Chronicle of Higher Education, Times Literary Supplement, Dissent, and The American Conservative, for which he is a contributing editor. His books include The Unbroken Thread (2021) and Tyranny, Inc. (2023), both published by Penguin Random House.
Edwin Aponte is a founder of Compact. Previously, he was the editor of The Bellows, which he founded in 2020. Aponte has worked as a researcher for The Nation and Foreign Affairs, and his writing has appeared in the New York Post, The Nation, and the Columbia Spectator. Raised in Tampa, Fla., he holds a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.F.A. from New York University.
Matthew Schmitz is a founder and editor of Compact. Previously, he was a senior editor of First Things. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Tablet, and The American Conservative, for which he is a columnist. He is the recipient of a Lincoln Fellowship from the Claremont Institute and a Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship from The Fund for American Studies. He holds an A.B. in English from Princeton University and is a native of O'Neill, Neb.
For a full list of columnists and contributing editors, visit the Masthead →
Contact us
All inquiries, including media questions, subscription issues, and unsolicited submissions, should be directed to info@compactmag.com. Submissions must be original and exclusive to us. The recommended “pitch” is a short summary of what you would propose to write, plus a one-sentence biography. We strive to respond to all submissions, but if you haven’t heard back from us in a fortnight, it is safe to assume we won’t be able to accept your contribution.