The new conservatism: It's crunchy

Dallas Morning News | Rod Dreher:

“As a general rule, my Earth-Mother Republican wife and I prefer Small, Local, Old and Particular over Big, Global, New and Abstract. We believe big business deserves as much skepticism as big government. We believe God calls mankind to be good stewards of the natural world. Most important, we hold with Russell Kirk that the family is the institution most important to conserve, and our entire politics is constructed around that goal.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Mr Dreher's new conservatism sounds a lot like the 1960s' old counterculture - return to nature; environmentalism; organic foods; down with big government, big corporations, mass media and conformist schooling; quit the rat race, unplug, drop out; tune in to one another. One difference is that the hippies moved to communes and dabbled in yoga and Buddhism. Mr Dreher's crunchy cons withdraw to the nuclear family and Christian home schooling. In either case, it's a collection of personal lifestyle choices, not a political movement.

Some sentiments of the 1960s counterculture lifestyle, like environmentalism, found a lasting home in the Democratic Party. Perhaps some of the crunchy cons' sentiments might infiltrate the Republican Party and find a permanent home, too. Environmentalism, apparently a favorite of liberals and crunchy cons both, is an obvious candidate, as it is essential for humanity's long-term survival on this planet.

But large parts of crunchy conservatism will go the way of all periodic rejections of worldly ways. While the fad gets its fifteen minutes of fame each generation or two, technology continues its unstoppable advance always. In one era, railroads and highways cover the landscape. In the next, radio and television fill the airwaves. Today, people scatter into a splintered world of broadband, video games, MP3 music players, and blogs. Mr Dreher and the crunchy cons will find a niche in that world where they can find personal satisfaction and raise families to share their values. I am happy for them. I just don't expect them to change the world.