Crunchy Conservatism

Crunchy conservatives combine a belief in small government and traditional values with a love of the local and of the environment.

Are you a crunchy Conservative?  Do you buy organic food and dislike the dominance of supermarkets?  Are you, like Prince Charles, worried about architectural carbuncles?  Do you think the culture is too materialistic and too pornographic?

'Crunchy Cons' is the title of a new book by Rod Dreher.   His ten-point manifesto is set out on National Review Online (which hosts a blog dedicated to Birkenstocked Burkeans):

1. "We are conservatives who stand outside the conservative mainstream; therefore, we can see things that matter more clearly.
2. Modern conservatism has become too focused on money, power, and the accumulation of stuff, and insufficiently concerned with the content of our individual and social character.
3. Big business deserves as much skepticism as big government.
4. Culture is more important than politics and economics.
5. A conservatism that does not practice restraint, humility, and good stewardship—especially of the natural world—is not fundamentally conservative.
6. Small, Local, Old, and Particular are almost always better than Big, Global, New, and Abstract.
7. Beauty is more important than efficiency.
8. The relentlessness of media-driven pop culture deadens our senses to authentic truth, beauty, and wisdom.
9. We share Russell Kirk’s conviction that “the institution most essential to conserve is the family.”
10. Politics and economics won’t save us; if our culture is to be saved at all, it will be by faithfully living by the Permanent Things, conserving these ancient moral truths in the choices we make in our everyday lives."

In a January 2006 essay for The Sunday Times Mr Dreher, an American, suggested that David 'There is such a thing as society' Cameron may be a Crunchy Con.  Mr Cameron's environmentalism, his policy of standing up to big businesses and their chocolate oranges, and his support for the family are all trademarks of a Crunchy.

Comments

[Selsdon Man]

The problem is that Dreher wants to use the state to impose his vision of society on the rest of us. That's not crunchy, it is fascist.

[spagbob]

i think he sounds great, i would agree with a lot of what is being said, though i need to read the book before i can be fully sure.

[Old Hack]

Another crunchy con may be one Zak Goldsmith?

When it comes to the crunch I suspect they are not as Tory as one might like to believe.

[John Hustings]

The definition sounds rather like what might be called a small "c" conservative. It seems to be conservativism without the belief in markets.

[Editor]

The reference to Russell Kirk suggests you might be right, John.

[matt wright]

I think there are very important elements to this artcile that we should take on board. I don't buy the full list but I do know that many people today feel strongly that there is more to life than work and money and are looking for politicians to address the qualitative issues,

Matt

[James Hellyer]

Big business deserves as much skepticism as big government.

Does small business escape skepticism then? Small businesses can be just as exploitative as any large business, and often far more protectionist.

It's easy to see that many local businesses' stands against supermarkets are aimed more at protecting their right to rip off local consumers than they are by any commitment to offering a good deal to consumers.

This sort of emphasis in "crunchy conservatism" shows its limitations.