Posted on 02/21/2006 8:04:40 AM PST by Pyro7480
The New Counterculture
Meet Rod Dreher, a conservative who is critical of capitalism
BY GEORGE H. NASH
Rod Dreher, a columnist and editor at the Dallas Morning News, is a self-confessed member of the vast right-wing conspiracy. As a lapsed Protestant who converted to Roman Catholicism several years ago, he is an unabashed religious and social conservative. He has little use for the morally relativist and libertine tendencies of modern liberalism. Too often, he says, "the Democrats act like the Party of Lust."
But Mr. Dreher is also a passionate environmentalist, a devotee of organic farming and a proponent of the New Urbanism, an anti-sprawl movement aimed at making residential neighborhoods more like pre-suburban small towns. He dislikes industrial agriculture, shopping malls, television, McMansions and mass consumerism. Efficiency--the guiding principle of free markets--is an "idol," he says, that must be "smashed." Too often, he claims, Republicans act like "the Party of Greed."
Four years ago, Mr. Dreher coined the term "crunchy conservatism" (as in crunchy granola) to describe hybrids like himself: political right-wingers with countercultural sensibilities. Now, in a book based largely on interviews and his own experience, he explores the type in depth. But "Crunchy Cons" is not a pallid work of sociology. It is a rousing altar call to spiritual secession from an America that Mr. Dreher sees as awash in materialism, consumerism and "lifestyle-libertarian" thinking.
Mr. Nash is the author of "The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945" (ISI Books).
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Hey! I just posted this thread too! From one Crunchy Con to another! :)
What did you post it under? I did a search before posting it, and nothing turned up.
I need to get this book!
It's so me.
I posted on General Chat from the CBN News Site.. we proably did it in sync....
I have been waiting for this. I also fall under this category.
Ah, I saw that article, but this book review is from Opinion Journal. I'm glad you posted that article from CBN though.
Great!!!! I think this is the way to go! I think that it will be the true Lefty's that will be living a un-healthy lifestyle in all aspects...
"the point of life is not to become a more satisfied shopper"
That may be true, but shopping malls don't build themselves.
Looks like Fred Phelps has a playmate.
L
I'll buy it, too. I have long wanted to see a book like this, which seems to sum up a lot of what I believe in: an agrarian lifestyle, homeschooling, churchgoing, traditionalism, preservation, the study of history, and embracing the wisdom our conservative ancestors knew. But I know that many on this forum will attack and sneer, because they hate the lovely small towns created by the New Urbanists.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
That's a crazy point-of-view.
Demonstrates the futility of trying to map all politics on a one dimmensional left right number scale.
You got it Toyota!
Well, definitely not the first, and probably not the second. Most of the "crunchy cons" he talks about are Christians who are traditionalist.
"Great. Another liberal masquerading as a 'conservative'."
Why do you label him a liberal?
Everything he's passionate about demands bigger more powerful governemnt. In what way are you conservative?
Sneering aside, I do have a problem with people who want to control "urban sprawl". Seems to me that limiting growth, preserving open space, etc...is really a form of elitism run amuk. It's a form of "we have ours" and no one else can have it.
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