I hate anything crunchy and the word “con” makes me think of a “con” not conservative so I would never have picked up Dallas News editorial writer and columnist Rod Dreher’s new book, Crunchy Cons. But the book was a gift, D magazine Publisher Wick Allison wrote the jacket blurb, and I had a free evening so – what the heck.

First, don’t be put off by the title. This is an important book. There is even an outside chance it could be the beginning of something significant.

The words “crunchy” and “con” in the title compose the term Dreher gives to a life-style lived by what he calls “counter culture” conservatives. (Crunchy comes from granola I think) So the book, at one level, is a guide to living that life-style.

Crunchy cons see mainstream American culture as a sex drenched, greed driven, and acquisitive soulless throw away society. Their counter culture is one that strives to build lives around what Dreher calls “permanent things” such as a family, religion, local community, beauty and authenticity. His book is about living the life not preaching the sermon.

Dreher’s tribe rejects the idea that when you die the one with the most toys wins. They believe that net worth and human worth have no correlation and that cheap clothes without a logo can be as good as expensive clothes with a logo. These are definitely counter culture views.

At another level Dreher’s book is a thundering indictment of modern American capitalism that will leave many who call themselves conservative sputtering. Point three of his “Crunchy Con Manifesto” says “We affirm the superiority of the free market as an economic organizing principle but believe the economy must be made to serve humanity’s best interest and not the other way around. Big business deserves as much skepticism as big government.” Bravo.

Yes, the free market is a superior economic organizing principle but is a lousy cultural organizing principal and the crunchy cons have the insight that culture trumps economics. The free market is, as Adam Smith realized, amoral. The market is often destructive of morals because it reduces all decisions to risk analysis.

This is the rot at the core of the modern GOP. There are times when the market produces what is wrong for the society and must be trumped by the political process. For example, the market says the most efficient use of resources is to buy oil from the lowest cost producer. The market cannot consider that most foreign oil producers are Jihadists, Marxists and highwaymen. It is the nation’s political process that must realize independence from tyranny comes at a price the market cannot calculate and then pay it.

The market also says exploit the natural environment because it cannot calculate the cost of destroying the irreplaceable. Most Republicans put profit before permanent things but crunchy cons take the word conservative seriously and want to actually conserve things like the environment.

The crunchy con lifestyle is not easy and not for everyone. As much as I agree with most of Dreher’s critique of modern America, capitalism and the Republican Party I cannot imagine home-schooling my daughter. And while I deeply sympathize with Dreher’s deeply held religious views I am allergic to organized religion.

Is it possible the crunchy con way could become the mainstream?  Probably not. But it could become a big enough force to seriously alter the mainstream culture and American politics with it and that would be a wonderful thing.

To purchase Rod Dreher's book Crunchy Cons click here ...

Comments (0)

Comment	smaller | bigger
Name
Write the displayed characters
Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.
	Add Comment