NRO has a Crunchy-Con blog? Is it worth it? I don't think the Crunchy-cons have much of a philosophy, actually. They seem mostly to be Christans who think they're too good for politics. They invoke "Kirkian" Conservatism, which ain't conservatism at all, but historicism. Crunchy-cons will either give this silliness up or wind up following their true masters, Rousseau & Hegel. On the other hand, this Crunchy-con parody blog is great (and to be fair, Rod Dreher noted it at NRO). And here's Maggie Gallagher on why she's not a crunchy-con.
If you want the key to Rod and his fellow crunchy cons, I think it is in statements like, "Beauty is more important than efficiency." Well, gee sure, but only if you live in a society where the great public health threat to the poor is obesity. This level of affluence is what allows educated women to stay home, throw organic dinner parties, and home school their children instead of spending time at the hard labor of spinning wool, churning butter and chicken-farming.By the way, does anyone remember the wonderful article on the Seven Deadly Sins that Crisis ran, oh, 15 years ago? It made the point that gluttony is not limited to overeating, but is the vice of living by the belly and the taste-buds --being consumed with the question of diet. The article pointed out that it's just as much gluttony to fuss over having precisely the right combination of abstemious foods on one's plate as it is to dive face-first into a cheesecake (a point C.S. Lewis also makes in The Screwtape Letters with regard to a little old lady who "doesn't want you to fuss. . .she'll just have tea and toast." Except the hostess is serving pot roast, so in fact she is creating a fuss.) And I think I recall someone saying something about taking no heed for the morrow, what you shall eat or what you shall wear. Where did I read that now?
