Taking a Bite Out of Crunchy Cons

Brian Doherty | March 1, 2006

Radley Balko spits 'em out (before chewing them up, admittedly) in a punchout of the "crunchy cons" phenomenon, that seems apt enough to me on the big issues. (I've read the original article from which Rod Dreher's new book was derived and expanded but, like Balko, not the book itself.)

For those with an endless appetite for seeing the National Review crowd don the Burke-a, muse over whether Willmoore is less, angrily ask each other if they be Illichin', redbait the Red States, and stage cagematches between Dorothy "The Catholic Killa" Day and Henry "the Hanoi Hustler" Kissinger for the conserrrrrvative title belt, see the "crunchy con" blog, a recent guilty pleasure and time sink of the most indulgent style of modernity.

Comments

|3.1.06 @ 1:35PM|#

when I first read the title, I thought it said, "taking a bite out of crunchy corn." I must say I was subsequently disappointed.

|3.1.06 @ 2:11PM|#

Jeezus, reading that Crunchy Con blog gave me a headache. Those folks need a dose of the political philosophy of George Clinton: "Free your mind, and your ass will follow."

|3.1.06 @ 2:45PM|#

ChrisO,

I agree with you. They, like all too many of my liberal friends, think that the only available choices are pave-and-pollute-everything and medievalism. There was something good on Slate yesterday discussing this kind of blood-and-soil idea.

|3.1.06 @ 3:33PM|#

Actually, I was mostly complaining about their ungodly tedious references to various obscure political philosophers, as though they're all still a bunch of College Republicans. Remind me not to invite them to my next party--though a drug-fuelled debate on Oakeshott (whoever the f*ck that is) *could* have some entertainment value.

As to the merits of the discussion, I don't take the idea of the 'crunchy con' seriously. Dreher himself pretty much admits that the crunchy con is merely a Republican subspecies of Bobo.

|3.1.06 @ 8:15PM|#

Does anyone know where I can find an argument about abortion?

Kevin Carson|3.1.06 @ 10:27PM|#

Chris O,

What College Republicans have you been hanging around? I thought they were those guys in blue blazers and khakis who used to wave their fists in a circle and go "woof, woof, woof!" in Limbaugh's studio audience.

|3.1.06 @ 10:56PM|#

Have conservatives exhausted the "100 people that disagree with me, therefore they are hurting america" book market that they have to write about "crunchy-cons"?

There's still plenty of other books to write:

A gross of people who are gross

A score of people who want to score with your kids

A million people I wouldn't shake hands with if you paid me a million

I could go on. No, actually I couldn't.

|3.2.06 @ 12:05AM|#

Dreher homeschools his kids.

|3.2.06 @ 1:47PM|#

What College Republicans have you been hanging around? I thought they were those guys in blue blazers and khakis who used to wave their fists in a circle and go "woof, woof, woof!" in Limbaugh's studio audience.

Point taken. I guess they don't get around to pompously name-dropping Russell Kirk and Michael Oakeshott (again, whoever the f*ck that is) until they get to law school. I didn't know many active Republicans when I was in college--mostly because my friends and I were too busy trying to get out of our minds and into someone else's pants at the same time...

|3.3.06 @ 12:13AM|#

I don't begrudge Dreher his Birks and his granola, but talk about the excesses of capitalism and so-called conspicuous consumption are innevitably followed by calls to slow things down -- maybe idle the engines of progress for a bit.

They're STILL going on about "crunchy cons" over there? Yikes. I remember reading that crap a couple YEARS ago - before I discovered this joint. Anyway... I don't recall Dreher or any of his cohorts over there saying anything like what Balko's ascribing to him. Then again, I don't exactly recall much of what they were yammering about beyond the granola. -- OK, I've just taken a gander at the new blog and I see that much (most?) of the space is taken up by taking pot-shots at libertarians. Well... there you go.