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Whatever happened to the crunchy cons?

In which Your Working Boy examines reasons why his kind of conservative remains on the sidelines.  One reason? It’s a lot like Occupy Wall Street, in which our concerns are real, but not connected to any set of achievable demands, or organization. But maybe it just takes time. From the essay: Back on the home front, […]

In which Your Working Boy examines reasons why his kind of conservative remains on the sidelines.  One reason? It’s a lot like Occupy Wall Street, in which our concerns are real, but not connected to any set of achievable demands, or organization.

But maybe it just takes time. From the essay:

Back on the home front, the past five years have also seen the launch of Front Porch Republic, a website started by young conservative academics such as Georgetown government professor Patrick Deneen and others who were early enthusiasts for crunchy conservatism. The FPR motto—“Place. Limits. Liberty.”—captures the political priorities of these neo-traditionalists. FPR held its first conference this fall in rural Maryland and attracted scores of young conservatives who know there must be something more to life than the self-satisfied nationalism and consumerism extolled by the mainstream right. This is progress.

A few months back, I was visiting a Washington think tank and met two brilliant young conservatives who told me they had been strongly influenced by Crunchy Cons. I thanked them for their kind words but pointed out that the book seems to have failed to change much. “I wouldn’t be so sure,” said their boss. “I travel a lot, and I meet young conservatives all the time who cite that book as having been key to shaping their outlook.” This brought to mind speeches I made to conservative groups when Crunchy Cons came out. I noticed that older members of the audience were visibly confused, while younger ones rushed to the podium after I finished to ask more questions. Maybe it’s a matter of time before neotraditionalist conservatism gains influence on the mainstream right, as the generation who thinks the war Reagan fought is still the war we’re in today passes from the scene.

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