fbpx
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

NRO and the Original Crunchy Con

Moreover, I agree with Rod that conservatives and Republicans often underestimate both the importance of environmental protection and the political damage done by the perception that they underestimate it. I should have acknowledged the value of what he wrote. I apologize for all of the above. That said, I still think, first, that Rod is […]

Moreover, I agree with Rod that conservatives and Republicans often underestimate both the importance of environmental protection and the political damage done by the perception that they underestimate it. I should have acknowledged the value of what he wrote. I apologize for all of the above. That said, I still think, first, that Rod is to some extent reacting to a caricature of conservatives; second, that he does not really engage existing conservative thought on the environment; and third, that one can disagree with him about the connection between asthma and pollution without opposing environmental protection. ~Ramesh Ponnuru, The Corner

Clark Stooksbury was way ahead of Ponnuru on this one. But the negative reaction to Mr. Dreher’s original “GOP Green” post is typical of what passes for “existing conservative thought on the environment” (at least in the ‘mainstream’ organs of ‘conservatism’) and also representative of the NRO crowd’s response to the entire “cruncy con” idea. Ponnuru could be channeling Jonah “Lie for a Just Cause” Goldberg (a scary thought, that) when he complains that Mr. Dreher is reacting to a “caricature” of conservatives. That has been almost the entire substance of Goldberg’s response to the “cruncy con” idea–what self-styled conservatives, thunders Goldberg, have ever been short-sighted, wasteful, self-indulgent, blindly pro-market and slavishly pro-corporation? When have they ever just been unthinking ciphers working for the Republican Party? That’s just crazy leftie talk, that is.

Mr. Dreher would likely deny that he is responding to a caricature–it would be hard to find a better living version of the caricature of conservatism than much of the NRO crowd itself. Perhaps “caricature” was a poor choice of words to make Ponnuru’s point, because even if a caricature is an exaggeration of features to ridiculous proportions those features do exist–if Dreher is responding to a caricature of a lot of people who consider themselves conservatives, it may have something to do with the cartoonishly stereotypical behaviour of a lot of these people. If the caricature makes you look truly absurd, you’re probably not that attractive to start with.

Advertisement

Comments

The American Conservative Memberships
Become a Member today for a growing stake in the conservative movement.
Join here!
Join here