Four years ago, Mr. Dreher coined the term "crunchy conservatism" (as in crunchy granola) to describe hybrids like himself: political right-wingers with countercultural sensibilities. Now, in a book based largely on interviews and his own experience, he explores the type in depth. But "Crunchy Cons" is not a pallid work of sociology. It is a rousing altar call to spiritual secession from an America that Mr. Dreher sees as awash in materialism, consumerism and "lifestyle-libertarian" thinking.

In Mr. Dreher's view, consumer-crazed capitalism makes a fetish of individual choice and, if left unchecked, "tends to pull families and communities apart." Thus consumerism and conservatism are, for him, incompatible, a fact that mainstream conservatives, he says, simply do not grasp. He warns that capitalism must be reined in by "the moral and spiritual energies of the people."

You cannot be truly conservative today, he avers, without being countercultural.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110007996&mod=RSS_Opinion_Journal&ojrss=frontpage

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400050642/102-7513069-1542552?v=glance&n=283155


hmmm.....interesting.....except for the religious faith part conservatives could use a new model

they stay crunchy in milk!

I'm not a conservative much but capitalism has too much power to dictate everyone's lives. It seems like everything revolves around it.

Is there an alternative to voluntary market exchange that will have less power over people's lives?