From Neo-Con to Cruncy-Con

My column in the Madison County Journal this week discusses whether John McCain could be the second "crunchy-con" president. Here are some excerpts.

On the second day of the Republican National Convention in Minnesota, delegates watched a video tribute to Republican President Theodore Roosevelt. From charging with the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War, to hunting with Holt Collier in the Mississippi Delta, to his iconic graving onto Mount Rushmore, Roosevelt is one of America's more storied leaders. His biography speaks well to Republicans promoting John McCain and Sarah Palin: a war hero who fought against special interests; a former police commissioner who fired bad cops, he was elected governor before joining the Republican ticket as vice-president.

The Roosevelt video reminded me of conversations with Republican friends in canoes floating down rivers: fishing, swimming, and enjoying our country's natural resources. Roosevelt is considered by some the father of national park system because of his conservation vision. I consider him the first Crunchy Con President.

Dreher released the book, "Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers, and their diverse tribe of countercultural conservatives plan to save America (or at least the Republican Party)."

Dreher writes this thumbnail of the Crunchy Con Manifesto: "We are conservatives who stand outside the conservative mainstream; therefore, we can see things that matter more clearly. Modern conservatism has become too focused on money, power, and the accumulation of stuff, and insufficiently concerned with the content of our individual and social character. Big business deserves as much skepticism as big government. Culture is more important than politics and economics. A conservatism that does not practice restraint, humility, and good stewardship - especially of the natural world - is not fundamentally conservative. Small, Local, Old, and Particular are almost always better than Big, Global, New, and Abstract. Beauty is more important than efficiency. The relentlessness of media-driven pop culture deadens our senses to authentic truth, beauty, and wisdom. We share Russell Kirk's conviction that 'the institution most essential to conserve is the family.'"

McCain often references Theodore Roosevelt as his favorite President and carries his campaign and ideology with a similar maverick sentiment and environmental commitment. But, many Crunchy Cons see themselves more at home with someone like Ron Paul (for whatever reason) or in third parties like the Constitution Party.

McCain's similarities to Roosevelt are not merely symbolic. It will be interesting to see if those Republican delegates from Minnesota and counter-culture conservatives will unite to elect a second Crunchy Con president.

Read the full column here: PERRY/A 'crunchy con' president?