I care little about the Republican Party anymore- in my estimation it is no longer conservative (at least in the traditional sense of the word) and is only substantially different from the Democratic party in rhetoric and little in substance. However, the book does describe a 'sacramental' approach to modern life that I find compelling. Much of what the author, Rod Dreher, describes resonates deeply with me. This is his own "Manifesto" which is an extreme summarization of the points in his book:
1. We are conservatives who stand outside the conservative mainstream; therefore, we can see things that matter more clearly.Read it if you're curious about a flavor of conservatism other than the typical Republican corporatist, moralist blah.
2. 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.
3. Big business deserves as much skepticism as big government.
4. Culture is more important than politics and economics.
5. A conservatism that does not practice restraint, humility, and good stewardship—especially of the natural world—is not fundamentally conservative.
6. Small, Local, Old, and Particular are almost always better than Big, Global, New, and Abstract.
7. Beauty is more important than efficiency.
8. The relentlessness of media-driven pop culture deadens our senses to authentic truth, beauty, and wisdom.
9. We share Russell Kirk’s conviction that “the institution most essential to conserve is the family.”
10. Politics and economics won’t save us; if our culture is to be saved at all, it will be by faithfully living by the Permanent Things, conserving these ancient moral truths in the choices we make in our everyday lives.
1 comment:
ooh, i need to read that. I didn't realize I was a countercultural conservative until I read the title.
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