Shopping for Virtue
[Bruce Frohnen  02/21 07:44 PM]

I enjoyed Frederica's post, and certainly agree that there is a danger to over-intellectualizing virtue. However, I would point out that what attracts an old-style traditionalist like me to Crunchy Cons is its overt reliance on the thought and sensibility of Russell Kirk, among others. And Kirk sought to articulate just about everything. Moreover, we have an even greater need to articulate what it is we wish to conserve because the tap-root of our culture — the Western, Judeo-Christian tradition — is being undermined to the point of destruction. We need, I think, to think, write, and talk about where virtue comes from, and toward what it must be oriented, lest we choose to serve yet more false gods.

Which brings me to Rod's point on how to afford "crunchiness." We would make a mistake, I think, in simply trying to lead a different, politically correct, consumerism, and call that virtue. I'm guilty of this myself to a certain extent — I won't shop at Whole Foods because of the multiple piercings and official left-wing activism, for example, but am not sure that isn't simply self-indulgent. My family is countercultural precisely because we don't fit the usual categories, which means we, like a lot of people, have to piece together our lives from the materials at-hand. Some of it is easy — in our area (Ann Arbor) there are produce markets that are cheap, good, and relatively convenient, and the local grocers sell food cheaper, on sale, than the chains. This takes some time, but we've chosen to be a one-income family, so my wife bears the brunt of the work, with grace. But we still go to Costco on occasion and have other faults besides. You do the best you can with the resources (including time and energy as well as money) that you have. The most important question, I think, isn't where you shop (though that isn't irrelevant) but whether you are working on leading a decent life in your profession, in your church, and in the way you raise your kids. I'm struggling on all counts, but am doing what I can. In my case the big decisions were about the job and about where we live — a "cottage home" in a neotraditional neighborhood where my kids actually know their neighbors, and so, to a decent extent, do my wife and I. In discussing Crunchy Cons, I hope we will discuss how people put together decent lives, in where they live, how they educate their kids, and so on. I think that is, in an important sense, what the book is about.