Caleb, I don't think I'm being "dishonest" when I say I don't think "materialism" is the predominant direction of conservative thought. I think it is the predominant fixation of the folks in this blog. There's a big difference. The pro-life movement isn't materialist, is it? Moreover, saying the free market is a materialist construct steals a base. Critics of the free market say it is materialist. But, with the exception of some Randians, defenders of the free market do not ground their case in materialism. Adam Smith didn't. Friedrich Hayek didn't. Michael Novak doesn't.

I invite readers to do a little content analysis. Go to the local Barnes & Noble or the library, and look at the current issues of every conservative intellectual magazine on the stands right now. Count how many articles are defenses of free market economics (never mind "materialist" defenses of free market economics). I have the latest Weekly Standard and National Review handy and the total count is: Zero. My guess is that if you did a similar count over, say, the last five years, looking at everything from NR to Commentary to First Things and the American Conservative, you'd find a ratio of 20 to 1, with one being reflexive defenses of the free market. Obviously, this sort of method isn't perfect. But it would work against the common conviction around here and in Rod's book that the conservative movement is consumed by its idolatry of the market.