Let me add something in response to a few emails on this point. I think conservatives — crunchy and otherwise — use "conservative" to mean "right" or "correct." Obviously, this has a certain logic to it since people who become conservatives do so because they think conservatism is correct. But sometimes this gets spun around and we think "Because I am a conservative if I think X, X must also be conservative and correct." It doesn't necessarily work that way. A Marxist by any other name is still a Marxist.
Intellectual honesty is more important than conservatism, so if you think leftists are right about something, you should say so. But I don't think you should automatically conclude that what the leftist says is conservative. Individuals will always deviate from any orthodoxy or ideal. What we should not do is narcissitically label every deviation a new orthodoxy or a truer expression of that ideal. Conservatism needn't demand total obedience. I think Michael Oakeshott would get my back on this one.
