Let me make a point that is in even more sympathy with Jonah’s Houston correspondent. I think it is a basic conservative principle that people should stick it out within the little platoons they belong to. On the most basic level, this is why, for example, no-fault divorce is not something a conservative should value (though he may be willing to tolerate it as a political necessity). However, there are times when one’s little platoon is so overburdened with centralized control and meddling from without that leaving really is the only option for almost everyone. So rereading the Houston emailer I will say that my first judgment may have been too harsh. The destruction of her neighborhood by ill-conceived government programs really isn’t her fault. Leaving is sometimes necessary. There is no silver bullet to our problems, and “crunchiness” certainly isn’t one. There is only the struggle to live in fidelity to what we know and have been taught are the deepest truths about God, our fellows, and reality. To the extent the struggle continues even as we may be in strategic retreat — yes, even retreat to the suburbs! — I say “Huzzah!” To the extent we throw up our hands and stop struggling in order to get what we can while everything else goes to hell, I say that’s a big problem.
