One of the main points Dreher makes in his posts and in his books is that a strong local cultures, with their own little histories, with their networks of real, longstanding human relationships, with their respect and affection for real people and real places, usually provide better solutions to our problems than big government OR the free market can.
A society that is made up of many strong local cultures will be a good society. Such a society would be based on the basic dignity of every human being, affection for the natural world, and respect for long-standing institutions (as opposed to the strip-mall and suburb mentality). Such a society would value beauty and goodness over efficiency and economics.
This doesn't always line up with "economics is king" unlimited free market capitalism. But in the long run, it's the best way a society can run in a fallen world.
Here are excerpts from Rod Dreher's Manifesto from his book Crunchy Cons:
1. [We have] become too focused on money, power, and the accumulation of stuff, and insufficiently concerned with the content of our individual and social character.
2. Big business deserves as much skepticism as big government.
3. Culture is more important than politics and economics.
4. Small, Local, Old, and Particular are almost always better than Big, Global, New, and Abstract.
5. Beauty is more important than efficiency.
6. The relentlessness of media-driven pop culture deadens our senses to authentic truth, beauty, and wisdom.
7. We share Russell Kirk’s conviction that “the institution most essential to conserve is the family.”
