Let's think about the word conservative for a second. True conservatives are interested in "conserving" things right? The caricature of conservatives is that they try to preserve abstract things like traditional culture, the sanctity of the family, morality, and community but are really only interested in moralizing. But where are the conservatives who want to conserve the environment? Where are the church groups unwilling to participate in a system where factory farming of livestock is a reality? Where are the conservatives who want to preserve traditional agriculture, the kind of small scale, local and family based agriculture that Thomas Jefferson dreamed would be the future of the nation? Talk about an Originalist!

As a political conservative who favors limited-government, the authentic over the mass produced, the local over the federal, and small business over corporate, the sustainable food movement seems a perfect fit for me. And yet when I look out over the various constellations that make up the movement, I don't see very many conservatives.

It may be that many of us, accustomed to decades of caricature and derision, simply choose to keep our heads down and soldier on. But as the movement progresses it will be important for advocates of all political stripes to be transparent about their agendas. Transparency is never a bad thing. I also believe that advocates of a local, sustainable food system should be more welcoming and accepting of conservatives that hold the same goals, even if they have different reasons for doing so. It's not that current stakeholders in local foods activism have excluded conservatives, I do not think they have. But what they also have not done is made it a priority to reach out to community members from across the aisle.

Crunchy Cons

I recently read Crunchy Cons: The New Conservative Counterculture, by the journalist Rod Dreher. Dreher found that the U.S. food system was a target rich environment for him to criticize using his conservative credentials. His criticisms, while well known to local foods advocates, are enlightening for conservatives.

Conservatives value small businesses over corporations because they keep people empowered. The local and sustainable food movement elevates small farmers, artisans and restaurateurs, almost to a heroic level. Just look at how Alice Waters and Joel Salatin are regarded.

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