Culinary Conservatism (& Health)
The American Conservative, a paleo magazine of the Old and Traditional Right, always has superb commentary and analysis on foreign policy issues. I do not know what I would do without it. Many of the other "wild-card" topics they cover are great as well. The previous issue (June 16), for example, had an excellent essay (sorry, not online) by William Lind titled "Love Your Neighborhood" on New Urbanism.
Even so, in my opinion, sometimes when they cover economic matters they are not so good. It seems like many of them believe that, if it were up to the supposed "free market" we have, there would be maybe two or three giant, Wal-Mart-like, companies that everyone would work under and always shop at for all needs. (But, if that transpired, those super-giant companies could not last because they would have calculation problems. As a matter of fact, many in the "higher ups" in the big business world are dependent on the government for their very existence.) Or that the market destroys community and family. (Well, I think the reality of the matter is just the opposite. The most important features of community life [e.g., private authorities and a local connection], which go well beyond the issue of local shops and Wal-Mart, have been politicalized and centralized. If all property was private, then communities could easily fulfill all the desires of cultural conservatives. [Listen to Dr. Woods' "Up from Conservatism."] A private property society would be more compliant with a bourgeois society. Private roads and spaces, for instance, would not be detached from the values of the community. They could justly enforce rules against prostitution or whatnot. Secondly, note that markets cannot be blamed when they are a reflection of bad ideas---which need to be challenged---in the minds of the public.)
With that caveat in mind (caveat emptor), in the June 30th issue of TAC (subscribe!), you will find a few of features on "The Case for Culinary Conservatism." John Schwenkler writes that we need to renew culinary culture. Then there is an interview with Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, conducted by Rod Dreher, author of Crunchy Cons. Plus see "Burning Dinner" by Timothy P. Carney.
(But for a debunk of the "Crunchy Con" thing, read this.)
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The traditional family meal at the dinner table, with its salutary effects on family life and spirit, should be an area all real cultural conservatives should push and thrive for. Recrudescence we should all work for because there is very sadly too little of it in today's society.
Fr. Leo Patalinghug thus in 2003 started the Grace Before Meals project. Check it out. (And here Mr. Tucker gives us Grace in the Latin Chant.)
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"Being ill is not a phenomenon independent," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "of conscious will and of psychic forces working in the subconscious." He was more correct than most people realize.
While by no means perfect myself (to say the least), diet, exercise, prayer and meditation profoundly has an impact on our health. This makes me think that health insurance, if we had a free market, would largely (but not completely) go away. Today, of course, health insurance does not work in accordance with how markets work because it is a statist industry, but my view is that a free market, in the long-run, would probably look to a greater extent different than what most free market economists think.
It has been argued that our bodies are like a pool. What we put in changes the pool's pH, something that is a good determiner of our health: See this, this, this.
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Sorry, I cannot help myself; I must add some politically incorrect thoughts: I think that moderate coffee drinking is good for you. (Unless I am mistaken, I think the author of those three articles does too, in spite of its pH.) "Google it" to find reasons. But even more incorrect politically: I would say that very moderate tobacco use has some positive things to it. (Hey, people drone on about marijuana! Although, marijuana usage I think is more of a hippie leftist thing. Hence, I discourage it.)
See: "Thank You for Smoking" by Peter Brimelow.
