A couple of liberal bloggers point out, apropos of the AmCon interview with Michael Pollan (see here for my ramblings), that Wendell Berry is, in fact, not a liberal. Rather, his criticisms of big agriculture, big business, and big government are rooted in a basically traditionalist worldview. I take it that’s why unconventional conservatives and traditionalists of various stripes like him.

I will admit to having only limited interest in Berry, which will no doubt destroy any crunchy cred I may have had. While he definitely scores some points in his criticism of the national security state/global capitalism/industrial food nexus, I don’t find his positive vision nearly as captivating as others seem to. Maybe it’s because I’ve never thought that the solution to the ills of modernity and the shortcomings of liberalism should – or could – involve their wholesale repudiation. And Berry seems to me to come close to this.