Hello from another former ideologue here. I found your blog via a comment you left on ACX. Yes, it's interesting how much these ideologies possess people.
Also really interested to see your last sentence "And I tend to interpret much of the progressive or social justice movement there as more a project around doing Capitalism nicely than changing humanity’s relationship with resource consumption and distribution." Yes indeed. I have been trying to work out whether I can make a conservative argument for limiting the corrosive effect of big business on the policy landscape for small and medium size enterprises who are doing good stuff around meeting human needs in a way that promotes responsible use of resources and so on. There's one in John Michael Greer's 'Wealth of nature' which draws on E F Schumacher's ideas. But most people read any discussion of whether we can evaluate the impact of big businesses and finance as 'socialism' -- I'm afraid that if conservatives can't have that conversation that real industry will continue to sink under the impact of the predatory capitalist firms and we'll miss important off-ramps during the period of energy descent.
Hello from another former ideologue here. I found your blog via a comment you left on ACX. Yes, it's interesting how much these ideologies possess people.
Also really interested to see your last sentence "And I tend to interpret much of the progressive or social justice movement there as more a project around doing Capitalism nicely than changing humanity’s relationship with resource consumption and distribution." Yes indeed. I have been trying to work out whether I can make a conservative argument for limiting the corrosive effect of big business on the policy landscape for small and medium size enterprises who are doing good stuff around meeting human needs in a way that promotes responsible use of resources and so on. There's one in John Michael Greer's 'Wealth of nature' which draws on E F Schumacher's ideas. But most people read any discussion of whether we can evaluate the impact of big businesses and finance as 'socialism' -- I'm afraid that if conservatives can't have that conversation that real industry will continue to sink under the impact of the predatory capitalist firms and we'll miss important off-ramps during the period of energy descent.
Enjoyed reading this Mike! I empathise with your approach.