11 November 2008

What is conservative culture?

Dr. Helen is looking for it, here.



[C]ulture drives politics and not the other way around, at least in my opinion. Because of this, it is imperative that if conservative and libertarian ideas are to survive, we must educate people in ways that they can relate to — and this means popular culture in the form of books, music, television, movies, and social groups, starting with education.





















A commentator, “Wontondon” makes his contributions to the effort, here. Personally, I kind of like this one, which he calls "The Onward Chistian Soldiers Toothbrush Holder, a thank you for his comfortable life.


















A runner up is this one, which he calls a pregnant chick with an ugly tattoo, lying in a pile of leaves, whistling Dixie.

I have to admit, I don’t really get graphic arts. They don’t really “say” anything to me. Poetry says things to me, especially lyrics. One of favorites is this one, by Rush, “Red Barchetta”.


My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law
And on Sundays I elude the eyes
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire
Where my white-haired uncle waits

Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me an old machine
For fifty odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream

I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better vanished time
I fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime

Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge...

Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware

Suddenly ahead of me
Across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air car
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires
To run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase

Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud with fear and hope
I've got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded at the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle at the fireside
Frankly, given the obvious back-story to these lyrics, they are quite libertarian. Note that the back-story is a powerful state, which has outlawed motors (well, at least those that power automobiles), except, surely, the ones it happens to own.

Examples of conservative/libertarian culture are okay. But what are the defining characteristics of this culture?

H/T: Instapundit

Speaking of Rush, and "REd Barchetta"...enjoy, if you have seven minutes:




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James Frank Solís
Former soldier (USA). Graduate-level educated. Married 26 years. Texas ex-patriate. Ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America.
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