I got some good e-mails (and a couple of blog comments) about Saturday’s Wendell Berry post . It got me thinking. At the college where I teach there are a lot of Wendell Berry fans. I am a member of a group of faculty who are trying to invite him to campus to speak. Most of the students who read Berry at my college tend to lean liberal (or at least that is what they like to call themselves). They are committed to the environment, peace, and simple-living. I do not think many of these students realize that many of Berry’s ideas could also be considered “conservative.” In fact, I have yet to run into a conservative student at Messiah College who reads Berry, although I am sure there a few out there.
So here is a post for all of you Berry fans out there:
Is Wendell Berry a conservative or a liberal?
I'm liberal-minded myself, although I'm wary about the confusion of ideological labels. I'm familiar enough with Berry to know his general view and some of the details. I'd consider him a clear conservative. He is the kind of conservative that appeals to the conservative streak in me.
I like his conservatism also for the reason that I'm fond of Appalachia, a fondness that developed after living in North Carolina for a few summers following high school. I am a Midwesterner who strongly identifies as such, despite spending 5 years in South Carolina public schools.
A Midwesterner is an entirely different creature than a Southerner. Appalachia, especially the upper regions, is a border region and a mixed place with massive influence from Scots-Irish along with some similar influences as the Midwest. My mom's family comes from Kentucky and ended up in Indiana which is how I became a Midwesterner.
Those living in Appalachia never fit well into mainstream American politics. Some of the most violent labor riots happened there. The Scots-Irish and other similar people always had issues with elites telling them what to do and trying to take advantage of them. Conservative elites have tried to use the culture wars to keep them in line, but obviously that doesn't work for the likes of Berry.
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