THE rIGHT IS THE lEFT:

A group of American conservatives has caused waves over the past 12 months by explicitly turning against big business. It includes figures such as Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance, Fox News host Tucker Carlson (who recently delivered a speech entitled "Why Big Business Hates Your Family", and endorsed Democrat Elizabeth Warren's economic agenda) and a number of Catholic intellectuals such as Sohrab Ahmari and Patrick Deneen.

These Trump-friendly Right-wingers are certainly not cheerleaders for Extinction Rebellion or Greta Thunberg; at first glance they seem the polar opposite of hippies, who originally defined themselves against the "military-industrial complex" and its evil end product, the war in Vietnam.

But yes, if you can get past the tone of voice, there is something hippie about these new Conservatives, defining themselves against boundary-less financial markets, the over-mighty power of technology and global corporations, and the creep of commercial thinking into all aspects of our lives. In a sense, they are more truly 'counter-cultural' than the climate protestors, who are celebrated as virtuous by almost everybody in power.

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