Conservative Despair Over Capitalism

As noted here yesterday, my only New Year's resolution is to be mean to the filthy rich people who are big players in the ongoing financial catastrophe. Now, it turns out, capitalism is being mean to conservatives. Says Patrick Deneen:

"Growing numbers of social traditionalists (let's not call them 'conservatives,' lest we confuse the issue) are realizing that the coalition they joined was a devil's bargain. While communism was successfully combated, market capitalism did its work undermining most of the traditions that held together communities, folkways and customs. Communities were undermined by multinationals while elite universities scoured the land for any talent that could be strip-mined from localities and turned into productive material in the international market system. If you weren't a winner in the cosmopolitan, meritocratic sweepstakes then you deserved some kind of welfare and re-education; the norm of success was defined by one's distance from traditions and culture. The conservation of liberalism has accelerated the demise of the viability of tradition's claims. Thus, I, for one, have a jaundiced eye toward the old bargain being offered in some circles: rather, it seems likely that it is time to fight battles with erstwhile allies (even as new alliances are formed with some on the current Left, e.g. those with localist or somewhat healthy environmental views which stress conservation over techno-optimism) rather than sign back on to a lousy bargain that offers to allow us to 'conserve' an anti-conservative 'tradition.' The place to start -- difficult as it will be -- is to reject the various 'isms' being offered in return for electoral success. After all, what could be more conservative than opposition to an 'ism' -- even, dare one say, 'conservatism'?"

I'd like to say I share poor Deneen's pain, but for being so erudite he seems awfully clueless if it took this long to realize that he's been part of that devil's bargain.