Craft beer and the Communitarian Movement

I just saw part of the text from a a keynote speech given by best-selling author Michael Pollan at the 2014 Craft Brewers Conference in Denver, Colorado. In the speech, Pollan characterized craft brewers as trailblazers in the Communitarian Movement (Kevin cheers).

Communitarians are first and foremost about building community. We see an alternative realm for human flourishing, the community itself, as a living entity that exists separate from government or the individual. The community is alive. It embodies the shared values and aspirations of a people that experience culture together. The community gives individuals a social vehicle to be their best selves as part of an interconnected web of interdependent relationships. The community is not government and it is not anti-government. It is the space between, which is why communitarianism is an attractive philosophy for many people that see themselves as on the left or the right of the political spectrum.

Conservative communitarians like me believe the government sector has grown too large, corrupt, politically contaminated, and cumbersome such that it is crowding out the natural growth-providing energies inherent in voluntary community association. We believe it is essential to deconstruct and reform government institutions and professional services so that individuals have more space to allow their creativity to thrive. We believe voluntary associations produce the best outcomes because people do not want to be told how to live their lives. We believe human beings are social creatures that understand it is essential to form cooperative groups in order to survive. We believe norms supersede laws, and when laws supersede norms, that is tyranny. We also believe in "freedom to" rather than "freedom from". We take responsibility for ourselves and our families, and we recognize that our families are in neighborhoods with other families. We strive for excellence and we do not eschew competition because we understand that the strong survive and prosper, but we also find ways to find economies of scale and share our success with others. We do not need government structures to do that for us.

The craft beer culture is a great example of communitarianism in practice, as Michael Pollan said. It is a community of creative individuals working each in his own way to make something good and share it with others. It includes people that are using natural resources to bridge environment and culture. Craft beer uses water, grain, yeast, and hops to make something that the community recognizes as good. Beer is a social substance that lubricates relationships.

In addition to brewers, the craft beer community also includes people that build community capitol in a multitude of other ways, by transferring craft beer to friends, writing about craft beer, working in the service industry, selling craft beer, or being craft beer ambassadors. The most important way that this voluntary community is advanced is just by people enjoying and talking about great craft beer.

I have been focusing on the craft beer world in my blogging and as a topic on my local access television show as a prism through which we can not only learn about craft beer but also as a great illustration of voluntary communitarianism. I am delighted that Michael Pollan picked up that theme at the Craft Brewers conference last week. Pollan is correct. The craft beer community is communitarianism in practice.