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This article is from the Conservatism FAQ, by Jim Kalb kalb@aya.yale.edu with numerous contributions by others.

What's all this stuff about community and tradition? The groups that matter these days are groups like yuppies, gays, and senior citizens that people join as individuals based on interests and perspectives rather than tradition.

Can this be true in the long run? When times are good people imagine
that they can define themselves as they choose, but a society will
not long exist if the only thing its members have in common is a
commitment to self-definition. The necessity for something beyond
that becomes clearest when the times require sacrifice. Membership in
a group with an identity developed and inculcated through tradition
becomes far more relevant then than career path, life-style option,
or stage of life. One of Bill Clinton's problems as president was
that people saw him as a yuppie who wouldn't die for anything; at
some point that kind of problem becomes decisive.