Posted on 05/09/2015 11:16:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Many people seem to think that the results of the British general election—a gain of 24 seats for the Tories, giving them a majority—herald a major win for conservatism. They don’t. They herald a major win for the Conservative Party, but just because it calls itself the Conservative Party doesn’t mean it does conservative things.
Actually, the full official name of that party is the “Conservative and Unionist Party,” and last night was not a win for unionism either. The Scottish National Party, once a marginal outfit known outside Scotland only because Sean Connery supported it, picked up 50 seats last night. They utterly destroyed Scottish Labour, which for years was guaranteed the vote of left-wing Scots. Scotland now continues on its chosen path to become a stridently nationalist, one-party socialist state—a kind of Venezuela on the North Sea.
The Tories, meanwhile, have the same problem the Republicans do: they have ceased to be an effective vehicle for the kind of conservatism most of their constituents want. No one trusts they will accomplish anything significant, especially on issues like immigration and the European Union. As someone who reads and has written for British conservative publications, I am surprised the Tories performed as well as they did, given the outright hostility many average, middle-class conservatives have for the party and its leadership. Read the comments below any article in any right-leaning British periodical and you’ll see what I mean.
The Tories’ coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats, was also destroyed yesterday, losing 49 seats. We’ll see what the Conservatives can accomplish over the next five years, but if change comes to Britain, I doubt it will arise from anything David Cameron does. Rather, the party will remain successful, in purely electoral terms, because of forces outside its control. If Scotland leaves the union, it would be a boon for the Conservative Party—there are Conservative politicians who, despite their party’s manifesto, actually want this. (Well, since Labour has been destroyed north of the border, Scotland has already left the union in the sense that matters for general elections.) This might have the effect of making the Tories even more useless: success can breed arrogance, and arrogance can breed indolence and complacence. The Conservatives would continue to prosper even as they became less conservative, there being no incentive to listen to their constituents. Not that they listen to them now.
Where’s Francis Urhardt when you need him?
Britian is a lost cause too little too late.
If we do not have Cruz in 2016 and a strong conservative congress than any other option will result in too little too late for us as well.
CRUZ or LOSE!
I'm a local government indoctrination board member, and (for example) here in Pa, the state PA Supreme Court ruled last year that opening a school board meeting with prayer is unconstitutional
WHA ??
And when I found this out and questioned it (read ... I tried to get the all male 8 other members to ignore the SC and pray anyway) ... I found every one intimidated because the school could be sued and the defense cost would be enormous and there's no guarentee ... etc., etc.
So, laws are in place already ...
Let me repeat that ...
LAWS ARE IN PLACE ALREADY ...
To prevent Americans from being Americans
THUS;
I believe the Tories and the American Republicans (it no longer matters who, nor when and how ... but rather the fact IS ... ) are neutered into inactivity or feeble activity at best ... because no one wants to pick up a gun and shoot the ones responsable
Perhaps maybe it's because it might be a suicidal event
2 Chronicles 7:14
I loved the British House of Cards!
If anybody expects any British party to be as conservative as some Americans are, they aren't being very realistic.
I don’t see this election as a victory for conservatives as much as a defeat for liberals. At least Labor got its stinking communist butt kicked.
And perhaps that's what's needed.
Ha! Love the original British version!
That’s exactly what my UKIP friends say. Like repubs, they can’t be trusted.
If anything good happens it will be because they made good on campaign promises to put continued EU membership to a referendum vote.
That’s why I posted what I posted the way I posted it
Didn’t Cameron promise that the first time he got elected, and then reneged, just like the stinking no-good POS GOP has done on all their worthless promises?
By contrast, I don't trust online self-described conservatives to define conservatism.
Cameron couldn’t deliver on that promise because he hadn’t gained a majority and had to rely on the Liberal democrats to rule, who would not have any truck with supporting a bill to give Britain a referendum on leaving the EU.
Now it is different, he has a majority, and a mandate and an obligation to provide that referendum and he can’t escape it even if he wants to.
The Tories Election Manifesto laid out several goals:
Welfare reform, health care reform, old age pension reform, creating new jobs and cutting red tape, government reform, empowering regional and local governments, protecting the environment, increasing quality of education, boosting home ownership, reclaiming powers from the EU and strengthening the UK’s national defence.
All worthy and balanced objectives. Apparently backed by much of the British public.
http://static.guim.co.uk/ni/1429010009028/Conservative-Manifesto-2015.pdf
And the most important thing? Making sure the budget is balanced and the country, in pursuing its goals, lives within its means.
Those are good FISCAL policies.
Now what about SOCIAL policies? Abortion? Same-Sex marriage? Immigration?
What about National Defense?
There is a difference between government helping people to take care of themselves better and government taking care of people for them.
The former is letting people decide what assistance suits them and the latter is having the government decide they’re not mature enough to live their own lives.
In a nutshell, its a vastly different vision of the role government should play. And the role of government should be a reasonable one - from a conservative viewpoint.
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