[pau1f0rd]

I don't think the issue is whether American conservatives have seriously attempted to explain their positions to Britain and Europe...It is whether British and Europeans are willing to treat them, and their ideas, seriously at all.

Fine - that's the most common attitude to Europe on FR. If Europe won't listen, forget it. All I'm saying is that the Democrats and the US Left don't have that attitude. They will push and push and push to get on TV, in the press and in the bookshops. They don't give up, and they wouldn't give up even if the whole of the media was closed to them.

The US conservative message fails in Europe because where it does occasionally appear it comes across as clumsy, ignorant, simplistic and oppressive. A message packaged like this isn't going to appeal to European conservatives, let alone the left-leaning.

[NZerFromHK]

The problem with your approach is that it is incredibly naive. The reasons the American Left gets listened in European/British Left and Right is not because they are more persistent in getting their views across - hardly, considering that these same poeple can't handle any slightest oppositions on the domestic scene, but because the European/British Left and Right share their ideas and thoughts.

It is precisely American conservatives see that establishment media outlets are closed and no matter how sincerely you try they just won't bother listening to you newer media outlets are emerging (FOX news, Rush Limbaugh, Washington Times, to name a few).

[okie01]

"The US conservative message fails in Europe because where it does occasionally appear it comes across as clumsy, ignorant, simplistic and oppressive."

"Clumsy", perhaps. Polemics have never been a conservative strength.

But if the conservative message -- individual liberty, self-reliance, free markets, freedom of religion, et al -- is also perceived as "ignorant", "simplistic" and "oppressive", there is something seriously deficient within the audience.