Posted on 01/20/2008 1:24:13 PM PST by neverdem
Conservatism around the world seems to be suffering from some sort of nervous breakdown. This takes different forms in different countries as we would expect from a political disposition that stresses the local, the practical, and the traditional. Still, the breakdown seems to be more acute in the English-speaking world than in continental Europe and elsewhere. It also exhibits certain common features.
Let me begin with an acute example: “mainstream” conservative parties in all countries for the last thirty years have shunned nationalist voters and the causes that arouse them from immigration to anti-supra-nationalism. This has resulted in the rise of third parties and political entrepreneurs specializing in such issues. Examples include the National Front in France, the People’s Party in Denmark, the Freedom Party in Austria, the National Alliance in Italy, One Nation in Australia, the Reform Party in Canada, Ross Perot in the United States, UKIP and the British National Party in Britain, the late Pim Fortuyn’s party in Holland, and New Zealand First.
In some cases these parties have become an important and seemingly permanent part of the political scene and entered government. They have done so in Austria and Italy; in others they have been marginalized by shrewd conservative leaders, such as John Howard in Australia, who dealt with their issues to entice back their voters. In almost all cases, however, such parties have divided the Right, at least temporarily, and allowed the Left to slip into power.
In some cases left-wing political leaders have consciously crafted political strategies along these lines. François Mitterrand, who had experienced at first hand the plight of a Left that could win neither with the Communists nor without them, adopted an electoral system that increased the importance of the National Front and presented the mainstream Right with the same dilemma...
(Excerpt) Read more at newcriterion.com:81 ...
More like catastrophic pulmonary collapse.
While I think the author is headed in the right direction, this comment plays right into the hands of the MoveOn.Org crowd.
Conservatism is alive and well thank you. Core values don't change, and true conservatives don't shirk from them. The riff raff will ebb and flow.
From the article:
Insofar as the United States, Britain, and Western Europe now have rulers shaped by this outlook, they can be described as the first nations in history to have a dissident ruling class. Dissidence has consequences. A dissident ruling class, whether consciously or not, will tend to be suspicious of the nation it rules. It will pursue a series of policies that weaken the self-reliant and patriotic citizenry—creating a dependent underclass through welfare; imposing its own managerial ethos on previously social institutions (Jeremy Black writes eloquently about the philistine managerialism imposed on the universities); treating the core national group and its institutions as inherently racist, sexist, homophobic, and fill-in-the-blank; criminalizing respectable citizens while “defining deviancy down”; electing a new and more tractable people through open or illegal immigration; developing the ideology of multiculturalism to justify such a national deconstruction and re-invention; and inventing Orwellian thought crimes on such matters as Islamofascism which—as Daniel Johnson illustrates—tend to inhibit or suppress the expression of normal common sense or patriotic sentiments. Above all, such a class will prefer undemocratic institutions to democratic ones since the former will be more susceptible to its control and less liable than the latter to question or oppose its power.
LOL
Right
We could all benfit by reading Bryan Caplan's book and unsterstanding its thesis.
Oh for cryin in the bathtub!!! Don't forget Jesse "The Body" Ventura, Mr. Goofy Author O'Sullivan!!! Phhhhhhhhhhhht!!!
(This may be a bit long, but read it anyways) Conservatism is alive and well in the hearts and minds of genuine, consistent conservatism's ranks! It's this juvenilization of our democratic process by the MSM trying desperately to drown out conservativism by trying to convert it into a stupid "American Idol" election process instead of an issues debate!!!
The political pendulum swings regularly back and forth because the typical American resents authority in a reflexive way and also just loves to root for the underdog, or the ones out of power who are challenging and then hope for the best.
Many uncommitted people on the street and even most "moderates" will tell you point blank that it's only fair for the other side to have a turn because those in power have been there entirely too long! It's called "freshening up a bit," ya know...
Familiarity breeds contempt!!! That's all it is, people!!!
We can't be taking it personally and sometimes we must wait for it to get worse, simply so it can then get back to being better like it should have been all along. The people and their fickle whims are always in charge. Not the illuminati, nor the Builderburgers, nor the CFR, nor Art Bell's aliens... just God and the American People!!!
The most horrible exception to this is what recently happened in CA. The people got so upset with the stench of Gray Davis they threw him out in favor of an even far bigger deceiver who threw the people and their offspring into bondage in a state debter's prison for 30+ years... Taxes with interest because he couldn't reign in the legislative excesses!!!
The national scene seems to be headed toward the same kind of train wreck and reflexive purge. We'll see!!!
Ooops! I forgot to ping the thread poster!!!
btt
As their national anthem says over and over... "God save our noble queen, God save out noble queen, God save our queen!"
The sun used to never set on the British Empire!!!
If we keep taking ours for granted, it'll sunset way too early and the fundamental founding principles in the Magne Carte and Declaration of Independence as well as our unique constitution will be nothing but "the handwriting on the wall!" "Mene mene tekel upharsin"
People who sincerely love this way of life in America cannot really be very happy with the way it's being further mislead everyday... It's sad to see both these great societies that transformed the planet being beaten down and abandoned right after the way Ronald Reagan and Maggie Thatcher so recently rebuilt them!!!
BTW, the comments about Schwarzenegger were accurate.
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