Graham Turner asks in an article in the Telegraph Can the Conservative Party recover?… and of course the answer I would give is no. It is fascinating to watch the Tory Party Conference. I have not enjoyed myself as much since I last saw Dawn of the Dead.
The new Tory manifesto is starting
to take shape nicely
Iain Duncan Smith continues to amaze me with his triviality and casual insults to potential supporters. The latest thigh slappingly funny remark is that he dislikes the ‘doggerel’ found in Roman Catholic Masses. Not in and of itself a momentous observation, but then please keep in mind that this is the man who would presumably like Catholics in Britain to vote for him so that he can be the one plundering private assets instead of those nasty labour people.
Did anyone hear front bench advocacy for
genuine capitalist solutions and free trade over
all the blather about ‘public services’ being paramount?
And when IDS finally implodes, or more likely people just forget his name, it seems that chubby paleo-statist Kenneth Clark still hankers after party leadership so he can revive the glories of the Ted Heath era…
Now this is almost better that Evil Dead…
Kenneth Clark’s supporters were much in
evidence this year
Update: I have now sobered up and I would like to apologise to all of our readers who happen to be undead… in no way was I implying all zombies are members of the Conservative Party. 
On the contrary, his remarks about the doggerel in modern English Masses will go down extremely well with Catholics, who are all ashamed of themselves for not being able to follow the Latin Mass any more and feel that the least they can do is show a proper scorn for degenerate modern ways.
Perry, it might be funny–guess you have to be on *your* side of the Big Pond to appreciate the humor–to see the suicide-bomber nature of the Tory Party, if it weren’t so damn TRAGIC!
Why can’t Tories see their fight as one against Statism and For Liberty?
Because the Labour Party won’t be happy until they’ve legislated out not only every civil liberty imaginable and all the privileges entailed in British sovreignity, but everything that makes Britain “British” like the Pound, fox hunting and the House of Lords.
If the Conservative Party wants to regain power they have to take principled stands against the EU, NHS, and the creeping destruction of civil liberties. They can’t be the me-too party. Labour Party-lite. They have to stand up and say that the right to Life, Liberty, and Property are paramount.
The issue that impacts everybody is crime. Denounce judges and prosecutors who charge and convict people who are defending themselves. Promise to increase the police forces and make them accountable to local constituancies. Crack down on property crime by replacing judges who won’t incarcerate. Bring in Bratton or Timoney to show how New York tackled it’s crime problem. Encourage people to set up Neighbor Watch groups and promise if you win to fund and support them. Showcase one person a week who is a victim of the criminal justice system. Don’t scapegoat the average police officer. Introduce a plan for community policing.
Crime really hurt the Democrats all thru the ’80s and ’90s. Hammer Labour in the Commons about the rise in crime. Make at least one issue your’s and build from there.
Editorial Note: I had to go back through and put the u in “Labour”. Wacky Brits.
(LOL, Peter.)
They should also point out that even though the Government (Tony’s people) want to put up more and more of those Closed Circuit cameras so that Big Brother can watch everyone, Crime has decidedly gotten WORSE not better!
And this talk about getting rid of Juries and Double Jeopardy in Criminal Trials has GOT TO GO. End of Story.
And of course, NO to the EUro!
Why IDS! – from Thatcherism to IDS
It is Thatcherism that brought the Conservative Party to the state it is today. IDS is just the logical conclusion of Thatcherism.
By “Thatcherism” I do not mean the personal views of Margaret Thatcher, whom I respect as a person, and whose personal views I do not know, but the main principles of the Conservative policies of her period that became known as “Thatcherism”, which are as follows:
1. The government should “run the Economy” in accordance with the principles of “free market economics”.
2. The powers of the Trade Unions should be limited.
3. Public services should be privatised.
There have been some other issues, but these ones are the more fundamental ones.
The Arguments:
1. The “Economy” in a free country is not an organisational entity, like it was in the former Communist countries, but a statistical concept, and for that reason cannot be “run” by a government or anybody else. The phrase “the government is running the economy” is nothing else but a political slogan. But the logical consequence of that slogan is that people are encouraged to believe that they depend on the government for their personal needs.
(http://www.truth-and-justice.info/govpol.html)
2. Trade unions are private voluntary organisations, and cannot have any “powers” whatsoever. To talk about limiting anybody’s powers amounts to legitimating these powers, all be it with some limits. (http://www.truth-and-justice.info/unions.html)
3. The Labour Party socialists nationalised whatever they could get away with, because they believed that private property is a social evil. This was wrong. But to say that everything public is evil, because Socialists say that everything pubic is good, is also wrong.
(http://www.truth-and-justice.info/privpub.html)
The problem with Thatcherism is that it has accepted the Socialist assumptions and tried either to modify them, or to do exactly the opposite, instead of rejecting the whole lot and rebuilding their own philosophy from scratch based on the assumptions of individual freedom and personal responsibility.
And this is why the Conservatives are where they are today.
Well sort of, Shams…
Point 1. I agree completely… there is no good way for a government to ‘run’ an economy other than by NOT running it.
Point 2. Yes, I agree BUT that does not mean I think Trade Unions should be able to use intimidation on picket lines (and elsewhere) and thus must not be allowed to act like Political Militias… After all the Brown Shirts were, and Mafia is, also a ‘private voluntary organisation’ operated by people who were not forced to join it.
Point 3. That rather depends on what you mean by ‘public’. For the most part it means property acquired by with stolen (i.e. tax) money or simply by direct state force. If that is what you mean by ‘public’ then ‘Bad’. The devil is in the details.
The fact is Thatcher only had so much political capital and when she had spent it all, she was deposed by the Tory Party. “Thatcherism” was, compared to what preceded it, nothing less than an earthquake. She stemmed the tide of socialism in Britain for a while and changed whole basis upon which the battles of the future were fought. To say she still operated within a flawed statist meta-context would be a fair statement however but that does not change what she achieved. Thatcherism operated within the context of much of the Conservative Party (including ministers) remaining paleo-conservative statists determined to stop it. Thus just blaming ‘Thatcherism’ for the mess today in the undead Tory Party is perhaps rather misleading. Thatcher just opened a door but never completely stepped through it.
The answers to Perry de Havilland (Oct 9, 2002 12:32 PM)
Point 2. “… BUT that does not mean I think Trade Unions should be able to use intimidation on picket lines (and elsewhere) …”
No, definitely, it does not mean that!
The rights of any group of people are not greater than those of a single private citizen.
And as far as a “picket line” is concerned it is an act of obstuction and intimidation and a series of other crimes, offences and civil wrongs. The phrase “picket line” is internal trade union jargon, and has no legal or constitutional validity whatsoever, in the same ways as the words “scab” or “pig”.
Point 3. “… what you mean by ‘public’ … The devil is in the details”.
You are right and I tried to explain it in http://www.truth-and-justice.info/privpub.html.
But whenever a group of people live in some area, they have some common interests which by their nature cannot be private.
Examples: police, the legal system, etc.
“just blaming ‘Thatcherism’ … perhaps rather misleading”.
I hope I was clear what I meant by Thatcherism – failure to reject the “socialist assumptions”.
Nor would I agree with you that they “achieved” what you attribute to them. Politicians are notorious for ascribing to themselves evrything good that happened during their time in office, but often they just
react to events. And many things just happen anyway.
They came to power because Labour had become unpopular, not becaue they had much to offer. They have done very little, and they wasted many opportunities. They have not cleaned the socialist mess, this is
why IDS.
But it is wrong to “blaim” politicians anyway. I am not blaiming them, I am just explaining the reasons
for the present situation. It is me and you who are
to blaim, for letting the politicans getting away with it all.
Cleaning the mess is a big subject, and a gigantic task …
and the first thing to do is to dispell all the myths and superstitions of the 20th century: unions, pickets, services, politics, left, right,
centre, unemployment, etc … the whole lot – politics – ( http://www.truth-and-justice.info/govpol.html ).
Also: http://www.truth-and-justice.info/wcj.html
Hilarious! Tories as undead… this is a meme that is destined to go places! I love it! The bastards killed off Mike Portillo and as far as I am conserned he was their very very very last chance to be relevent… suddenly I hear the voice of the lovely Delores of the Cranberrys singing ‘Zombie’. 🙂