From a UK Conservative, Advice for the U.S.
MP Douglas Carswell co-authored The Plan: Twelve Months to Save Britain with MEP Dan Hannan in a bid to influence the direction of a future Conservative government in the UK.
The two of them have been up to quite a lot of late.
Dan Hannan has become a bit of personality on the right in the U.S., especially on Fox News. Carswell managed to fell a speaker of the House of Commons over the speaker’s handling of the MP expenses scandal, a feat that has not been accomplished in 300 years. Also, Conservative leader David Cameron and his team appear to be pinching ideas from The Plan. So its been quite a year for the duo.
Like Hannan, and unlike many of his fellow parliamentarians, Carswell blogs (Talk Carswell) when he gets a break in his schedule. Considering many on the more “Whiggish” right seem to think Carswell talks a great deal of sense, I thought he might offer some words of wisdom to those suffering on the American right:
AD: What you managed to achieve re: Speaker Martin is historic. Do you have any advice for Republicans wishing to rid themselves of the troublesome Speaker Pelosi in the House of Representatives?
DC: Unseating the speaker of the House of Commons for the first time in over 300 years was not something I set out to do when I was elected to Parliament. In fact, I want to be able to respect our democratic institutions and traditions.
But when I discovered how self-serving, supine, and useless our legislature in Britain has now become, I felt I had no choice but to act — and alas, our former speaker was standing in the way of change.
We need radical change to put purpose back into Parliament — and to restore people’s battered faith in our broken democracy. We’re still a long, long way from the radical changes we need. But removing the speaker shows that things don’t have to be the way they are. It is the start in what will be a long struggle.
My criticisms of Michael Martin were never personal. I try my hardest in this politics business never to make personal criticisms. I’m not sure if the issues that some Republicans have with Speaker Pelosi fit into the same category as the issues I had with Speaker Martin. But my advice would be this: don’t attack Speaker Pelosi personally. If you have any criticisms of how your speaker does their job in terms of holding the executive to account, say so. Say it respectfully. And blog it — so that the people can decide for themselves if your points are valid.
AD: What advice would you give the right in the U.S. on how to deal with the socialist administration of Obama?
DC: First remember this — the United States of America is the most successful, prosperous, happy land on Earth not by accident, but because of your Jeffersonian heritage. So stay true to the ideals of the young Republic: limited government, states’ rights, and individual liberty.
Indeed American success is no accident. It is also what has provided cushy, secure life for the current administration that seeks to destroy our form of government from within and destroy the very way of life that ever made such success possible.
The leftists talk of utopia and the perfection of man while their very thoughts and action confirm that even in the moat prosperous nation in the history of the Earth, nothing is too good for man to destroy when delusions run wild and balance is pitched out with the bathwater.
“While China and India decentralize and prosper, western Europe continues to bury herself in an avalanche of excessive taxation and regulation.”
Replace “western Europe” with “the United States”.
That would make our “progressive” Euro-wannabes happy, yes?
Sir:
Always fun and respectful to hear from so called “UK Conservattives” but you rarely ever talk to true conservatives who are even close to what we call would call “conservative” in the USA. What am I talking about?
Cameron and others are always tip toeing around the EU issue. They are terrified of trying to rectify this “train wreck” insidious takeover of domestic national governments by one of the faceless undemocrat idiots in Brussels who are out of control and non-accountable to anyone. Most of the time like Hannan they may be members of the EU as MEPs and suck down big salaries and expense accounts even as they profess their conservative anti big government beliefs. Secretly they don’t want this gravey train to go away even though the EU is an enemy of democracy, representative government, and true conservative values. You will not see true change in the UK or Europe until their peoples rise up and leave the EU. The reason is simple. Most to the day to day laws today come from Brussels. Just ask the experts. All the Parliment does is rubber stamp EU directives which now control the Courts, immigrant laws, health and safety, environmental wackoism like ” wheely bin collections”, gay rights agendas, and what vegetables or meat products can be produced and sold in super markets. Believe me if this kind of facism happened in America, we would have a revolution in a matter of hours. However the people are increasingly docile, increasingly dumbed down by the BBC in particular and media in general, increasingly dazed and confused, and worn down by the ever vigilent euro crat who want to perserve this socialist train wreck which is leading Europe and the UK into a modern “dark ages”. Until you hear someone speak honestly about this, there is not a chance of any real change in the UK. Why not ask this question to your so called conservative UK pundits. Most of them are clueless and enjoy their day in the sun of the USA media as “experts” on conservativatism when in reality they are part of the problem. Bear in mind that most of these people really have liberal tendencies like being “green”, believing in “global warming”, love the NHS, love the BBC, love the idea of their “so called sophisticated non-nattionalistic bland statism, love their pacifism, love the loss of their UK traditional UK values and I could go on. You call this conservatism?
Most humbly and wishing the above was not true (because I have many English friends)
Tommy Gunn
…or, in other words, its about time you stupid republicans started acting more like libertarians.
That phenomenon isn’t only taking place in Europe, but also in Canada.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Presented by
Is the country’s most conservative city dumping the Tories?
Adam Daifallah, National Post
The beginnings of a political shift may have taken root Monday night in Alberta — and its implications could have far-reaching consequences for the political right in this country.
A heretofore fringe political party, the Wildrose Alliance, won a byelection in Calgary, taking a seat the Alberta Progressive Conservatives had held for 38 straight years. The winner, Paul Hinman, defeated a well-known city councillor running for the Tories. And the Tory candidate didn’t just lose– she finished a distant third.
That a governing party was rebuked by way of a byelection loss is not a significant story in itself; it happens all the time, and the party usually recovers. The Alberta Tories are a good example: In 2007, the seat vacated by Ralph Klein upon his retirement was plucked away by the Liberals, but the Conservatives reclaimed that seat, too, in the 2008 general election.
In 2004, Hinman won election to the Alberta legislature running under the banner of the Alberta Alliance, one of the two parties that folded to create the Wildrose Alliance. The Conservatives reclaimed the seat in the 2008 general election.
Here’s what’s different this time: The Alberta Conservatives, who have governed the province uninterrupted since 1971, look tired, complacent and vulnerable like never before. To finish in third place, behind the normally irrelevant Liberals, in a Calgary riding is a serious embarrassment.
Alberta is Canada’s most conservative province; Calgary the country’s most conservative big city. This fact partly explains the loss: Ed Stelmach’s Tories have abandoned any semblance of conservatism. (One could argue that conservatism in Alberta was abandoned after Ralph Klein’s first term as premier, but I digress.) Despite announcing plans to cut spending, the Tories still plan to run a deficit of about $7-billion this year. There’s discontent with a perceived lack of leadership from the Premier on a number of issues.
It’s not all Stelmach’s fault, mind you. The province is starved for cash as a result of the tumbling price of oil and natural gas. But Stelmach’s less-than-inspiring performance has even members of his own party privately grumbling.
Here’s what else is different: the Wildrose Alliance is in the midst of
a hotly contested leadership race. Depending on who they pick, they could position themselves as a clear, mainstream conservative alternative to the Tories come the next general election.
One of the leadership contenders is Danielle Smith, a media savvy libertarian who would give the party instant credibility as Alberta’s true conservative option. She is a political veteran who has toiled in the often lonely trenches of the Canadian conservative movement for years. Formerly the host of a national public affairs program, she would keep the party focused on economic issues — Stelmach’s greatest weakness — and stay away from thorny social issues.
There is a clear constituency for a fiscally conservative message in Alberta at present — not just due to Stelmach, but also because of what’s happening in Ottawa. As standard bearer for conservatives’ sense of discontent, Smith would instantly become the darling of the Canadian right and make the Wildrose Alliance a serious challenger for power.
Every few generations, Alberta politics undergoes a political realignment. After 36 years in power, Social Credit was replaced by Peter Lougheed and the Progressive Conservatives. The Tories have governed uninterrupted since 1971.
The PCs have been remarkably resilient, surviving several lacklustre periods in power, particularly under Don Getty and in Ralph Klein’s later years. Unless the Tories deliberately alter their course, however, they could go the way of the Socreds. The old guard that controls the party has still not heard the message that things must substantively change. If they don’t get that message quickly,
Monday’s byelection could be a harbinger of what is to come.
adam@daifallah.com
We have to deal with our situation in Washington.
The marxist Progressives in our Government act with impunity in their quest. What is their quest?
In Healthcare – why do they want control of our bodies and why do they wish to import policies demonstrated in other countries to be personally and financially destructive?
In Energy – why do they want control of carbon, a fundamental component of every compound in commerce including transpo fuel, electricity, food and all other consumer goods?
In National Security – why do they persistently attack to undermine Defense, Intelligence and Anti-Terror policy?
In Environmental Issues – why do they monetize and create legislation over every blade of grass, every cricket and every molecule of atmosphere?
In Government – why do they attempt to concentrate political and legislative power away from the individual and the community and toward the State and Federal Government, while growing government and its beauracracy to an unprecedented scale and size with reach into every corner of our person and communities.
In Spending / Deficit Creation – why are so many States in deep deficit, the Federal Govt in terminal velocity of spending with incalculable debt which is impossible to pay off?
In Justice – why the vigorous defense of the terrorists interred in Guantanamo, and the release of the photos of our military defenders and guardians to the terror networks in the on-going fight against the Jihadist’s?
When you begin to answer these questions, you will be well on your way to the realization of the threat they are to our country, our culture, our survival going forward