John O’Sullivan writing in the March 27 edition of National Review does a magnificent job of skewering the wishy-washy, Red Tory-style policies of the British Conservative Party under their new leader David Cameron.
Writes O’Sullivan: “The Tories are still a party in search of a political philosophy, an empty vessel that, these days, is making a little more noise.”
He then goes on to suggest American conservative politicians should not seek to emulate the British Tory model, suggesting they look instead down under.
"If the GOP is looking for an example of a conservative party that is robust philosophically and successful electorally, it need look no farther than John Howard’s Australian Liberal party. Howard has won four successive elections, introduced a series of major conservative economic reforms, presided over astonishing growth in the Australian economy, and won over sections of the electorate that until recently were wedded to the Labour party. There are many reasons for Howard’s success. Most frequently mentioned is his perseverance. But I will hazard one of my own: Howard would rather be right than nice.”
Good advice for American conservatives. Good advice for Canadian conservatives too.
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I would have to disagree here. It is true that unlike Bush, Howard has done a decent job of managing the economy. But one must also be realistic. There is very little appetite in either Britain or Canada for an ideological right wing agenda, which is why the Conservatives in Britain have abandoned it while in Canada they won't talk about it. In fact ever since David Cameron has taken over as Conservative leader their numbers have improved greatly. Conservatives must realize their ideas are useless if the public won't buy into them, so better to elect a more moderate government that will move in their direction, but not so fast and far there is a public backlash.
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