Comments on: What The Gop Can Learn From The British Tories

By: gibberish

gibberish — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:40:54 +0000

I am sure the GOP can learn things from the Tories, but most of the lessons here seem to be how a near all-powerful leader can impose his vision on a de-moralised party after multiple defeats and bring victory.

The GOP has had only 1 defeat - it is only repeated failure that silences the extreme, until then they can get away with blaming compromises for defeat.

The GOP has no leader - American is unique as far as I'm aware in that the opposition has a real leader only in the last months of the presidential election.

There is no leader imposed solution for the GOP and no consensus that moderation is needed to regain power and therefore most of this article is irrelevant

By: HHomer

HHomer — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:58:59 +0000

I think there are useful parallels here, albeit that the Republicans are at the start of a journey that the Tories started in 1997. Cameron has finally learnt the lesson that if you keep losing elections, then your party is in the wrong, not the electorate.

For the Conservative party it has taken 12 years, 3 general election defeats and 4 leaders for the penny to drop. Only now can Cameron meaninfully change the offer the Conservatives make to voters.

In the UK the Tories were seen as the 'nasty' party and that is a tag that could be attached to parts of the GOP. Cameron recognised the importance of changing this perception and the Republican leadership need to take similar steps.

The Tories kept losing because they moved too far right of the centre ground. The GOP needs to try to learn the lesson more quickly, the danger is that too many Republicans still think that we lost by not being right wing enough.

By: ltwpolitics

ltwpolitics — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:47:06 +0000

So does that mean the GOP should sign onto universal health care like the Tories did?
In all seriousness, a prerequisite to a conservative revival in America is making people feel secure enough against the failures of the free market that they are receptive to a small government message. Most Americans worry more about their insurance company (or lack thereof) than any governmental meddling in health care.
The GOP needs to move beyond “all tax cuts all the time.”

By: R.E. Munn

R.E. Munn — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:17:15 +0000

Comparing politics in the US and UK is a false comparison. What can be clearly seen is that the party in power always suffers in a institutional government scandal.
Boulding also neglects to consider the fact that Gordon Brown is a lousy PM, uncomfortable with his role and unable to convince as Blair’s replacement. Furthermore, the British electorate has an entirely different set of sensibilities than we in the US. Cameron will win by not losing.
Republicans need to improve on many aspects of their program, but they have little to gain by emulating Cameron.

By: Churl

Churl — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:25:01 +0000

Keep in mind that the Tories’ “elites” aren’t trying to purge the party’s “commoners”, either.

And, don’t forget that Cameron can speechify all he wants, but his range of action is severely limited by the fact that the EU is in de facto control of British lawmaking. The UK has long since “redistributed power” to a gang of unelected bureaucrats who shuttle between Brussels and Strasbourg.