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What the Tories Have to Teach Us

November 12th, 2009 at 12:30 am David Frum | 9 Comments |

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In the current Commentary, I draw four British lessons for American conservatives. (Behind pay wall, subscription required.)

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9 Comments so far ↓

  • DFL // Nov 12, 2009 at 8:32 am

    Why not someone rich pay for the Commentary article by Mr. Frum and boil it all down for us.

  • sdspringy // Nov 12, 2009 at 9:15 am

    This will be Frum’s list of usual suspects when it comes to the conservatives and the Republican Party. All evidence to the contrary. Frum will state that solid conservative, small government, fiscally conservatives are losing and that to win the Republicans must change.

    That change of course is to look a lot like the Republican Party under Bush. Spend, spend, grow government and then wonder why elections are lost. Pass no meaningful pro-life legislation, allow big money to dominate the political thinking and when losses occur point the finger at the pro-life wing of the party. And let’s not forget the favorite issue of Frum, homosexual marriage. An issue that has lost in 31 states when placed on the ballot yet Frum believes costs the Republican Party votes. All evidence to the contrary.

    Only when the Republican Party, currently dominated by spend, spend politicians, who only pay lip service to social conservative, are removed and replaced by fiscal and social conservative politicians, who actually represent the people, will Republicans win elections. The “Contract with America” needs to be rewritten, or reviewed and adhered to in order for conservatives to vote. And until the Republican Party realizes, Frum, that conservatives elect Republicans in greater numbers than Independents and Moderates, the Republican Party will Lose.

  • sinz54 // Nov 12, 2009 at 9:57 am

    sdspringy: Frum will state that solid conservative, small government, fiscally conservatives are losing and that to win the Republicans must change.
    I don’t think that’s what Frum believes.

    I think Frum believes that a conservative movement that allows itself to be defined by Christian fundamentalism is doomed to lose in a nation that is growing steadily more diverse.

    Do you know that Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor of National Review (the premier conservative journal for 50 years), still writes articles attacking birth control in the name of “Christian values”? Can you understand how that sort of stuff can frighten off suburban career women, who run businesses and are engineers and corporate managers but who also enjoy recreational sex on weekends?

    The Pill was first marketed in 1960, 59 years ago. It’s long past time for social conservatives to make their peace with sex.

  • Chekote // Nov 12, 2009 at 10:08 am

    I will tell you what the Tories have going for them: Gordon Brown!

  • DFL // Nov 12, 2009 at 11:24 am

    Chekote is essentially correct. Gordon Brown’s unpopularity will likely give Britain David Cameron the premiership although I am less sure of that than two weeks ago. Cameron has backtracked recently on a referendum on the European Union; I can see the Tories see a drop in their vote into the mid-30s with the UKIP and the BNP peeling off rightist voters. Might we see no majority party after the 2010 vote with the Liberal-Democrats entering a coalition government with either Labour or the Tories on the condition of ending first-past-the-post balloting and a switch to proportional voting?

    And even if Cameron becomes PM, who is not to say that his popularity in four years will be similar to that of Brown’s now.

  • CarbonDate // Nov 13, 2009 at 12:23 am

    Small government, fiscal conservative Republicans are the ones America is looking to elect. It the social conservatives who frighten average Americans. Most Americans want to be left alone to live their lives as they see fit, and that means keeping government out of their pocketbooks and out of their bedrooms. Neither party really seems to have gotten the whole message on that.

  • sdspringy // Nov 13, 2009 at 7:18 am

    That is an interesting post Carbon. Since the Dems have been elected you can be put in jail for not carrying insurance, and the temperature setting of your house will be monitored. Hows that for wanting to be left alone.

    So far the only legislation that any Republican has passed on the social level has been to prevent federal money being used for elective aboration. Minor compared to what the Dems are doing.

  • Koso // Nov 13, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    We all miss the point: Look around you! The same people who formed deaf ears and blind eyes to Bush’s destruction of the economy are the same ones accusing the dems of every imaginable sin. Just look into the republician/conservative party/movement and you will see the same destruction going on. We have become a business model for our so called leaders. Nothing but a pipeline to make money. Same as they did with the country for 8 years and same faith awaits.

  • SpartacusIsNotDead // Nov 13, 2009 at 2:33 pm

    sdspringy wrote: “Since the Dems have been elected you can be put in jail for not carrying insurance, and the temperature setting of your house will be monitored. ”

    Really? Can you provide a link or other evidence of this because it does not sound plausible?

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