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And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again? Archilochus

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Liberal FAIL in Britain...

16 comments:

Gert said...

Nice!

But not very much to the point, I’m afraid. Miliband’s loss wasn’t that spectacular (except for Scotland) and fairly predictable. I predicted it (but I did misjudge the ‘SNP factor’). And the ‘New Tories’ couldn’t believe their luck when it was all done and dusted!

I have no voting rights (in General Elections, only in local ones) but if I had, I’d probably have voted Green, assuming my MP had something meaningful to say.

Don’t confuse the ‘New Tories’ with the GOP: there’s no meaningful comparison. Even ‘Caring Conservatism’ is a misleading term: they have some people even an Old Leftie like me could vote for.

What we need is a Third Plank: an anti-neoliberal party, pro-business, pro-EU but with strong emphasis to change the ‘constitution’ of the EU.

One guy to follow might be Steve Hilton, whose book ‘More Human’ I need to buy (but not from Amazon!) and read.

O/T: The Oirish are voting on same sex marriage this Friday. Care to place a bet? ;-)

Mrs. Grundy said...

Yes, I got a taste of the Red Tory/Blue Tory distinction from Aeneas the Younger (Canadian Blue Tory who used to blog at a Red Tory site).

I sense a "negation" of the "negation" in your Third Plank. I'd go for an anti-neoliberal, pro-business, anti-EU party if I were you. The EU IS, IMO, neoliberalism.

And the Oirish will, IMHO, vote NO. Gay marriage was still a close vote in Maryland recently... and we're as liberal a state as you can find. But I'm willing to admit, I might be wrong.

Mrs. Grundy said...

ps - Thomas Piketty, et al, will never save Keynesian neoliberal economics (aka - capitalism with a human face). If you want "employment" opportunities for ALL your people, you NEED borders and economic barriers. Market inefficiencies are democracy's greatest ally.

FreeThinke said...

The AD attached to the Hitler parody is worth the price of admission all by itself. Incredibly funny. POO-POURRI, indeed!

Could easily be a skit in SaTURDay Night Live, except SNL has never been THAT amusing.

§;-D=

I don't worry too much about British politics, although I was glad they rejected the Scottish Secession, and glad that David Cameron held onto power, though he would certainly qualify as a RINO were he a factor in US Politics.

I occasionally enjoy watching the British House of Commons in session on C-Span. It's far livelier than anything we see in the USA, and it's always a joy to witness people who actually KNOW HOW to SPEAK the LANGUAGE with color, poise, wit, passion, and variety –– but Golly the British pols are an incredibly ROWDY bunch!

I would have expected more reserve and more obeisance to decorum, so the first time I witnessed one of their free-for-alls it came as quite a shock.

So much for pre-conceived notions! ;-)

Mrs. Grundy said...

Yes, the obscene "Superego" of government is often quite shocking to witness for those for whom the "Ego-Ideal" has gained a devotee. In Communism, this obscene entity disguises itself within "the Party", who's deliberations are NEVER televised and always conducted behind solidly closed doors.

Gert said...

Agreed on Scotland.

We’ll put a cyber-beer on the Oirish. I say ‘Yes!’

EU: yes, it’s in the hands of Neoliberalism but Anglo-Saxons (British first and foremost) tend not to understand it nonetheless. They claim ‘But it’s a POLITICAL project!’ Yes, dearies, it is. Hundreds of years of bloodshed (that is European History in a nutshell) called for this ‘unification project’. I totally support that. New internecine wars would serve Neoliberalism too, you know? I say salvage it, make it more transparent (A WHOLE LOT MORE!) and don’t throw away the child with the bathwater.

Blimey, I always thought pol debate here was quite tame!

And don’t call it a ‘liberal fail’, FJ: we don’t want to be associated with your liberal ‘PC Pussies’, you know? ;-)

Gert said...

Been watching Ken Burns’ ‘The Civil War’ (on PBS). Impressive (both the work and the War). They say you can’t understand the US without ‘understanding’ the CW…

Gert said...

And if Mrs. Grundy prefers a sherry or a ginger beer, that's fine too!

Joe Conservative said...

Your on over the Oirish! It'll be a Ginger Beer, for me. ;)

And yes, America started as a Confederacy, and many of us would like to return to it. Fifty varieties of "one size fits all" beats a single one. Rand Paul epitomizes this "appeal".

Joe Conservative said...

Funny, you're trying to move Europe into forming a single state. We're trying to break America back down to it's original fifty individual states, giving each state a right to regulate its' intra-state commerce.

I guess you see no appeal in Plato's "Magnesia" (Laws).

Gert said...

JC:

A ginger beer it will be but you’ll have to win fair and square and no ‘we was robbed!’ nonsense.

Funny, you're trying to move Europe into forming a single state.

Trade-wise, yes. But make no mistake: this continent is far too diverse to turn into a ‘US of E’.

It's the usual friction between 'agglomeration' and 'balkanisation'.

Gert said...

Last episode of "The Civil War" just ended here.

Loved that General who said he wouldn't accept the nomination and wouldn't serve if he was elected. A politician after my own heart! Why can't they all be like that, huh? ;-)

Gert said...

Hyperbole of the week (comment on some bloggyblog):

Should be obvious to anyone at this point that Obama is helping them [ISIS] as much as he can without waking the people up to that fact.
He is far eviler than even I thought. [LOL]
4 years ago I would have almost ridiculed someone who made that statement.
This is beyond stupidity or coincidence, this is on purpose and it's not just Obama alone.
Two choices for us at this point; Ignominious surrender and enslavement or blood in the streets. Just look around at everything and think !!!


Huh? Some sandy town a million miles from DC has fallen and it’s the End of the Republic (Episode XVIII), again???

Thersites said...

One of the reasons I was never a fan of the caudillo's cadena, such as the evening news has become. I've no interest in what the caudillo does today or announces he will do tomorrow. I've got my own problems to contemplate upon.

Thersites said...

"If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve."

"If forced to choose between the penitentiary and the White House for four years, I would say the penitentiary, thank you."

"My aim, then, was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear is the beginning of wisdom."

"I think I understand what military fame is; to be killed on the field of battle and have your name misspelled in the newspapers."

"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are."

"If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world, but I am sure we would be getting reports from Hell before breakfast."


- William Tecumseh Sherman, selected quotes

Gert said...

Thanks for these quotes, BTW. Love'm.