New UK PM David Cameron says Britain's first coalition in decades marks an "historic and seismic shift" in British politics.
I was surprised at how many folks think the Liberal Democrats are to the LEFT of the outgoing Labor Party. Not so. The terms "right" and "left" really do not describe the Tories and LibDems at all.
The Tories and the Libdems could merge into something very much like the post Clinton Dem Party ... minus its base in the dwindling polity of organized labor. Imagine a Dem Party supported from Goldman Sachs and Microsoft rather tha n the SEIU and Teachers unions. The Tories are like the GOP in two ways. First the Tories encompass some right wing extremists .. racists, devouts, creationists, etc. But the size of that population in the UK is far below its size here. Second, the Tories are the party of the wealthy. But the Brit wealthy are no longer synonymous with the landed class of inherited wealth.
On other issues the Tories look very different from the GOP. This is especially true on the issue of devolution of the "united" kingdom. That movement parallels the US states' rights movement. The Torie commitment to the UK is opposed to the sort of "states rights" position we see in the GOP/tea party. Actually most regional parties in the UK are allied to Labor!
As for the LibDems, this is the movement reflected in the pages of the Economist. The Economist is "liberal" but liberal in this case means a commitment to the free market. hardly a concept the US Dems would recognize as left . Imagine a party that could encompass Bill Clinton, Obama, AND Lindsey Graham, Bill Gates, and Orin Hatch.
The differences between the LibDems and the Tories are almost trivial by US standards. The LibDems oppose British involvement in world policing, support nuclear disarmament by the UK, support less draconian cuts in social services, etc .
If anything, the biggest issue dividing these parties is Europe. The Tories are British excptionalists, supporting the pound and crown. The LibDems see Britain (or perhaps Scotland, Wales, England, and a united Ireland) as a part of Europe. ...
Nothing in the LibDem OR the ocnsergvative points of view stgrike me as .. nutty.
If anything, the biggest issue dividing these parties is Europe. The Tories are British excptionalists, supporting the pound and crown. The LibDems see Britain (or perhaps Scotland, Wales, England, and a united Ireland) as a part of Europe. ...
Nothing in the LibDem OR the ocnsergvative points of view stgrike me as .. nutty.
I wonder.
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