I am not a conservative but it seems to me that the Tory MPs of the 70s and 80s had an aura of either the aristocracy about them or they were gentleman farmers. Into the 90s and later, they were more likely to be go-getters who got their PPE from Oxbridge and climbed the greasy pole. They are very unlike the people who bake sponge cakes for garden fetes.
I think you have the state of the Republicans about right. The Republican elites have wanted very little to do with the conservative masses and this what has made Trump such a star. He took down the Republican elites before starting on the elites on the other side. There are few people in the Conservative Party who could do the same over here.
After reading this, I was left wondering 'what about class?'. The grass roots conservatism described is almost wholly detached from the establishment which shapes so much of our lives.
And another question: is punk conservatism distinguishable from libertarianism?
I was a punk conservative as a teenager in the 1970s. The original rebellion was against leftist cultural hegemony and its lies and stagnation. Few remember that. The spirit will never go away because power will always tend to corrupt those who hold it.
I think the punk thing is very interesting. It’s the young who will rebel against the straitjacket of progressive orthodoxy. We need to be there to show them there is another way. And then for them to take the lead.
The Right, the Conservative Right anyway, is doomed if we cannot offer a positive and alternative future for today’s kids. And I mean kids. The twenty year olds are lost I fear. My hope lies with the fourteen years olds, the next generation.
The punk thing is interesting, in many ways I could describe The Cockney Rejects as conservative, as a band they have always been deeply rooted in their community, are patriots without being nationalist, they steadfastly refuse to play to the left and have thus always been looked down upon by the music critics.
Mass political party systems are no longer fit for democratic governance the political science lit is clear, they are cartelised, creating their sub ecosystem in a world where external IGOs and supra-nationals undermine democracy and dilute national sovereignty. PR is also a flawed option where similar political ecosystems are generated.
The biggest threat and most likely the best form of democratic governance now must be direct democracy.
It eliminates cartelisation, feeds meaningful representation and strong governance, the best of both worlds, alongside making policy public-led (popular will) and not top-down led as has been the case in Western Europe for the last 3-4 decades.
I am not a conservative but it seems to me that the Tory MPs of the 70s and 80s had an aura of either the aristocracy about them or they were gentleman farmers. Into the 90s and later, they were more likely to be go-getters who got their PPE from Oxbridge and climbed the greasy pole. They are very unlike the people who bake sponge cakes for garden fetes.
I think you have the state of the Republicans about right. The Republican elites have wanted very little to do with the conservative masses and this what has made Trump such a star. He took down the Republican elites before starting on the elites on the other side. There are few people in the Conservative Party who could do the same over here.
After reading this, I was left wondering 'what about class?'. The grass roots conservatism described is almost wholly detached from the establishment which shapes so much of our lives.
And another question: is punk conservatism distinguishable from libertarianism?
I was a punk conservative as a teenager in the 1970s. The original rebellion was against leftist cultural hegemony and its lies and stagnation. Few remember that. The spirit will never go away because power will always tend to corrupt those who hold it.
I think the punk thing is very interesting. It’s the young who will rebel against the straitjacket of progressive orthodoxy. We need to be there to show them there is another way. And then for them to take the lead.
The Right, the Conservative Right anyway, is doomed if we cannot offer a positive and alternative future for today’s kids. And I mean kids. The twenty year olds are lost I fear. My hope lies with the fourteen years olds, the next generation.
The punk thing is interesting, in many ways I could describe The Cockney Rejects as conservative, as a band they have always been deeply rooted in their community, are patriots without being nationalist, they steadfastly refuse to play to the left and have thus always been looked down upon by the music critics.
Hammers too. What's not to like!
oi oi!
Mass political party systems are no longer fit for democratic governance the political science lit is clear, they are cartelised, creating their sub ecosystem in a world where external IGOs and supra-nationals undermine democracy and dilute national sovereignty. PR is also a flawed option where similar political ecosystems are generated.
The biggest threat and most likely the best form of democratic governance now must be direct democracy.
It eliminates cartelisation, feeds meaningful representation and strong governance, the best of both worlds, alongside making policy public-led (popular will) and not top-down led as has been the case in Western Europe for the last 3-4 decades.
More here on cartelisation: https://open.substack.com/pub/emancipator1/p/the-democratic-archetype-liberal?r=12mw6c&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web