Center-Right (or Centre-Right) World Takeover Begins
Alright, that may be a bit of sarcasm, but May 1 may go down in history as a watermark day for the worldwide resurgence of small 'c' conservatism. Why? Recall that in 1997, a shift to the center-Left that began in this country in 1992 under Bill Clinton was completed when Tony Blair's Labour Party was a massive victory in the U.K. General Election and formed a Government with a huge majority. Two years prior to that victory, Labour gave a signal of things to come by winning control of local councils in local campaigns all over England and Wales.Local Elections were held in England and Wales Thursday. What were the results? The Conservative Party kicked booty. It was, in fact, the worst showing for Labour at local elections in over half-a-century. Clearly, there were a lot of domestic factors in play-including an economy that some say is far worse on the other side of the water than it is here. However, past historical indicators show that when the Conservative Party does well in a U.K. election, the Republicans tend to to well (or better-than-expected) in a subsequent U.S. vote. Republican victories here sometimes presage Tory victories in Britain. Some examples: After Margaret Thatcher won her victory in 1979, Ronald Reagan was elected here in 1980. On the reverse of things, after Labour's 1997 General Election victory on the other side of the pond, the Democrats did better-than-expected in the 1998 Congressional Election-though they did not gain control of either House that year.
Iain Lindley has served until this election City Councillor in the City of Salford for Walkden South Ward-he did not run (or "stand") for election this time out. I first encountered Iain online some years ago in college on the online micronational simulation Morovia. It is safe to say that Iain's conservatism is more "modern" while mine is much more traditional-but his knowledge of the lay of the political land in Britain is far superior to mine. He maintains a great blog that I hope he will keep going after he leaves office (he has a bit to go yet), as he is very active in the Conservative Party in his community-I think readers might benefit from his perspective on the local elections in the U.K.
The question to ponder might be: Could this result be pointing to a November surprise here for the GOP in Congress?
Labels: Conservatism, Foreign policy, Miscellany, Presidential Election, Republican Party
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 9:00 AM
2 Comments:
Hi David,
Thanks for the link and for your kind words which are greatly appreciated. Thursday was indeed a very good night to be a Conservative!
Just a quick note on terms of office. Metropolitan Councils like Salford elect one-third of the Council membership at each election, and Councillors serve for a four-year term. I was re-elected in May last year so my term of office does not expire until May 2011 - so I am not due to stand down just yet!
All the best,
Iain
So you live in Europe.Your comment sounded alittle Hitlerish don't you think?
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