What the GOP could learn from Britain's Tories - My SRS BZNS Take
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/24/AR2010072401401.html
This is an article originally posted at the uk_lolitics community- they do not like wonky replies to posts so I'm gonna write something here...
The Republicans may want to modernize but probably can't. Republicans are still too tied to their key issues of guns, gays (sometimes it takes the form of homophobia) , God and embryos. Sometimes they are so tied to their issues it makes it hard for compromise.
The underlying problem with the article is that you can't compare Great Britain's Conservatives to our Republicans. The author fails to take in account constitutional monarchy versus federal consitutional republic differences, much less party differences. It is really comparing apples to oranges.
But let me humor the author for a moment and compare the two. As far as I am concerned, Great Britain has it way better. Although Republicans and Conservatives share the same smaller governmental model , their ideology seems different. I feel the Conservatives would want to work to provide national health care but have it on a much, much smaller scale; A lot of Republicans oppose health care on principle and wish to repeal health care reform no matter how modest.
Republicans will have a hard time learning the lessons of Great Britain's Conservatives because:
1.The Pull of Radio Although forces are trying to pull Cameron to the right, he does not have to deal with radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. I'm sure radio hosts in Great Britain don't lead the parties the way these guys lead the Republicans. If a Republican criticizes Limbaugh, a lot of times he or she winds up apologizing the next day. That was even the case for the chairman of the Republican party himself.
2.Religion As far as I know, The Religious Right does not play a large role in UK politics. Some mainstream Republican politicians here want to legislate creationism.
3.Rigid ideology If John McCain would have picked a pro-choice running mate in 2008, half of his convention would have walked out.
4.Hyper Partisanship Some Republicans want to begin investigations of the Obama Administration the very minute they take back power. Although some think this is just the party playing to its base, that doesn't mean they won't follow through. Two words: Monica Lewinsky.
Of course I may be a tad biased already (see icon) ;D I do my best to listen to all options and I would vote for a Republican based on the issues. But recently they have made it hard to do so. In the end, it's not even close...Republicans are not Conservatives and if given the chance, I'll take the Tories any day.
This is an article originally posted at the uk_lolitics community- they do not like wonky replies to posts so I'm gonna write something here...
The Republicans may want to modernize but probably can't. Republicans are still too tied to their key issues of guns, gays (sometimes it takes the form of homophobia) , God and embryos. Sometimes they are so tied to their issues it makes it hard for compromise.
The underlying problem with the article is that you can't compare Great Britain's Conservatives to our Republicans. The author fails to take in account constitutional monarchy versus federal consitutional republic differences, much less party differences. It is really comparing apples to oranges.
But let me humor the author for a moment and compare the two. As far as I am concerned, Great Britain has it way better. Although Republicans and Conservatives share the same smaller governmental model , their ideology seems different. I feel the Conservatives would want to work to provide national health care but have it on a much, much smaller scale; A lot of Republicans oppose health care on principle and wish to repeal health care reform no matter how modest.
Republicans will have a hard time learning the lessons of Great Britain's Conservatives because:
1.The Pull of Radio Although forces are trying to pull Cameron to the right, he does not have to deal with radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. I'm sure radio hosts in Great Britain don't lead the parties the way these guys lead the Republicans. If a Republican criticizes Limbaugh, a lot of times he or she winds up apologizing the next day. That was even the case for the chairman of the Republican party himself.
2.Religion As far as I know, The Religious Right does not play a large role in UK politics. Some mainstream Republican politicians here want to legislate creationism.
3.Rigid ideology If John McCain would have picked a pro-choice running mate in 2008, half of his convention would have walked out.
4.Hyper Partisanship Some Republicans want to begin investigations of the Obama Administration the very minute they take back power. Although some think this is just the party playing to its base, that doesn't mean they won't follow through. Two words: Monica Lewinsky.
Of course I may be a tad biased already (see icon) ;D I do my best to listen to all options and I would vote for a Republican based on the issues. But recently they have made it hard to do so. In the end, it's not even close...Republicans are not Conservatives and if given the chance, I'll take the Tories any day.