Why is the Conservative Party dying?

The answer, according to a reader from England whose e-mail I quote below, is very simple. If conservatism consists of nothing but opposition to economic leftism, then all the left has to do is moderate itself on economic issues, while shifting its attack on traditional society to the cultural front, and the “right,” which only knows and cares about economics, will have nothing to say against it.

The lesson is that there is no substitute for a conservatism that articulates and defends our civilization in all of its dimensions, not just economic, not just constitutional, not just religious, not just the family, not just national defense, not just race and culture, but all of its dimensions. And to begin to have that more comprehensive vision, conservatives must break with the modern, rationalistic consciousness that sees society as a mere collection of “issues” and “values,” and begin to see society whole, as a concrete historical entity to which we belong. The name I give to this broader, deeper conservatism is traditionalism.

The reader writes:

Why are the Tories dying? It’s because young Brits see nothing in the “traditional” Tories that they identify with. Social Conservatism is dead in Britain. And the only other thing that made people vote Tory in the past was the fear of dangerously unionised Labour governments that would run the economy in the ground.

What Blair did was steal the one issue that still made the Tories a viable political force—their ability to keep Britain growing economically. Blair emasculated the economic left inside Labour and sent a signal to the public that Labour won’t ruin the economy (and they didn’t). But beyond that, Blair then pursued a vigorously liberal agenda on all fronts which also appealed to the younger generation of Brits—Homosexual rights, Environmentalism (with relentless chatter about non-issues like global warming), multicultural outreach-ism, more aid for Africa (with lots of media spin and Blair and Brown standing amidst lots of poor starving African kids smiling and holding up the kids for photo-ops), legalising drug use etc.

The older version of the Tories are referred to by young Brits as “the Nasty Party”—because they were unsympathetic to such things. Not surprisingly, they get almost zero sympathy from the younger people.

What Cameron is now trying to do is make the Tories indistinguishable from Labour. And the tactics have been very predictable. He is using his relative young age and his youthful good looks to charm lots of young women into voting Tory—and also by alluding to “issues” that appeal to 20 year old women (i.e. “superficial non-issues).

And now he’s declared that the Conservatives stand for “Liberal Values.” That is pretty much the end as I see it of Toryism in this country.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 17, 2005 04:47 PM | Send