When the Democrats ran on a platform of "change," it was not very surprising. Many consider themselves "progressive" and change seems to be in their nature. It is a little more unusual to see conservatives campaign for radical change, as such a thing tends to be against our nature. Yet conservatives in both the United States and Britain are doing just that.
In the UK, conservative opposition leader David Cameron is promising "radical reform", saying that he will, if elected cut both Britain's budget deficit and its "democratic deficit". To do this, he says he will give local governments new powers and let neighborhoods begin to make decisions about local parks and public places. He also says that he will give people the right to fire MPs.
What Cameron is promising is the sort of thing America's tea partiers would like to hear. Many are fed up with too much federal government and would like power returned to local authorities. This has been a conservative line for many years – but if those espousing the view mean what they say, it is interesting for the following reasons:
First, the UK's general election is set to take place in less than four months. David Cameron has, until recently, dominated the polls. He is still in the lead and may very well be the next British Prime Minister. Second, the UK has not given local governments much power at all in the recent past. Indeed, it has moved in quite the opposite direction, nationalizing, for instance, its healthcare system and many of its major banks. If Cameron wins, means what he says and does what he promises, this will be quite a turnaround for the UK.
Third, while conservatives often grumble about wanting smaller government and rail against the failure of the Republican Party to oppose government expansion, it has been some time since they have actually tried to do much about it. We vote against what we can, but until recently, Republicans have been able to count on conservative votes, simply because conservatives have opposed the policies of the Democrats more than they have disliked weak Republicans. That changed in the last election and since that time, the Tea Party movement has grown into a force to be reckoned with. The face of politics is changing and, strangely enough, this time it is because of conservatives.
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