May 9, 2008
David Cameron: Saviour of the US right?
David Brooks, one of the most influential conservative commentators in the US, has just penned a love-bomb to David Cameron in the New York Times. The Republican party, he argues, must take lessons from across the Atlantic to revive its fortunes. Here is the key passage:
The flow of ideas has changed direction. It used to be that American conservatives shaped British political thinking. Now the influence is going the other way.
The British conservative renovation begins with this insight: The central political debate of the 20th century was over the role of government. The right stood for individual freedom while the left stood for extending the role of the state. But the central debate of the 21st century is over quality of life. In this new debate, it is necessary but insufficient to talk about individual freedom. Political leaders have to also talk about, as one Tory politician put it, “the whole way we live our lives.”
Well worth a read.
