Left Right and Centre, Some Thoughts
I think that the motives behind anyone following a socialist path are honorable. Concern for the less well off, a passion for social justice and opposition to racial prejudice are among a number of widely accepted values that lead many towards the political Left.
The Left will assert that social conservatives could never hold these values. That they come from the privileged elites and that those from humbler backgrounds are simply duped by clever talking Tory types. According to the Left, conservative values center around free market economics and very little else.
During my youth I opposed the Thatcher government's free market onslaught on the British way of life. I believed that they were creating a value free society where profit was placed before the needs of the people.
I saw the Left as the resistance to Thatcher's reforms and wholeheartedly supported the Labour and Trade Union movement in its fight against what many saw as an evil and greedy capitalism.
While the industrial battles were being lost and working class casualties mounted up in terms of unemployment and de-industrialisation the Left won a number of subtle victories on the social and cultural front.
At the height of their powers the Tories allowed Ray Honeyford to be sacked as Headmaster of a school in Bradford. He was accused by the Left of the heinous crime of racism. His real stance was one of a socially conservative opposition to the idea of multiculturalism and how it was applied to the kids of Pakistani origin in his school.
Honeyford favoured an integrationalist approach but was vilified by the Left and sacrificed by the Right who failed to support a conservative trying to apply conservative ideals. I think that this was an important landmark in the development of the multiculturalist approach to racial and ethnicity issues.
This had become the chosen battleground of the Left. This is where the struggle for an orthodox, cultural conformity was stifling any dissent on the ideas of race and ethnicity.
Gender issues became prominant around this time, especially abortion politics. I can remember my local union supporting the National Abortion Campaign and sending a coach to a demo in London. The hatred shown towards the opposition counter demonstrators, including groups of Nuns was disgraceful to say the least.
Feminists would shout down male trade unionists for using sexist phrasiology such as 'brothers' and 'men'. Language became another chosen battleground.
Sexual orientation became yet another battleground. The militancy of the gay rights movement was at its height during the Thatcher years.
These are the issues that now define the Left. They no longer have to mix with socially conservative, working class trade unionists who may be married men with kids. They may be White, they may be uneasy about gay rights, they may agree with the likes of Ray Honeyford about immigrants integrating. They may even be Christians...God forbid!
This conformity ranges right accross the spectrum from New Labour to the far Left. A nest of politically correct prejudice against the married family, against disciplin in schools, against law and order, against having pride in our country, against the idea of duty to others, to respect for authority, and for the idea of freedom of speech and for liberty its-self.
These prejudices have had their most corrosive effect on the poorest and most vulnerable sections of our society. Where rubbish schools fail to disciplin and therefore educate unruly kids. Where crime and disorder is rife and the police refuse to deal with the immediate problems. Where welfare dependency is the norm rather than the exception. Where everyone knows their rights but where personal responsibility is discouraged.
I still oppose the Thatcher free market reforms of privatisation and mourn the loss of an effective trade unionism that, for all its faults bound working people together as part of a once independent and thriving civil society.
True conservatism is loyal to this country and its people, Thatcherism accelerated this country's aboloition and helped build the left wing monster that has its PC tenticles around the throat of every significant institution in this country.
Whoever wins the next election will have to deal with the institutional PC Left one way or another, its influence is vast and it won't take kindly to its many reforms being overturned.
The Left will assert that social conservatives could never hold these values. That they come from the privileged elites and that those from humbler backgrounds are simply duped by clever talking Tory types. According to the Left, conservative values center around free market economics and very little else.
During my youth I opposed the Thatcher government's free market onslaught on the British way of life. I believed that they were creating a value free society where profit was placed before the needs of the people.
I saw the Left as the resistance to Thatcher's reforms and wholeheartedly supported the Labour and Trade Union movement in its fight against what many saw as an evil and greedy capitalism.
While the industrial battles were being lost and working class casualties mounted up in terms of unemployment and de-industrialisation the Left won a number of subtle victories on the social and cultural front.
At the height of their powers the Tories allowed Ray Honeyford to be sacked as Headmaster of a school in Bradford. He was accused by the Left of the heinous crime of racism. His real stance was one of a socially conservative opposition to the idea of multiculturalism and how it was applied to the kids of Pakistani origin in his school.
Honeyford favoured an integrationalist approach but was vilified by the Left and sacrificed by the Right who failed to support a conservative trying to apply conservative ideals. I think that this was an important landmark in the development of the multiculturalist approach to racial and ethnicity issues.
This had become the chosen battleground of the Left. This is where the struggle for an orthodox, cultural conformity was stifling any dissent on the ideas of race and ethnicity.
Gender issues became prominant around this time, especially abortion politics. I can remember my local union supporting the National Abortion Campaign and sending a coach to a demo in London. The hatred shown towards the opposition counter demonstrators, including groups of Nuns was disgraceful to say the least.
Feminists would shout down male trade unionists for using sexist phrasiology such as 'brothers' and 'men'. Language became another chosen battleground.
Sexual orientation became yet another battleground. The militancy of the gay rights movement was at its height during the Thatcher years.
These are the issues that now define the Left. They no longer have to mix with socially conservative, working class trade unionists who may be married men with kids. They may be White, they may be uneasy about gay rights, they may agree with the likes of Ray Honeyford about immigrants integrating. They may even be Christians...God forbid!
This conformity ranges right accross the spectrum from New Labour to the far Left. A nest of politically correct prejudice against the married family, against disciplin in schools, against law and order, against having pride in our country, against the idea of duty to others, to respect for authority, and for the idea of freedom of speech and for liberty its-self.
These prejudices have had their most corrosive effect on the poorest and most vulnerable sections of our society. Where rubbish schools fail to disciplin and therefore educate unruly kids. Where crime and disorder is rife and the police refuse to deal with the immediate problems. Where welfare dependency is the norm rather than the exception. Where everyone knows their rights but where personal responsibility is discouraged.
I still oppose the Thatcher free market reforms of privatisation and mourn the loss of an effective trade unionism that, for all its faults bound working people together as part of a once independent and thriving civil society.
True conservatism is loyal to this country and its people, Thatcherism accelerated this country's aboloition and helped build the left wing monster that has its PC tenticles around the throat of every significant institution in this country.
Whoever wins the next election will have to deal with the institutional PC Left one way or another, its influence is vast and it won't take kindly to its many reforms being overturned.
Total Comments 2
Comments
 |  An excellent defense of 'small c' conservatism on largely nationalist grounds. I agree with much of the first part of what you say!! I do think you rather vilify (and in so doing construct) the monster of the 'institutional PC left'. This country faces many different challenges, many of which are a result of global forces that are beyond our control and yet exert huge forces, cultural, economic and political. These challenges and proliferation of new social movements - such as feminism or environmentalism are a sign of a changing world. The 'institutional PC left' (whatever their faults and granted they have many) cannot be solely responsible for these changes. PC talk gets right up people's noses, and is undoubtedly a mild form of censorship; but this is contested by many - as it should be. The PC brigade may be annoying but aren't an especially big threat to the country, at least in my view. They may poke fun too much at nationalist discourse and in so doing **** off many people they should be trying to get on side; but unfortunately for us, this country has much more than a few over smug lefties to worry about! National Debt, underfunded national health and social care and over reliance on oil to name but three. |
  |
| |  Just a small note in defense of political correction..correctiveness.. P.C. I have always assumed that it began as a way of preventing offence by the use of certain previously acceptable language ect. My Grandfather for example was horrified to realise that he had inadvertantly been offensive with his use of the n word. I think that PC gets a bad press, but much of it is misrepresentation or downright lies and lazy journalism, e.g the old "winterval" story thats brought out every Christmas. You are correct in saying that the poorest and most vunerable feel marginalised and this is presumably why the BNP make gains where they do! |
| |
Total Trackbacks 0
Trackbacks
Recent Blog Entries by Dunkirk
- Left Right and Centre, Some Thoughts (26-07-2008)
- Benefit Fraud Case (22-03-2008)
