July 18, 2004
TONY THE TORY FILES:
Liberal law and order days over, says Blair (Alan Travis and Michael White, July 19, 2004, The Guardian)
Tony Blair will today make the provocative claim that Labour's new five-year crime plan heralds "the end of the 1960s liberal consensus on law and order" by putting the values of the law-abiding majority at the centre of the criminal justice system.In tandem with the home secretary, David Blunkett, who has also attacked "Hampstead liberals" in the past, the prime minister will seek to refocus public attention on a key feature of the domestic agenda which is of growing concern to Labour voters.
While insisting that the sixties removed ugly prejudices and expanded individual freedoms, Mr Blair is expected to concede that the new lifestyles did not sufficiently foster responsibility to others, family discipline or role models - and focused the law and order system too much on offenders' rights.
Mr. Blair's accidental leadership of a party he loathes requires him to make certain rhetorical bows to liberal cant, but he may be the most conservative leader Britain's had since at least prior to the Great War. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 18, 2004 11:24 PM
The sixties removed ugly prejudices and expanded individual freedoms, [but] the new lifestyles did not sufficiently foster responsibility to others, family discipline or role models - and focused the law and order system too much on offenders' rights.
That is precisely what I believe, only far better said than I ever conceived it.
(And certainly much more succinct).
Far from being "rhetorical bows to liberal cant", acknowledging the successes of the sixties is a very diplomatic and savvy way to gain support for tackling the failures of the sixties.
Refusing to admit that any good came of that social upheaval leaves one at the 'Reefer Madness' level of discourse.
(Or at the level of 'Marijuana: Weed With Roots in Hell', if you prefer).
The real question is: In today's British society (and perhaps any western society), how long can Tony Blair get away with telling the truth?
(No wonder Chirac can't stand him.)
Posted by: Barry Meislin at July 19, 2004 1:52 AM"[Blair] may be the most conservative leader Britain's had since at least prior to the Great War."
Um, recall someone named Thatcher?
Posted by: Sam at July 19, 2004 7:47 AMSam: oj is a social conservative. Thatcher was an economic conservative (or a small-l liberal, if you prefer), and a Cold Warrior, as was Reagan. This is the same reasoning by which oj claims GWB is more conservative than Reagan.
Posted by: joe shropshire at July 19, 2004 10:23 AMAh, I see.
Posted by: Sam at July 19, 2004 2:16 PMPeter B -
I think Joe could explain it better, but since you beg:
Evidently, OJ tends to ignore the economic in his assessments of pols as conservative or not.
E.g., President Bush plans on sending the debt through the roof with his new medical entitlement,
a fact which seems to give OJ no qualms about dubbing him a conservative. Obviously it's not outrageous
to call Bush conservative, but it merits at least a qualifier like Joe's "social."
Similarly, though Thatcher ushered in privatization in the UK, OJ seems baffled that anyone might think
her conservative.