MORE LIKE US:

Britain's American revolution (Niall Ferguson, 02/06/07, www.JewishWorldReview.com)

I am not sure it was wise of the Conservatives to so quickly embrace the notion of state funding for parties. And I shall be dismayed if they agree too readily to the government's latest proposals to reform the House of Lords by making half the members elected, 30% nominated by the parties and the rest appointed by a commission to ensure (it's hard not to groan) ethnic, gender and regional balance.

A more authentically conservative solution would take quite different forms. For the parties, there should be a completely free market in political donations, but on the basis of full disclosure, so that it's transparently clear who has given what to whom. As for the House of Lords, why not elect all the members but give equal representation to each of the traditional counties of Britain?

Yes, I know: that would make British politics more like U.S. politics and less like, say, Dutch politics. But frankly, I'd rather see Blair end his days with dignity as the ranking senator for County Durham than doing time for turning Labor's lenders into Lords.

It's been all downhill for England since it gutted the Lords--they desperately need an inherently conservative chamber to act as a brake on "progress."

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 6, 2007 8:51 AM