We, The People

The Conservative Right are noted as eccentrics, not as thinkers, either philosophically or strategically. There is a reason why they never run anything. For that reason, Theresa May has beaten them hands down. 

But then, she became Leader and Prime Minister unopposed. She is a very, very good politician. Not a good Prime Minister. Not a good Party Leader, in electoral terms. But a very, very good politician. To her and to her circle, the fact that they lead the Conservative Party is proof in itself that they know better. To them, that is so obvious that they never even think about it.

I am not normally one for "hoist with your own petard", but the foundation of Toryism, in succession to the view that the King knew better what the People needed or even wanted than the people themselves did, all the way down to that relationship between the Lord of the Manor and his serfs, is the view that the Leader of the Conservative Party always and by definition knows better.

That is a common view in comparable political subcultures all across Western Europe, at least. Hence "populaire", and "Volks", and what have you, in the names of such parties. How the people actually voted at any given time is the wrong question, and indeed there is a duty to check and even to reverse such votes where necessary, which is a great deal of the time, in the spirit of something older and purer, the People. 

Among other things, that position largely or entirely created NATO, the EU and the ECHR, and it will die in the last ditch to defend them. As we see here. It can also be seen in the Constitution of the United States. "We the People," begins that composition of and for wealthy landowners and slaveholders, the near descendants of those younger sons of the English aristocracy and gentry who had founded the leading families of the Thirteen Colonies, and who were themselves only a few generations away from royalty.

The left-wing equivalent substitutes "the Workers" for "the People". It is just as common, only not applicable in this case. Theresa May might claim many things for herself. But probably not to be "The Voice of The Workers" no matter how the actual workers had voted. That one is for someone else, who will doubtless be along soon enough.

Another hung Parliament is coming, however, and we need our people to hold the balance of power in it. It has become a local commonplace that I am on 30-30-30 with Labour and the Conservatives here at North West Durham, so that any one of us could be the First Past the Post. I will stand for this seat, if I can raise the £10,000 necessary to mount a serious campaign. Please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.