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Thursday, May 21, 2015

Lessons from the Local Pub: UK Conservatives Savor the Victory

The UK Labour Party forgot, “Thou shalt not steal.” But Brits remembered the 10 Commandments.

by Christopher Woodford, Reformed Socialist
(Don't miss the fascinating discussion on how to vote responsibly in the comment section below. Click on comments)
Watching Election Results from the Local Pub
in Southampton, England:
Christopher Woodford
On Twitter, he can be found @Crimbo51
I love elections. I always book the day off work after a General Election because I'm up all night watching the results unfold. Since 1992 the outcome has been predictable by using calculations based on the earliest results and exit polls. This year May 8 was no different, but the early revelations were shocking.

It was 1 a.m., May 9, and a sudden flash of hope came to me: “YES!”

In that moment I allowed myself to believe we might escape Labour Leader and would-be Prime Minister "Red" Ed Miliband and his ”Borrow against Tomorrow” policies. Our grandchildren might escape the Labour party sell-out of their future for short-term popularity. We might be able to continue the delicate Conservative repair of our economy, destroyed by Labour British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from 1997-2010 in profligate leftist spending excesses. Goodbye European Union. Sorry, Greece, you will have to pay your own debt.

Dear Chief Secretary, I'm afraid there is no money.
When the Labour party left office in 2010, the Treasury minister Liam Byrne, left a note on his cleared desk for his Conservative successor:




Dear Chief Secretary, 
I'm afraid there is no money.
Kind regards and good luck. Liam


Before May 8, my country (England) had steeled itself for more acts of leftist lunacy. We remembered when Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown stopped tax relief on pension providers in his first budget in 1997, effectively robbing £118 billion ($183 billion) from pensioners. It meant that many older people would have to rely on welfare. Their own savings were stolen!

Also from1999 to 2002 the same Chancellor sold 400 tons of British gold reserves at one fifth of its value.

Now at 1 a.m., I realized we might be spared disaster. 
Infamous and "unsinkable" RMS Titanic departed from the 
City of Southampton, England, where Christopher Woodford lives,
 five days before it sank on  April 15, 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean
with the loss of over 1500 lives. 
Until this magical moment, all the pundits predicted that another coalition government either between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, or, God forbid, Labour and the Scottish Nationalist Party, was inevitable. The shock on various faces in the TV studio was a joy to behold. British Conservatives won a majority – 331 seats – five seats more than necessary to form a majority administration, and to govern without a coalition or formal agreement with other parties.
  
So why did the left-leaning BBC and Guardian get it so wrong? Why did Obama campaign consultant David Axelrod – after being paid $500,000 by Labour to provide a strategy of economic populism -- get it so wrong?

Maybe it was because the Tory Party Conservatives were getting it right! “Let’s not throw away our progress!”

The English and Welsh voters clearly witnessed the Conservatives fixing the economy with prudent policies not designed solely to foster popularity. As the right-leaning Daily Mail put it, “Middle England rose up to humiliate the pollsters and save the nation from Red Ed.”

The hard-left SNP (Scottish National Party) were the game changers in this election. The pro-same sex marriage party swept aside all opposition in Scotland, which has always been a Labour stronghold. Labour will never get Scotland back again. Everyone expected the SNP to do well, but they took 56 of 59 seats! In the long term, this may lead to Scottish independence. Northern Ireland as always, elected its patchwork quilt of MPs based on local interests.

The other wild card in the election was UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party), the far-right anti-immigration party. They polled nearly 4,000,000 votes nationwide, nearly 10% of the electorate, but, thanks to our “first past the post” system they took only 1 seat. The UKIP believes in controlling our borders and not adding to the national debt. Like many Brits, Americans and Canadians, they feel successive governments have not represented the will of the British people.

Of course, now they have joined the Liberals in whining for Proportional Representation. PR produces weak governments and removes the ability of the electorate to stand the political spectrum on its head every few years; Europe runs like this. Many have forgotten there was a nationwide vote held on Thursday 5 May 2011 on this very PR issue, and it was rejected. Game, set and match.

UK Independence Party is a ”one trick pony” standing on the anti-EU ticket. Its candidates were a motley bunch of extreme characters who, if they established a power base, may have turned nasty, even Nazi.

Conservative Ranil Jayawardena
RobertBlay, UKIP candidate for North East Hampshire, when it was mentioned to him that his rival Conservative Ranil Jayawardena could one day be the first Asian PM said, "If this lad turns up to be our Prime Minister I will personally put a bullet in him. That’s how strong I feel about it. I won’t have this f***** as our Prime Minister. I absolutely loathe him.” His comments were clearly based on Jayawardena’s ethnic origins.

So, how long would it be before peaceful, harmonious Britain is plunged into ethnic cleansing. I have a half-Thai grandson, born in the UK and holder of a British passport. Would they
Chris Woodford's beloved
half-Thai grandson
say about my grandson, ''His eyes are the wrong shape. He has to go''?

Quite a few of those I spoke to who supported UKIP were people who give more thought to football and reality TV than to politics.

The Liberal Democrat party was wiped out simply for getting into bed with the Conservatives after the 2010 election. Good. They are a pro-EU, tax and spend, removal of freedoms party, favoring an increase in income taxes, protecting the Education budget and wasting money guarding against climate change.

Another factor in this election was that for the first time, the electorate and opposition parties knew the date of the election years in advance thanks to the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011. Five years always was the maximum term a government could stay in power, but in all previous elections, the Prime Minister could and would choose a date and spring it upon the nation. The certainty of the date of this election altered the predictability of the 2015 outcome. There was time to ponder!

The Conservatives took 331 seats. It is a slim majority, but it means they don't have to rely on the support of spoilers like the Liberal Democrats as they have for the past five years. Now they can renegotiate our EU relationship and put it to the people in a referendum. They can tighten the noose on benefit scroungers. They can continue with the “austerity” package that has benefited the economy. Unemployment is falling and UK economic growth is faster than our Group of Seven partners, including the world’s richest industrialized countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United States and Canada.

Britain is again a net exporter of cars. Critics say the manufacturing companies are foreign, but it is a sign of confidence in our economy and national stability that these worldwide companies wish to be based here. A myriad industries are thriving and traffic is bad both morning and evening everywhere. That means that people are working.

The Labour Party and its leader,  “Red” Ed Miliband,  would have sold our souls to the EU. Germany and France would have made us the cash cow for the Greek debt. France would have redoubled its policy of shunting the refugees of the world to Calais and moving them across the English Channel.

A minority Labour administration – ably assisted by the left-wing  Scottish National Party -- would have been no different.

Where do we go from here?

The EU referendum will be worth watching. Maybe we can stay in if we can work out some kind of two-tier, arms-length membership. After all, when we joined in 1973, it was a free trade bloc of nine nations, not an undemocratic Soviet style super state.

The 2016 U.S. Presidential election is of huge interest to us. The outcome matters greatly to the UK. Let's not forget David Axelrod, who was hired to advise the UK Labour Party campaign. I expect his $500,000 fee came from the weekly union subscriptions of millions of British workers.

Will the American People confound the pollsters and return a Conservative President? The outcome of our elections certainly rocked the assumptions of the Hilary Clinton
Hillary Clinton: We imagine she said,
"The Conservatives in England did
what!?!"
Campaign for President. It's in American hands to look at the possible outcomes and decide as the UK electorate did, but they must vote with their heads.

The USA has a straight fight between two major parties. The only thing that could muddy the waters is if early primary states, which allow Democrats and Independents to pick Republican candidates, choose a weak conservative. Then – as in the last election – some conservatives could decide in fury to sit out the election, guaranteeing a liberal choice.
  
Will the U.S.  watch through the night to view a future unfolding which restores the values of individual enterprise and freedom, the values which the founding fathers intended?

Or, will they see the new day dawn under an administration that feels it necessary to micro-manage their lives and keep one hand in their pockets.

It has long been said in Britain that what America does follows here. Let's hope the USA follows Britain this time.

Sign in United Kingdom before the May 8 election
And a final sinister point to show that even the victorious Tory Party are not all sweetness and light. I was listening to a program on BBC Radio, which was doing a post mortem on the election. A representative of the BBC's election coverage was repeatedly asked if it was true that his team had been threatened by senior Conservatives in the lead up to the election. The poor man used hundreds of words to cleverly avoid saying “Yes” or “No.”

So, pick the devil you know. Perhaps it's just a matter of picking the least damaging devil. He can be identified as the one who doesn't want to tax and spend the peoples' money. If the devil is dressed like Robin Hood, look out! Robin Hood supported Richard the Lionheart and he taxed England dry to pay his ransom. Sounds familiar.

See fascinating discussion on how to vote responsibly in comment section below!

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Did you enjoy this piece by Christopher Woodford? He has written more! Don't miss History Recalls its Tragedies: Our Job is to Forgive


The United Kingdom prides itself on having multiple political parties, which form changing coalitions over time.

Conservatives (Tory):  UK Center-Right political party believes in more limited government, low taxes, European Union under our terms through an in and out referendum and growth through free private enterprise. Currently largest party in the UK with 331 seats.

Labour:  UK Center-Left political party. It was born of the trade union movement and socialist political parties of the 19th century. It is the second largest party, and has more recently backed down from its stance in favor of common ownership of the means of production. In favor of big government, high taxes, pro-EU, 232 seats.

Liberal Democrat: UK Centrist Party, pro-EU, tax and spend, removal of freedoms party, favoring an increase in income taxes, protecting the Education budget and guarding against climate change. They were the Tories’ coalition partners 2010-2015. They used to be a large liberal party, but Labour eclipsed them in the 1920s. They now have 8 seats, down from 57!

SNP:  Left-wing Scottish Nationalists. Supports same-sex marriage, progressive taxation, government housing, unilateral nuclear disarmament, lowering the voting age to 16. Stands for Scotland's interests only, pro-EU, 56 seats.

UKIP: U K Independence Party is against UK involvement in the European Union. The UKIP believes in controlling UK borders and not adding to the national debt. Like many Brits, Americans and Canadians, they feel successive governments have not represented the will of the British people. 1 seat.

Green:  Stands for the environment. Tree huggers, 1 seat

Sinn Fein: Irish Republicans. Stands for Northern Ireland to reunite with Republic of Ireland. They never take up their London seats as they will not take the oath of allegiance. 5 seats. 

UUP/DUP: 13 seats between several small parties.
Stands for Northern Ireland to stay in UK (N. Ireland British Loyalists) 


Plaid Cymru: Welsh Nationalist Party stands for independent Wales  with close links to Scottish Nationalists. 3 seats

Independent MPS (1 seat)


Speaker of the House of Commons, doesn't vote unless it's a dead heat, and then will usually vote with the government -- 1 seat. 

10 comments:

  1. This article seems like Troy Telegraph propaganda. The Conservatives - let there be no mistake, are not "conservative"; they are conserving nothing. They, like all liberals are destroying Britain. We need to look at Britain through God's eyes, not man's. The leaders (really, the mis-leaders) of the UK are men (and women) who are not interested in the gift of discerning good from evil, That was Solomon's prayer when chosen as King of Israel. That should be the prayer of any sound leader. Britain, like America is drowning in liberalism... and is dying.

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  2. Dear Barona, Thank you so much for your comment. This indeed is not intended to be a piece with a religious perspective as Christopher Woodford would tell you he has none. However, what is amazing about it is that even the irreligious can see the destruction caused by socialism. Using the power of common sense alone, a man without faith was able to see the evil of one governmental system over the other. I am finding this in other areas. I follow the blog of an ex-prostitute Rebecca Mott, who admits she is an atheist, but on the issue of humanity she sounds like Pope John Paul II affirming that prostitution dehumanized her. She lost all sense of self worth from the experience. She cannot see God's hand working in her life, but she can see the evil that is prostitution. The same with Robert Lopez, raised by two same-sex partners -- women. He so longed for a father. Brutally exposed to pornography at a very young age, as soon as he reached puberty he sold his body to older men so he could get attention. Now he is married happily with children, and still calls himself bisexual. Without reference to religion, he concluded that children should not be raised in same sex families. And he liked his Moms. For this opinion he is reviled and scorned by the LGBT lobby, who seek to discredit him all the time. May God bless the children of these unions, and kids forced into prostitution at the age of 14. I pray they find solace in the arms of God. I know He will not judge them the same as He will judge you and I. To whom much is given, much is expected. Susan Fox

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    1. This poor fellow only sees the superficial destruction brought by socialism, but he fails to see that capitalism is the opposite side of the same coin of liberalism. Both capitalists and socialists have no time for God... John Locke, the spiritual founder of the US utterly rejected God as moral influence on economics, politics etc. The poor old USA, is now feeling the effects of Locke's destructive liberalism.

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    2. This is written by an agnostic, and it not intended to do anything but question whether Hillary Clinton will get elected in the USA if jolly old England went conservative on May 8. If the irreligious are going conservative, there is hope, my friend, because the proportion of people self identifying as Christian in the United States dropped in that past decade or so according to the latest Pew poll.

      This piece says nothing positive about capitalism. The target is big government which is pursuing godless policies in your country, Canada, and mine, USA. Witness May Wagner who languishes in jail because big government in Canada put her in a maximum security prison after she handed out roses in an abortion clinic!

      Catholics live like citizens of another nation in whatever political environment they are in. Their nation is in Christ. We live in the world, but we are not of the world, and we do not seek salvation from any government or social order. This is not a Catholic piece. It is a political piece. Suggests a political answer.

      I was a business reporter for 12 years, and I saw American Capitalism decline because its CEOs lost Christianity and began living a hedonistic lifestyle. I witnessed the mob break into the savings and loan industry in the 1980s because its top executives were offered perks like trips to the virgin farms in the Caribbean.Today big American corporations pour money into the abortion holocaust administration called Obama because though he doesn't represent their viewpoint, they want to curry favor. However, before the complete break down of our society if a scion of industry was Christian or truly Catholic, then capitalism wasn't evil. Look at Hobby Lobby. They don't donate to the Obama Administration. They don't want to provide their employees with abortion or abortion products. Look at Sweetcakes by Melissa! The family that ran that was Christian and refused to put a same sex couple figurine on a wedding cake. They said they would rather obey God than man. So the state of Oregon forced them out of business and fined them $135,000 allegedly for a hate crime. Hate Crime? The hate crime was committed by the state of Oregon! And the family that ran the bakery, the Kleins, were forced to pay a "conscience tax." Oregon appears to be run by sharia law, which demands that Christians be taxed or killed. This was the Mark of the Beast. They are not Muslim, but they act just like it. My husband worked for a company with a Truly Catholic CEO and it made a big difference in his work environment. My mother was a saint! And she worked in an appliance retail office, and in real estate. My parents owned a real estate office in Los Angeles in the 1950s, and they sold property gladly to black and white customers -- not a popular thing to do back then. Business supported me my whole growing up years. That's what parents do they support their kids in business. My mother used St. John of the Cross to sell appliances. She saw the face of Christ in every customer.

      Currently, capitalists have no time for God, but that was not true historically in the United States. This was a Christian nation. And Pope Francis is only after selfish capitalism, the kind that donates to Obama because they can gain a short term advantage, but ignores the poor. That kind is disgusting. Thank you for reminding us of that truth. Susan Fox

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  3. The problem with his article; not so much his, but most people's is that they think they can solve a spiritual problem with a political solution. His article suggests to choose the "devil you know..." well, this is not a Christian solution. Likewise in the poor, old USA, electing a Republican (already we see them compromising on sodomy...) is not the solution. Our Lord is the solution. America is heading off the cliff - the question only remains at what speed. Britain, with the reelection of the the pro-abortion, pro-divorce, pro-contraception, pro-sodomy, pro-sin "Conservatives", likewise is heading right off the cliff as well. This Fall, Canada too will have an election. We too are heading into the deap blue sea.

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  4. Well I agree with that! But when he said choose the devil you know, I was thinking Pope John Paul II: Choose the lesser of two evils. When I vote Republican, it is not a positive choice, it is the lesser of two evils. In this world, that is the best we can do. God bless you. Susan

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  5. FYI was there a party in England that didn't include those evils you mentioned Barona? Susan

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  6. The lesser of two evils...we have a problem. "To him therefore who knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin". (James 4:17). As such, the Republican party is "sin". We have been disenfranchised.

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  7. Well it looks like I misspoke. You are right. (Magical words, yes?) We cannot choose outright evil. We are to distinguish "choosing evil" from "limiting evil." This from Fr. Frank Pavone, Priests for LIFE. "Which of the two candidates will do less harm to unborn children if elected?"

    Fr. Pavone: “For example, is either of the candidates willing at least to ban late-term abortion? Is either of them willing to put up some roadblocks to free and easy abortion? Will either support parental notification, or parental consent, or waiting periods? Has either of them expressed a desire to support pregnancy assistance centers? How about stricter regulation of abortion facilities? Has either candidate expressed support for that idea? Nobody is saying that's the final goal. But ask these questions just to see whether you can see any benefit of one of the candidates above the other. One of the two of them will be elected; there is no question about that. So you are not free right now, in this race, to really choose the candidate you want. Forces beyond your control have already limited your choices. Whichever way the election goes, the one elected will not have the position we want elected officials to have on abortion.”

    Further Fr. Pavone states: “In this case, it is morally acceptable to vote for the candidate who will do less harm. This is not "choosing the lesser of two evils." We may never choose evil. But in the case described above, you would not be choosing evil. Why? Because in choosing to limit an evil, you are choosing a good.”

    Idealists gave us Barack Obama. Four million Republicans stayed home from the last election because they didn't get the Republican candidate they wanted. I didn’t either. But there is a duty to vote anyway to limit abortion and stop same sex marriage if possible. Governor Scott Walker and Senator Ted Cruz have both said that if they are elected, they will try and get passed a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman. Both are pro-life. So I only give money to these candidates. I repeatedly remind the Congressional Republicans when they call that they could have stopped Obama Care, and they haven’t. They had the power of the purse.

    Now people applying for the University of Colorado’s nursing program are being told they can’t be accepted unless they are willing to participate in an abortion. This is the doing of “U.S. President” not-really-a-citizen Barack Obama and the so-called Obama “Care.” This is the mark of the beast. My husband used to say that Barack Obama was “Satan’s Trial Balloon” for the antichrist. Now we know that Satan doesn’t waste time with trial balloons.

    Because of Obama and Bill Clinton, the U.S. has spread the evils of abortion and same sex marriage all over the world. Catholics for years prayed for Russia to stop spreading its errors around the world. Now you need to pray that the U.S. will stop spreading its errors around the world! Russia doesn’t even support same sex marriage.

    Look at the recent election in Ireland. Obama went there and promised them money, but only if they supported same sex marriage. So the people of Ireland are sheep, and they listened to their money hungry politicians.

    Same thing happened with the Boy Scouts. Why did Boy Scout leader Robert Gates just tell the Scouts they must change their rules to admit “gay” camp leaders? Supposedly because “gay scouts are growling.” But really it’s the money. Evil corporations in America have drastically reduced their donations to the Boy Scouts because they will not support “gay” troop leaders. The Scouts are caving in for money.

    So untold countless boys will be introduced to same sex role models, fondled by same sex boys or men, and have their sexual identity destroyed for the rest of their lives because of evil corporations, Barack Obama, cowardly and ignorant voters and unobservant parents. Your first sexual experience impresses itself on you for life! It should be in the marriage bed with your wife!

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  8. “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe [in me] to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” (Mark 9:42)

    Fr Pavone goes on to say: “You oppose the evil of abortion, in every circumstance, no matter what. You know that no law can legitimize even a single abortion, ever. If the candidate thinks some abortion is OK, you don't agree.
    But by your vote, you can keep the worse person out. And trying to do that is not only legitimate, but good. Some may think it's not the best strategy. But if your question is whether it is morally permissible to vote for the better of two bad candidates, the answer -- in the case described above -- is yes.
    Cardinal John O’Connor, in a special booklet on abortion, once wrote about this problem, “Suppose all candidates support ‘abortion rights’? … One could try to determine whether the position of one candidate is less supportive of abortion than that of another. Other things being equal, one might then morally vote for a less supportive position. If all candidates support "abortion rights" equally, one might vote for the candidate who seems best in regard to other issues” (1990, “Abortion: Questions and Answers”).”

    Now what happens if there is a 3rd candidate with all the right pro-life, anti-gay marriage, anti-euthanasia qualifications, but not a snowball’s chance in hell of getting elected, must you vote for that candidate?

    Fr. Pavone: “In this context, the question also arises as to whether one is required to vote for a third candidate who does not have a strong base of support but does have the right position. The answer is, no, you are not required to vote for this candidate. The reason is that your vote is not a canonization of a candidate. It is a transfer of power. You have to look concretely at where the power is really going to be transferred, and use your vote not to make a statement but to help bring about the most acceptable results under the circumstances.”

    But be careful about believing polls or news media! LOL. California had a pro-life candidate for governor in its gubernatorial recall election in 2003. He was state senator Tom McClintock. Polls showed, however, that Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican (not pro-life), were neck and neck in the lead. McClintock polled in the double digits. Even pro-life Californians went for Schwarzenegger, which proved to be a drastic mistake. Life Dynamics discovered afterwards that if all the pro-life voters had voted McClintock in California, he would have won over both Schwarzenegger and Bustamante.

    Here’s the link to Priests for Life “Ten Easy Steps to Voting with a Clear Conscience.” http://www.priestsforlife.org/vote/votingwithclearconscience.htm#choosing

    Now Christopher Woodford is pro-life. His piece supported another important Catholic principle in voting and that is Subsidiarity. Social problems should be dealt with on the local level. Return control of the government to the people is one adaptation of it. Get out of the European Union is one manifestation. Pope Benedict warned the EU not to ignore its Christian roots. They did ignore their Christian roots. Getting out of the EU could be understood as “limiting evil.”

    However, what are you facing in Canada? Are there any candidates that will allow you to limit evil? Canada I know is in a very bad place. Nigerian bishop Oliver Dashe Doeme had a vision of Christ in which he was told that the Rosary would bring down the Islamist terrorist organization Boko Haram. In the United States, we have the End of Abortion Movement with the same message http://www.theendofabortionmovement.com. Pray the Rosary daily for the end of abortion, contraception, and euthanasia.

    Maybe there is no candidate to limit the evil of abortion/same sex marriage in Canada. The U.S. is rapidly heading that way. The Rosary, which I know you support, may be our only answer. God bless you. Susan Fox

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