Quelle surprise

Under the Conservatives in the 1980s and 1990s, much was made of the 'ratchet effect'. This was the theory that if the Tories headed off far to the right of politics, Labour would have to follow them to avoid accusations of being Communist extremists: formerly moderate left policies would be seen as far-left. 


It worked beautifully: Labour acquired a leadership which abolished all socialist policies and spent more time publicly attacking its own members than it did opposing Conservatism. 


I hoped that this was merely an electoral tactic, and that since the Tories received a massive beating in 1997, the ratchet would move leftwards: that to appear sane, the Conservatives would have to move left. Until Cameron appeared, they remained on the lunatic right fringe: under him, they've acquired the discourses of liberalism, but underneath they're just as rightwing as previously. 


Worse than that: Labour (and the electorate) have continually moved to the right, under pressure from… well… nowhere. Blair, Brown and New Labour appeared simply to be, underneath it all, very rightwing. 

"Tony Blair's great legacy has been to achieve Margaret Thatcher's ambition," said Curtice. "One of the consequences of the New Labour shift to the centre is it has moved the electorate to the right." Curtice argued that the shift, towards more conservative views, were likely to boost David Cameron's campaign – particularly as messages about cutting spending had become more popular.

Their consumerist, free-market economics and obsession with surveillance and biffing Muslims has set the moral and political tone for the entire country, leading to a population of selfish Tory racists - hence the upcoming election defeat. Why vote for soft right when you can vote for the party which doesn't just authorise greedy bigotry, but sees these qualities as wholly admirable… Intelliwench, are there any jobs going at Appalachian State?