Labour lost a by-election last night, for the first time in almost 30 years. They also lost big in local elections last month, including the mayoral election in London.
There's no doubt that Labour is on the downswing, and has been for several years. While I'd like to blame it on the war, I think it's more to do with fatigue. Labour's been in power since 1997, when fresh-faced Tony Blair was elected in a landslide. Labour was ascendant, the Tories well on the decline.
At the same time in America, liberalism was out of favor, and right-wing conservatism, as practiced by Newt Gingrich and the Club for Growth tax phobes, was ascendant. Young people embraced the label Republican, though they weren't quite sure why. So-called values voters took comfort in the fact that the rest of the country, seemingly, agreed with them, as in election after election, conservative Republicans gained power.
There's been a seesaw relationship between Britain and America for several decades now, as Margaret Thatcher-ism became despised in Britain while in America a Gingrich revolution erased any memories of benevolent Democratic administrations. Republicanism reached a pinnacle when a majority in Congress impeached a Democratic president and a right-leaning Supreme Court helped steal an election, with hardly a wimper from the public or the press, so tight was the conservative hold on the public psyche.
Now, as Gordon Brown struggles to hang on in Downing Street and keep his Labour majority in Parliament, young voters identify with the young, charismatic David Cameron, the Tory leader. They no longer remember the excesses of Thatcher's hated regime; dour, bumbling Labour is all they're familiar with. Meanwhile, in America, the young are eager to embrace the Democratic label, registering and voting in record numbers. They're not old enough to remember a White House without a Bush or a Clinton, and they want Change.
Britons want Change, too. But change in one hemisphere is the mirror opposite of change in another. As Barack Obama said the other night, "Change is coming to America!" It's coming to Britain too, but not in the form of a liberal crusader. David Cameron, when he's elected in the next Parliamentary election, will steer this country back toward Thatcherism, but that word no longer has the stench it once had. Tony Blair's New Labour, with its pale liberal-ish, downright hawkish policies, has given new life to old conservatism, just as George Bush's fiscal irresponsibility has turned old Democratic ideals into appealing policies.
For me, it's a double bummer, living through the decline of liberalism in America, and then moving overseas, only to see Labour swing low as well. The sun sets here hours before it sets in America. There's a part of me that longs to rush across the Atlantic and bask in the sun, there on top of the seesaw.
There's no doubt that Labour is on the downswing, and has been for several years. While I'd like to blame it on the war, I think it's more to do with fatigue. Labour's been in power since 1997, when fresh-faced Tony Blair was elected in a landslide. Labour was ascendant, the Tories well on the decline.
At the same time in America, liberalism was out of favor, and right-wing conservatism, as practiced by Newt Gingrich and the Club for Growth tax phobes, was ascendant. Young people embraced the label Republican, though they weren't quite sure why. So-called values voters took comfort in the fact that the rest of the country, seemingly, agreed with them, as in election after election, conservative Republicans gained power.
There's been a seesaw relationship between Britain and America for several decades now, as Margaret Thatcher-ism became despised in Britain while in America a Gingrich revolution erased any memories of benevolent Democratic administrations. Republicanism reached a pinnacle when a majority in Congress impeached a Democratic president and a right-leaning Supreme Court helped steal an election, with hardly a wimper from the public or the press, so tight was the conservative hold on the public psyche.
Now, as Gordon Brown struggles to hang on in Downing Street and keep his Labour majority in Parliament, young voters identify with the young, charismatic David Cameron, the Tory leader. They no longer remember the excesses of Thatcher's hated regime; dour, bumbling Labour is all they're familiar with. Meanwhile, in America, the young are eager to embrace the Democratic label, registering and voting in record numbers. They're not old enough to remember a White House without a Bush or a Clinton, and they want Change.
Britons want Change, too. But change in one hemisphere is the mirror opposite of change in another. As Barack Obama said the other night, "Change is coming to America!" It's coming to Britain too, but not in the form of a liberal crusader. David Cameron, when he's elected in the next Parliamentary election, will steer this country back toward Thatcherism, but that word no longer has the stench it once had. Tony Blair's New Labour, with its pale liberal-ish, downright hawkish policies, has given new life to old conservatism, just as George Bush's fiscal irresponsibility has turned old Democratic ideals into appealing policies.
For me, it's a double bummer, living through the decline of liberalism in America, and then moving overseas, only to see Labour swing low as well. The sun sets here hours before it sets in America. There's a part of me that longs to rush across the Atlantic and bask in the sun, there on top of the seesaw.
