Is there a way to make sense of the political spectrum? I think there is. The terms “left” and “right” do make sense as distinctions within mainstream liberalism.

It works this way. All liberals start off with a belief that the individual should be self-created by their own will and reason. This means that liberals have to clear away unchosen impediments to individual will, such as race, gender and class.

But this leaves a fundamental problem. How can you possibly regulate a society made up of millions of individual wills, each pursuing their own selfish desires? This is the question asked by Australian liberal Clive Hamilton, in his essay The Disappointment of Liberalism. He writes that,

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Here’s to Madame Catherine Gachet, not only a beautiful woman but a maker of the intensely sweet and flowery, white wine of Barsac, in the Gironde … and a skilled marketeer.  For, Madame Gachet has identified her product’s unique selling point and it isn’t the suppleness and finish of a fruit drink.  Nope, it’s the eternal soul of French life: chic with a subtle hint of sexuality.

Unfortunately, it’s just not plain and self-abnegating enough for the French government.  Under the latter’s strict advertising codes for purveyors of France’s greatest technical triumph no joie de vivre may be associated with the pleasures of the vine - no beautiful people, no romance, no excitement, until recently not even a simple description of the product’s taste.  Health and Safety are everywhere, it seems, and set upon the great task of saving the hapless Frenchman from a bibulous end.

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... Spain’s annual influx of immigrants vastly exceeds expectations. The government reckons between 800,000 and 1,000,000 ‘indocumentados’ - most of them Latin Americans and Moroccans - arrived in Spain last year…

One million illegals.  In one year.  To an ancient European state with a population of forty million.  And this is merely the upper end of a government estimate - government estimates on immigration not being known for over-statement.

The story, circularised by the Independent’s E-Mail Newsletter, is truly alarming for all Europeans.  The Spanish government is granting legal status to these people once they have been in the country for three years.  After that they can go anywhere in the EU.

But the most staggering aspect of the influx is not its size but the feeble and supine surrender of Spain’s politicians, both Conservative and Socialist.  How “unfortunate” that their liberal laws force them to set the migrants free.  How sad and, frankly, inevitable that by their rules they must accept undocumented migrants’ claims to come from countries which, of course, never have a repatriation agreement with Spain.  How regrettable that in all of this not a moment’s consideration can be spared for the interests and desires of their own people.

This situation is not supportable.  Something is going to break.

It’s not uncommon to find thinkers within the Australian Liberal Party who want to create a fusion between liberalism and conservatism.

The former Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, is one such figure within the Liberal Party who has argued for such a fusion. In his book Common Ground he claims first that,

“As its name implies, ours is a liberal government holding liberal principles.”

He then sets out a typically right-liberal view of liberal principles, in which the market is held to be a better regulator of society than the state. He rejects the idea that “because something is considered desirable it should be provided by the state”, preferring that it be provided “by voluntary action on the part of individuals joining freely together, and by the mechanism of the market”.

So, if Mr Fraser believes in right-liberal “principles and values”, what role is left for conservatism? His answer is significant. He explains that,

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A short time ago in this forum I was inspired by some recent reading to make a longish comment on the “Race Does Not Exist” (RDNE) debate. My own views on this are that this issue is too important to be left to experts who should be on tap, not on top. Also the issue is not wholly a scientific debate and the scientific view should be welcome but is not the deciding factor. The reading that has got me going is the Jay Klein and Naoyuki Takahata book mentioned below and “The Restitution of Man: C S Lewis and the Case against Scientism by Michael Aeschliman.

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One of the best books on fatherhood is Fatherless America, by American writer David Blankenhorn. In one of the chapters of this book, “The Old Father”, Blankenhorn notes that the traditional, masculine father arouses a strong, negative reaction in modern cultures.

The question is why? I’d like to set out my own answer to this, drawing on the useful source material (and many of the arguments) provided by Blankenhorn.

Gender splitting

Why has there been such a strong rejection of the Old Father? One reason is that the traditional father was strongly masculine. As Blankenhorn writes,

“In essence, the Old Father is the paternal embodiment of ... what several analysts term “the masculine mystique”.

Why is this a problem? The answer runs as follows. We live in a society shaped by liberal political principles. The first principle of liberalism is that to be fully human we must be self-created by our own individual will and reason. However, our sex - our manhood and womanhood - is not something that we can choose for ourselves. It is, in the terms of liberalism, a “biological destiny”.

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Yes alright, Glen is reputed to pull 1,250,000 hits a week and Dem dollar bill fave Daily Kos scores a crispy 400,000 hits a day - as John says, leftists need a lot of opinion-reinforcement.  But in our still very nascant way we have passed a small milestone today - 100,000 visits to the blog since our mid-October start.

Long way to go.  But we’ve made a start of it.  Thanks to all involved and to all who visit. 

EU CONSTITUTION LANDSLIDE FOR THE NO’S DUE TO “MALEVOLENCE AND DISTORTION”

Times London reporter, Omani Padmehum
Times Brussels reporter, Siswe Mbeki

Britain’s position in Europe was thrown into deep confusion this morning as the full extent of the government’s defeat in yesterday’s European Constitution Referendum became clear.  Voters turned their backs on the Prime Minister’s “Yes to Success” campaign by a margin of almost four to one.

Mr Blair was said by aides to be “deeply disappointed but not surprised, and determined to fight on for Britain at the heart of Europe”.

Many observers question how long he will “fight on” as Prime Minister.  His grand design of leading “Britain towards its new purpose in Europe and the world” was crushed as predicted.  The ‘Yes’ campaign, conceived and spearheaded by Sir Peter Mandelson, was humiliated by a staggering 11,771,819 votes to 3,280,812 votes on a turnout of 52%.

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