By Robert Romano
The latest polling in the United Kingdom
has shown a surge by the UK Independence Party (UKIP) to take the lead in the
upcoming European parliamentary elections.
UKIP leads with
31 percent support, the Labour Party with 28 percent, the Conservative Party
with 19 percent, and the Liberal Democrats with 9 percent. The election is less
than a month away, scheduled for May 22.
The result
builds on UKIP’s resounding success in the 2013 county council
elections, when the party came in third place in the popular vote
and won 140 seats for the first time. Labour had 29 percent, the Conservative
Tories 25 percent, UKIP 23 percent, and the Liberal Democrats 14 percent.
Comparing the
two results, it appears that nationally UKIP is the direct beneficiary of
collapsing support for both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties. Why?
UKIP is calling
for British withdrawal from the European Union (EU), and has surged under Nigel
Farage’s leadership since 2010, when the European sovereign debt crisis began.
That, coupled with high unemployment and the economy still sagging after the
financial crisis, and the political establishment in London is having a hard
time accounting for its own failures.
In the
meantime, Farage has an easy answer. An
April 23 campaign video by the party highlights excessive EU
regulations on UK businesses, unfavorable trade agreements, lax immigration
policies, European courts overruling British ones, and onerous green taxes on
energy.
To placate UKIP
voters, Conservative party leader and Prime Minister David Cameron has promised
a referendum on the question on EU membership — but only if the Tories are
reelected in 2015.
But with UKIP’s
fortunes rising so fast, they may not get that opportunity in 2015. All along,
Farage’s strategy has aimed at the ultimate goal of winning seats in
Parliament. If UKIP eats up enough of the Conservatives’ votes in May, Farage
will have real momentum at his side headed into 2015 while the Tories attempt
to defend an unpopular incumbent whose opposition to the EU is simply for
appearances sake.
Here in the
U.S., we’re familiar with such feigned opposition to Obamacare, Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, out of control debt, and destructive
monetary policies that almost nobody on Capitol Hill has any intention of doing
a thing about.
Republican
Party leaders nominally state they are against these drains on U.S. prosperity,
yet when the opportunity to use the power of the purse arises via the debt
ceiling or continuing resolution votes — they consistently balk at taking real
action.
It is all
evidence of a party without any identity. That has no clear vision for
governing in accordance with the principles it professes to believe in.
In the British
parliamentary system, this can give rise to third parties that directly
challenge the political establishment in London for primacy.
While this
could be a window into the GOP’s political future here in the states, it likely
would take on a different form. Instead of a third party challenge,
dissatisfied Republican voters may perhaps demand sweeping changes in
congressional leadership in 2015, and help foster a robust GOP presidential
primary field in 2016.
Either way,
Republican leaders might do well to heed the warning of former Conservative Party chairman and Margaret
Thatcher cabinet minister Norman Tebbit: “If you kick your core
voters hard enough, Mr. Cameron, they might kick back.”
Alas, Cameron
did not listen, and UKIP continues to rise. And if the same thing happens here
in the U.S., Republicans will not have anybody to blame but themselves.
Robert Romano
is senior editor of Americans for Limited Government. Source: http://netrightdaily.com/2014/04/fall-conservative-party-uk-sounds-warning gop/?utm_source=WhatCounts+Publicaster+Edition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Obamacare+repealed%e2%80%a6+for+some&utm_content=Fall+of+Conservative+Party+in+UK+sounds+warning+to+GOP%0d+
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Comments
There are
already enough independents and Constitutional voters in the U.S. to supplant
the GOP. A third party in the U.S. is not
inevitable, at least in the near term.
It would be easier if our Republican RINOs simply joined the Democrats
they vote with. That would change us
from a one-party system to an actual two-party system. The issue in the U.S. is
restoring the Constitution (as written).
It would return us to a meritocracy, strengthen private property rights,
reverse socialism and provide a way out of our fiscal suicide problems.
The UK issue
that got the Independent Party a plurality is the EU. This is a move away from the “green globalism”
that heralded the current UK economic decline.
The regular
folks in Great Britton have not prospered.
25% of their current laws were written by the EU in Brussels. The folks have seen the downside of socialism
and globalism. Like the U.S., they lost
their manufacturing and have high unemployment with no wage growth. Over-immigration has turned London and its
suburbs into Muslim enclaves connected by an overly expensive transit village
system.Brits in Australia and Canada have had their own moves to restore populism and fiscal sanity. Canada cleaned up its fiscal house and Australia declared man-made climate change a hoax and banned UN Agenda 21. These moves have encouraged the Brits to create their own reforms
Norb Leahy,
Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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