Friday 4 October 2013

Quote of the day...and why the right are so much nicer

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Great piece from Paul Goodman on 'The Hate of the Left' including this quote:

“Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, dead, dead, dead,” scream the protesters as they file past the Midland hotel in Manchester. It is a cruel greeting for the Conservative party as it gathers in this most un-Tory city. “Filth, you’re a waste of space, a waste of oxygen,” they shout at the shiny young delegates as they pass.

As I've remarked before, this sort of behaviour has characterised the left's approach to politics for all my life - I even penned a brief memento of 35 years as 'Tory Scum'. But what Paul does is remind us of something - don't stoop down to the left's level:

There is a lesson here for the Right.  We must never, ever become like the Left.  Vigilance, energy, sharpness of eye, persuasiveness, wit: all these are necessary in the long effort to convince others that the Left is wrong.  Hatred is not – at least when it comes to people rather than ideas.

And this is one reason why Conservatives are so much nicer - our philosophy (in so far as we have one) is not based on hatred or conflict. Indeed the left - now joined by mushy BBC liberalism - seems completely obsessed now with hatred and offence (and the confused conflation of the two - if I offend you it is because I hate you).

There are other reasons why we're nicer - Conservatives see politics as part of the problem rather than the solution. Indeed we value self-reliance and independence, the very antithesis of the left's childlike faith in government as the means to secure betterment. So Conservatives, when they gather together, don't worry endlessly over political niceties but would rather consider the finer things (and maybe one or two less fine things) about life - Conservatives believe politics is boring, a necessary evil not something to relish.

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