tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post8081553870473552336..comments2024-03-29T09:14:53.583+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: Is there a Johnsonism?Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-50696545409902824212020-03-10T18:46:54.804+00:002020-03-10T18:46:54.804+00:00When is @Dipshit going to provide that list of the...When is @Dipshit going to provide that list of the weak who have beaten the strong by being prepared to suffer!<br /><br />His whole Brexit argument hinges on this idea!BCFGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-78210774356712639132020-03-08T12:46:33.178+00:002020-03-08T12:46:33.178+00:00"Hardly any surprise he finds white elephant ...<i>"Hardly any surprise he finds white elephant projects like tunnels to Ireland, literal Boris islands, HS2, and what have you so attractive - they are monuments to him"</i><br /><br />and this makes him different how?<br /><br />Not many of these projects get done, if any. I like to think he does this to create an environment in which people can have ideas and put them out there without fear of ridicule. Of course, I may be over-estimating the man.Dippernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-50806283307470573212020-03-08T11:40:13.468+00:002020-03-08T11:40:13.468+00:00Johnson has some political instincts, but his main...Johnson has some political instincts, but his main instinct is self-advancement. Which I admire in a politician. Means they are open to persuasion.<br /><br />'Johnsonism' is in effect about doing whatever is needed to stay in power, so it is a heuristical approach rather than an ideology. Johnsonism will be defined by the practical steps he takes to win elections, and hence will be defined in retrospect as a set of policies, but as with all heuristical approaches these will be discovered through trial and error rather than identified in advance.Dippernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-65947347420871524782020-03-07T11:20:41.536+00:002020-03-07T11:20:41.536+00:00«conservative philosophy as promulgated by the lat...«<i>conservative philosophy as promulgated by the late Roger Scruton, its emphasis on the need to preserve tradition, scepticism of hare-brained ideological schemes, standing for gradual and managed change</i>»<br /><br />That's the burkean view of conservativism, but it is just an ideological cover for a much more practical approach, which is that political conservativism is always the protection and furthering of the material interests of incumbents. Of course preserving tradition, aversion to (other) ideology, gradual change are all euphemisms for protecting the material interests of incumbents.<br /><br />As the dominant type of incumbents changes with time, political conservativism also changes policies with time: from protecting the interests of landed nobility to those of business owners to those of finance traders and executives to those of urban landowners.<br /><br />But conservativism is also proactive, it is not just about protecting incumbencies, it is also about furthering them, making incumbencies less risky and more profitable, as in:<br /><br />«<i>protection of the vulnerable and, of course, govern on behalf of the whole nation doesn't sound so bad. Why then have all Tory Prime Ministers and, indeed, the party fallen far short?</i>»<br /><br />They haven't fallen short, in their view: for the past 40 years "Middle England" and "Upper England" interests have been furthered with policies giving them a roaring boom in asset prices, rents, dividends, with large increases in the living standards of (southern mostly) Middle England and Upper England families. All the talk about "austerity" policies is utterly misleading: (southern) Middle England and Upper England have not been subject to "austerity",<br /><br />Because for tories “<i>the vulnerable</i>” means "Middle England" (in particular southern oldies with property) and “<i>the whole nation</i>” means "Middle England" plus "Upper England".<br />The servant classes (in particular the northern ones) are just part of the background, they are invisible, if not annoying with their whining or parasitical with their demands for better state services and social insurance.<br /><br />PS: The famous argument by C Robin that conservativism is reactionary, reaction against emancipation from hierarchical power structures, is just pure whiggish clintonist/blairist euphemism: because incumbency can take many forms, not just incumbency in superior positions in a power hierarchy. Whiggism itself at the core is conservative, with its insistence on free markets and globalization: it aims to protect the interests of incumbents that have material interests furthered by markets and globalization, such as transnational businesses and speculative investors. Both whigs and tories are conservatives, but for different incumbents.Blissexnoreply@blogger.com