Class and ass rhyme.

So do Guest & pest! ;) And I've not heard of many poets who have ruled countries. This may or may not be a blessing...

Conservatism, in an older sense of the word, can be defined as fear of change. conservatism with a small 'c' (NB: In the UK the Conservative party is the approximate equivalent of the Republicans - the right wing party, in other words). 'Fear of Change' sounds a bit perjorative. Is "better the devil you know..." a better expression of the mind-set? I hope you all immediately recognise what I mean. Successful political campaigns these days seem to be run on the basis of "fear them, they will fuck you", not "love us, we can do all this for you", know what I mean?

Whether you like it or not, & regardless of the thinking of individuals, large masses of people show identifiable characteristics & can easily be manipulated on that basis. Good politicians understand this, & pull strings appropriately (how do you think Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, et al, gained so much power?).

Of course America is conservative. Not Conservative, conservative! People, en masse, fear change & hark back to the good old days, whatever their political leanings. There are plenty of good E.European communists who regret the effects that Perestroika had on their ordered worlds!

Nevertheless, whether SRS, Amergin, & co like it or not, the US is Conservative (with the big C). In the capitalised British sense of the word. The Democrats would never pass for left wing in the UK. In fact, they're quite possibly to the right of our centre party Liberal Democrats. Probably only Israel is a genuinely democratic state that regularly elects a government more right wing than the US.

In a similar fashion, our left wing (no, I said 'left wing', not 'our current Labour party', OK? McGrath & others please note!) would probably serve as centre party in France or Germany.

French politics seem to me to be balanced at a point further left than the UK. In truth, the French right wing (ignoring the Jean-Marie Le Pen ideology, which I would class as extreme) possibly equates to the US centre. And Russia is balanced further left than that, not least because they were communist for so long.

Nevertheless, regardless of Conservatism of any relative stripe (& all Conservatism is relative, whether you call it by that name, fascism, or some other appellation), all of the mass is conservative (with the small c) by instinct, regardless of the relative stripe of local/national politics. If you forget that, I think you either forget or fail to understand human nature.

It is easier to frighten people, than to inspire them.

It easier to be negative about the enemy, than to be positive about your friends.

It is easier to decry your opposition, than to cry your own virtues!

Forget that, & you will never win office. That, perhaps, is the difference between a Claymore & an Amergin, a Doug & an SRS. The Amergins will wonder why their message didn't get across, but the Claymores will make sure they win!

[Note: Most governments in most countries throughout history have been to the right of the national ideology. Conclusion? The lefties are better at naive ideology, the righties are better at fighting dirty & getting their way!)