Neither the Will Nor the Way

Where the Syria Vote and Obama’s EU Advocacy Meet, Centre for Policy Studies, September 10, 2013. "As that Blairite wave has receded, the British left has moved back closer in line to the tendencies of Europe. The U.S. pressure on Britain to stay in the E.U. is only going to give ideological and practical encouragement to those tendencies, and make it even harder for the government of the day to win the vote on the next crisis – when the case for action in alliance with the U.S. may be much better than it is in Syria today. And if Britain lacks both the way and the will to act, the Special Relationship will indeed be much diminished."

Cut Loose from the EU Carcass

Another View from Washington DC: The State Department and EU Are Natural Allies, Heritage Foundation Foundry, January 17, 2013. "In his energetic response to Philip Gordon’s ill-conceived request that Britain forget about recovering its sovereignty and protecting its democracy, Hannan argues that the State Department wants Britain in the EU because the U.S. is gradually realizing that the EU is, “Frankenstein-like,” defining itself by petulant hostility to the U.S., and it wants Britain inside to moderate that hostility. If only. The State Department doesn’t want Britain inside because it disagrees with the EU. It wants Britain inside because it agrees with the EU. Not with absolutely everything it does, of course ¬– but most of the things that Hannan finds objectionable are things the State Department likes."

Britain, the Small Island: A Case of Rhetorical Abuse

The Rise of Euroscepticism and the Misuse of British Rhetoric, Centre for Policy Studies, July 27, 2012. "The real irony is this: back in the 1960s, the idea that Britain’s economic future lay in Europe, not the Commonwealth, seemed like a good bet. But those anachronistic imperialists may have been wiser in the long run. The idea of a Commonwealth economic union, true, is still a non-starter, but the thought that Britain has more to gain by focusing on the growing world outside Europe, rather than the shrinking economies inside it, now looks sensible. It’s a strange day when David Cameron channels Lord Beaverbrook to argue the case for Europe, and an even stranger one when the argument Beaverbrook was actually making looks better than the Prime Minister’s."

Too Much Is Never Enough, Apparently

A Bottom Up Look at the Top Down, Centre for Policy Studies, May 30, 2012. "If you believe that it is not possible to demonstrate that any particular level of taxation, welfare spending, or redistributive policies are economically counter-productive, and if you are in principle in favor of these things, then when do you say “enough,” and why do you decide to say it? A reliable way to get liberals excited is to say that they’re socialists. Fine, they’re not. But if Britain – where the government currently spends 50 percent of the nation’s GDP – is not verifiably well past the point of diminishing returns on state spending, where does that point lie? Is it 60 percent? 70 percent? 99 percent? If neither evidence nor principle tells you when to stop – and to go into reverse – then what does? At what point does the distinction between a really big government and socialism become irrelevant?

Are Ron Paul's Supporters 'Right-Wingers'?

Democrats, Republicans, and Ron Paul, Centre for Policy Studies, March 2, 2012. "What is just as interesting is that the less well-off, less-educated, the less-religious, the young, and the unmarried, most of whom normally lean Democratic, are this time out going disproportionately (though not in large numbers) for Paul. It is an open question whether that trend is best described as reshaping the Republican Party by bringing new voters in, reshaping the Democratic Party by leading traditional voters out, or as the action of voters fundamentally unaffiliated with either party – and, absent Paul, likely to back neither.

Syria Shows Obama Doctrine (In)action

Syria: A Perfect Illustration of the Obama Doctrine’s Failure, Centre for Policy Studies, February 9, 2012. "Obama has little to gain by putting foreign policy on the front pages and, it would appear, little desire to put them front and center either. He needs only to do just enough -- in the form of speeches, symbolic actions, gestures to the left, and not very covert military operations -- to neutralize the charge that he’s not interested in American leadership. Syria testifies to the fact that the dreams of his early administration have comprehensively failed, and that he’s now relying on ad hoc approaches. True, all foreign policy is to an extent improvisation, but great improvisers work off the melody. Right now, the Obama Doctrine is a discordant mess."

On Tevi Troy's Article on Think Tanks

A View of Think-Tanks from America, Centre for Policy Studies, January 23, 2012. "Working as I do at the Heritage Foundation, and writing for the Centre for Policy Studies, may put me in danger of mistaking the trees for the forest. Still, British readers should check out Tevi Troy’s article “Devaluing the Think Tank,” in the latest issue of National Affairs, available free online. Troy’s claim is that U.S. think tanks play “a central role in policy development,” but that, “while most think tanks continue to serve as homes for some academic-style scholarship regarding public policy, many have also come to play more active (if informal) roles in politics." "

Christmas Wishes to the UK on Defense

Lessons on Defence Policy from America in 2012, Centre for Policy Studies, December 29, 2011. "My wish is that Britain will in 2012 learn a lesson from America on its defence policy. The lesson is not simply that Britain should spend more money on defence. It certainly should do that, but Britain’s limited and steadily shrinking defence budget is only a symptom of Britain’s underlying problem. Its real problem is that, while America regrettably takes defence less seriously than it used to, it is still far better off than Britain, which no longer treats defence as a centrally important political issue. The lesson Britain should learn from America, therefore, is that defence is a core duty of the state, and it is worthy of appropriately serious political care and attention. My policy wish to Britain thus takes the form of three Christmas wishes."

State-Based Factors in the 2012 Elections, Part 2

The Varying Fortunes of Red and Blue States, Part 2, Centre for Policy Studies, December 22, 2011. "When Henry Ford put the buggy whip manufacturers out of business, that was a good thing. But you’d never know this by listening to the President. All the evidence goes to show that he and his followers believe what they are saying. And that in turn goes some distance to explaining why America’s red states are growing, and why the President’s path to re-election in 2012 is narrow. In other words, if the fundamental advantage of the left in America is the rise of administrative and bureaucratic government, the fundamental advantage of the right is, as Lady Thatcher put it, that sooner or later socialism runs out of other people’s money."

State-Based Factors in the 2012 Election

The Varying Fortunes of Red and Blue States, Centre for Policy Studies, December 19, 2011. "What is striking is the number of firmly Democratic states that are delivering – and in many cases have delivered for decades – mediocre economic performances, frequently with huge pension bills impending to boot. Under the circumstances, it’s not surprising that they’re losing population."

Demography Is Not (Political) Destiny

Can There Be An Enduring Systematic Advantage in American Politics?, Centre for Policy Studies, December 12, 2011. "The quest for an enduring systematic, demographic advantage in American politics is doomed to failure. The evidence of the past 200 years is that, while one party or another can enjoy a temporary advantage, the nation is too large, too diverse and too mobile for either side to win in an enduring way. In other words, in American politics, there are permanent battles, but no permanent victories through demography. If one side does have an enduring advantage, it lies not in demography, but in the steady expansion of the bureaucratic and administrative state, which inherently favors the left and which threatens to make the normal governing activity of Congress steadily more irrelevant."

American Geographic and Electoral Mobility

Americans Move, But Will the Result Change?, Centre for Policy Studies, December 8, 2011. "The political effects of this shift are equally stark: in 2012, the Republicans will gain a net total of six electoral votes, if the states vote as they did in 2008. Of course it is unlikely that the state votes will remain unchanged, but the fact remains that President Obama will have to run harder in 2012 just to stay in place. The long-run trends of American geographical mobility are telling, slowly, against him."

Nation-Building in 2012

Major Foreign Policy Addresses in the U.S. Campaign, Centre for Policy Studies, October 13, 2011. "Until Friday, as I noted last month, foreign policy played a mostly indirect role in the 2012 election campaign. In a way, that is no surprise: U.S. elections are rarely won or lost on foreign policy. But considered another way, it is a surprise. There is less daylight than one might think between conservatives on domestic issues: no creditable Republican candidate campaigns for bigger government, more regulation, and higher taxes. Foreign policy offers all the candidates an opportunity to stake out distinctive ground in an area that belongs particularly to the Oval Office."

The 2012 Race Shapes Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy Enters the 2012 Race, Centre for Policy Studies, September 16, 2011. "What is more interesting, though, is the way that the Democratic defeat in NY-9, which the victorious Republican framed as a referendum on President Obama, shows how foreign policy is slipping into the 2012 race, at a time when all eyes seem to be focused on the economy."