Is there anyone alive out there willing and able enough to save the Conservative Party from itself? As the electoral post-mortem continues a dangerous momentum is building that says, perhaps the party should just throw the towel in and go full socialist.
Let’s bust the pay cap for public sector workers! Let’s abolish tuition fees for university students! Let’s stop referring to woman and men as ladies and gentleman. Ok, so that one was Sadiq Khan’s idea for Transport for London, but we just know, we just know, the Tories will be on board with it, ‘cause they is down with the whole transgender rights business.’
No, no, no. The Tories should not do this became not only is it immoral to rob Peter to pay Paul, especially where Peter is not yet born and Paul is a bunch of self-entitled students, but ultimately abandoning austerity – this is where I am told we still spend more than we take in, in tax – will wreck the economy. And if the international markets lose confidence in Britain, it will cost even more to borrow to pay for these much needed and loved public services, especially our beloved and most blessed NHS, peace be upon it.
The truth is that the current crop of students and ‘young people’ are having (to use a technical term) a massive strop.
After Brexit, which they failed to stop by not voting, the youth got their revenge on their elders by voting, en mass for socialism. They threw a massive temper tantrum, stormed off to their rooms and threatened to wreck the whole house not caring as to the damage they caused, because their parents were ‘the worst parents in the world ever.’
Now, it has been explained already that socialism is inherently selfish; there is nothing moral in being generous with other people’s money. A good example of this grab for resources dressed up as a noble mission akin to abolishing slavery is the call to have one’s university education paid for by the taxpayer.
This is selfish, immoral and indefensible and as such the Conservatives should not even consider it. But not only that, such a move is politically naive. We should not surrender to the ‘young people’ having a temper tantrum, who are demanding everybody else’s stuff.
In the words of Andrea Leadsom, ‘as a mother’ if there is one thing I have learnt the hard way it is this: do not give in to tantrums. Ever. As our grandmothers knew only too well, if you do that you are only making a rod for your own back. So Conservatives: do not make a rod for your own back.
The very idea that the Conservatives would attempt to buy off the student vote, as hinted by Damian Green last Sunday, by proposing such an immoral system of university funding is not only beneath contempt but laughable.
It is laughable if the Tories believe suddenly this will turn young voters into long-term Tory supporters. It will not. It will only cement them as long-term socialists. It will make students even more entitled – to enlarged public services (which they will not want to be taxed for) or ‘free childcare’ or subsidised rent or whatever it may be. The appetite of a selfish socialist student is never satisfied. If you give in, it only grows with their sense of entitlement and moral superiority.
If you want to make these spoilt, entitled, selfish little brats Conservatives, then it might be a good idea to advocate for conservative values, how ultimately they are morally correct and will lead to a better life.
The reason why we have ended up with such a generation of spoilt toddlers is really the subject for another blog, but we cannot give into their tantrums and believe that all is lost.
They are redeemable, and getting them earning and taxed as soon as possible would be a good start. We must advocate that personal responsibility, liberty from state interference, and the free-market are the best ways to a satisfying worthwhile life, not necessarily full of stuff, but marked by independence, worthwhile employment, and a fulfilling family life.
If on the other hand the Conservatives’ idea of reform or that dreaded word ‘modernisation’ is just to chuck more of other people’s money at the problem, then indeed all is lost. The tantrums will only get more destructive, the unreasonable demands more outrageous, and the screaming more shrill. Trust me. I’m a Mum.
