tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827071479314474893.post6537175608537888024..comments2024-01-31T22:47:47.791-08:00Comments on Anglocat on the Prowl: Confessions of a Continuator: Dr. Williams on the Doctor...Anglocathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218740053628978255noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827071479314474893.post-89617363985849661132013-03-01T05:17:27.092-08:002013-03-01T05:17:27.092-08:00All well, AC. Thank you for asking. I suppose this...All well, AC. Thank you for asking. I suppose this helps illustrate the difficulty of political labels. That's why I find the term "statist" preferable to liberal or conservative. The state is, by definition, coercive, but whenever it uses excessive coercion to bring about some desired end--whether the hoped for result may be considered favorable by "conservatives" or " liberals"--it has overstepped its bounds (of course there are notable exceptions, such the suspension of the writ of habeous corpus during war time).<br /><br />Thanks for clarifying.<br /><br />Best,<br /><br />Bryan HunterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827071479314474893.post-77256795763268121232013-02-27T19:20:45.362-08:002013-02-27T19:20:45.362-08:00Is meant as, I mint ended to say. I quite like th...Is meant as, I mint ended to say. I quite like the WFB'S quip, as well.Anglocathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03218740053628978255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827071479314474893.post-63058665879994119612013-02-27T19:19:34.867-08:002013-02-27T19:19:34.867-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anglocathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03218740053628978255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827071479314474893.post-61792817199399593222013-02-27T19:18:03.889-08:002013-02-27T19:18:03.889-08:00Hi Bryan,
I think I may have been unclear in the ...Hi Bryan,<br /><br />I think I may have been unclear in the post. "The Happiness Patrol" is a left-of-center satire of Margaret Thatcher (of whom Helen A is, as Philip Sandifer at Tardis Eruditorum notes, a rather cruel caricature, and clearly meant as such), and her effort to break down the communitarian ethos of the postwar British consensus in favor of a more individualistic social ethos by group identification politics to instill "the reflexive patriotism called for by the political right," such as the "jingoism of the Falklands." That sounds awfully like a post-hoc analysis of MT, but actually replicates contemporary critics such as John Mortimer and HaroldPinter<br /><br />Hope all is well with you and yours.<br /><br />Best,Anglocathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03218740053628978255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2827071479314474893.post-7435229231890462982013-02-27T09:17:46.418-08:002013-02-27T09:17:46.418-08:00Dear Anglocat,
I'm quite intrigued to know h...Dear Anglocat, <br /><br />I'm quite intrigued to know how you came to perceive the discussion (i.e., criticism) of the Happiness Patrol as a "left-of-center" position. I'm assuming Dr. Williams (Lord Williams? what's the appropriate address for him now?) would agree with you. But as a traditional conservative (or really a classical liberal--damn these pesky labels get confusing!) I would associate any sort of social engineering, such as the Happiness Patrol, with statist (i.e., leftist) tendencies. To that end, I must agree with W.F. Buckley's assessment of G.W. Bush: "He may be conservative, but he's not a Conservative." <br /><br />Cheers, <br /><br />Bryan HunterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com