The Tea Party And Britain

Interesting piece in The UK Telegraph by Nile Gardiner ? one of the very few British (and, let?s face it American) journalists who did not fall for the stryrofoam temple in 2008.I?ve written extensively on how the Obama White House has been the most anti-British presidency since the Suez crisis of 1956, and predicted months before Obama?s election win that his leadership would be damaging for the US-British alliance.Gardiner has the feeling that the Tea Party could well spearhead a conservative revolution (or, as Governor Palin might say, an American restoration) in 2012, ejecting Obama out of the White House and evicting legions of Democrats from Congress ? good news for all my American friends but also, says Gardiner, even better news for we Brits.At first sight, of course, the Tea Party does not appear to have much interest in Britain. The focus is almost entirely on domestic issues and the symbolism, often expressed in terms of the late 18th century, framed with references to struggles against tyranny in the form of George III and redcoats.There is no doubting the fact that the Tea Party movement is primarily focused at present upon domestic policy issues. It is largely driven by intense opposition to Obama?s Big Government agenda, and by a belief in low taxation and reduced government spending, greater individual freedom and limited intrusion by the state. But it is also at its heart a movement that cherishes a belief in American exceptionalism and US leadership, worships the concept of national sovereignty, and is suspicious of supranational institutions such as the United Nations or the European Union that seek to impinge upon America?s ability to act independently. In other words, it stands for almost everything the current US administration does not.When I first started blogging (mainly to an audience of four ? my son, his cat and a couple of spiders in my garden shed) I found myself posting the odd piece about Sarah Palin. Out of the blue, I was invited to post on C4P in it?s pioneering days and I felt greatly honoured but also slightly nervous ? what would all those so called ?foaming at the mouth Palinista wingnuts, clinging bitterly to their guns and religion? think about the meanderings of some old pensioner from the ancient forests of Sussex?I needn?t have worried. I have been received with tolerance, kindness and warmth (one reason why I shall be in Chicago this November) and I always get the feeling that American conservatives still genuinely wish to stretch their hands across the ocean ? unlike Obama and many left/liberal Democrats.The Obama administration?s sneering view of Britain was perfectly summed up by a senior State Department protocol officer in March last year:?There?s nothing special about Britain. You?re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn?t expect special treatment.?I read that while Micheal Yon was embedded with The Rifles in Afghanistan, reporting on the professionalism and courage of our squaddies and watching their blood soak into the dust of Helmand alongside their US comrades, just as their fathers and grandfathers did in WW2 and Korea ? and wondered.....Of course emotion and history should not direct foreign policy. I am a fierce British patriot who always catches his breath whenever I see the Union Flag snapping in the wind. There are times when UK and US interests do not coincide and we must beg to differ ? as we did in 1776 and other moments in history. But the very reverence that Tea Partiers feel for the Founding Fathers and the US Constitution must also recognise that the roots of the American Republic spring from the soil of England, the England of the first half of the seventeenth century when King and Parliament clashed over the issue of sovereignty and the sons and daughters and cousins of those rebels who cut off their king?s head and proclaimed an English republic spread across to the north American colonies ? argumentative, independent, industrious and determined like their roundhead siblings.....and eventually the spirit of 1642 became the spirit of 1776.Hence my political kinship with C4P and the Tea Party ? also recognised by Gardiner.The main heroes of the Tea Party are, of course, America?s Founding Fathers. But its members also look to more recent leaders for inspiration ? in the United States, Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater for example, and across the Atlantic, to Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill. In conversations I have had with an array of Tea Party supporters in recent months, almost all have expressed a huge admiration for the Iron Lady and her achievements across the Atlantic. There have also been frequent nods of support for the cost-cutting measures of the new Cameron-led Coalition ? and many have asked the question ? if they can cut the deficit in London, why can?t we do it in Washington too?I feel in my bones that if a certain person moved into the White House then Gardiner?s final prediction of a sharp change in the mood music would come to passUnlike the Obama administration, the new wave of conservative leaders in the United States recognise Britain as America?s most important ally, are suspicious of EU-style supranationalism, and understand the great sacrifices that the US and UK have made in the defence of liberty and freedom across the world. One thing is certain if President Obama loses the White House in 2012. His successor definitely won?t be throwing a bust of Sir Winston Churchill out of the Oval Office.God Save America. God Save The Queen.cross posted at The Aged P

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