Is it just me?

Been away from this for a few days, so forgive me for digging a week back for a small rant.

Conservatives like to tell us they believe in the freedom of the individual, in a small government and fiscal responsibility (not that that actually happens). The dirty little secret is that they aren't like that at all.

Tories are, at their core, authoritarian.

If you take that desire to tell people how to live their lives and combine it with power at a national level, you inevitably get a dictative state  (which anyone who experienced the Major Government  and "back to basics" will recognise instantly,).

David Cameron, who's spent the last year trying to be everything we don't expect a Tory to be, slipped right back into old habits the other week when discussing gun crime. He suggested the laws should be passed to "compel" fathers to live up to their responsibility. Bottom down, freedom of the individual? No, nanny state. At least the socialists have the decency to not pretend they believe in individual freedom.

Comments

[Bishop Hill]

I think it might just be you, actually. Yes we should have individual freedom, but that surely involves living with the implications of the actions you take. If a father brings a child into the world, doesn't he have a duty to support it and educate it? Should he be able to compel the taxpayer to do these things on his behalf?

[Tom Papworth]

It depends what you mean by "responsibility".

You can oblige parents to pay for their child's upbringing (though not if you set up the CSA, apparently) but you cannot oblige them to provide a loving, caring environment. That simply can't be faked. Either you love and care for your kids or you don't.

That being said, the BBC article didn't actually say anything about compulsion. It merely talked about opprobrium, which is very different (though I'll admit I'm not clear what Dave meant by "...our criminal justice system must do all it can to impart essential relationship and life skills.")

[Bishop Hill]

Tom

I agree. The word "compel" is used in the final paragraph of the BBC article though. But I'm not sure it makes Cameron an authoritarian, for the reasons I gave above.