On 7th November 2003, upon Michael Howard's election to leadership of the Conservative Party I blogged on progressive politics. The posting from my other blog Ironies, linked here, seems worth repeating in full, so that today's voters may be fully aware of what is meant when Cameron states that the Conservative Party is "Progressive".
Friday, November 07, 2003
"Multilateralism, Transnational Progessivism, the Aqui Communitaire and Howard's Tories."
The French have chosen to label the nature of their foreign policy differences Multilateralism versus Unilateralism. In countering what they see as the threat of the latter (America making all the world?s big decisions on its own) they propose in particular a bi-polar rather than uni-polar world (in reality an EU superstate acting as a counterweight to American power, and
influence). An important tool in achieving this aim, the EU being a military pygmy alongside the US, is the United Nations.
Iraq threw these conflicting views to the front of the world stage. Following the Kuwait invasion the UN had imposed various sanctions, no-fly zones etc., upon Iraq. The burden of implementation fell mainly upon the US aided by Britain. As the years passed the suspicion formed in my mind that other major countries, while paying lip service to the UN mandated restraints, sought maximum commercial advantage from their non-involvement in the enforcement process and benefit from the latent oil wealth of Saddam?s oppressed nation.
(This may or may not have been a factor in what followed).
After 9/11 and the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan, attention turned to Iraq where the UN arms inspectors had been withdrawn and Saddam Hussein was in growing breach of many UN resolutions. At this point the limits of multilateralism were reached. This is most easily illustrated by looking at the concept from an American viewpoint.
Transnational Progressivism was the expression coined by Jonn Fonte in a paper 'The Ideological War within the West' published a year before 9/11 and is essential reading. A summary can be read from this link:
'Transnational Progressivism'
The full version in pdf can be read from this other link:
'Liberal Democracy vs. Transnational Progressivism: The Future of the Ideological Civil War Within the West'
Those without the time to visit either link can follow the reasoning of this posting with this very brief extract:
The idea of transnationalism as a major conceptual tool. Transnationalism is the next stage of multicultural ideology. Like multiculturalism, transnationalism is a concept that provides elites with both an empirical tool (a plausible analysis of what is) and an ideological framework (a vision of what should be). Transnational advocates argue that globalization requires some form of "global governance" because they believe that the nation-state and the idea of national citizenship are ill suited to deal with the global problems of the future.
AS Fonte then went on to point out in his paper, the EU is the "STRONGHOLD OF TRANSNATIONAL PROGRESSIVISM Its governmental structure is post-democratic. Power in the EU principally resides in the European Commission (EC) and to a lesser extent the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The EC, the EU's executive body, initiates legislative action, implements common policy, and controls a large bureaucracy.... It is unelected and, for the most part, unaccountable."
The lable chosen by the EU to describe this concept is not of course that coined by Fonte, but rather the concept described as 'Aqui Communitaire'. This is generally taken to mean: "whatever power is once obtained by the EU from the previously sovereign nation states it will never relinquish". As such it has now been proposed in the present IGC, as the principal guiding aim of the Constitutional Treaty absorbing and supplementing the earlier
concept of 'ever closer union'. It presumably incorporates all the concepts of 'Transnational Progressivism' as detailed in Fonte's paper.
Iraq and the UN Security Council was where the clash between liberal democracy and this newly defined concept really first occurred and where the fatalflaws of joint action are now becoming visible. The skirmishing over the ICC was a warning sign.
France and Germany had approved the various UN resolutions that gradually brought the Iraq situation to a head. They concurred with the various warnings issued by the Security Council, and were aware of the troop build-up by the USA and Britain around Iraq. Their own Generals would have advised them that such deployment necessitated a resolution of the matter, if by military means before the onset of the summer heat of 2003.
The gradual increasing of pressure on Saddam Hussein therefore had a fixed time limit. Of which it later seemed France and Germany chose to feign ignorance. Just as today the logical endpoint of their Multilateralist policy for Iraq continues to call for a UN solution, when the reality is clear to all that this organisation has neither the wherewithal, ability or desire to have anything to do with matters that require making hard choices in potentially extremely hostile environments. The UN has turned and fled following heavy and tragic casualties, unhappily many brought about by inefficiencies within its own organisation.
Yesterday in Washington President Bush spoke to the National Endowment for Democracy, and made a landmark speech setting out hugely ambitious aims for democracy across the Middle East. Having earlier signed an aid package from the USA for eighty seven and a half billion dollars in the form of grants for Iraq he shamed the Europeans in both the loftiness of America's thinking and the depths of America's pockets.
Transnational Progressivism and the cul de sac of the Aqui Communitaire stand shamed and naked. The extent of the failure of the European Union's economic experiment with the Euro, was simultaneously stunningly spelt out in the first press conference of Jean-Claude Trichet the shoehorned-in new French President of the ECB, whose early ousting of Wim Duisenberg epitomises the workings of the 'aqui communitaire' concept in practice.
Meantime Britain has been caught in the middle. Or it had been up until midday. From that moment, with the appointment of Michael Howard as leader of the Conservative opposition party it appeared Transnational Progressivism has been embraced by the last of the three main political parties within the country.
Michael Howard had earlier made much play of his intention of leading from the centre. He had indeed openly courted those with whom he had earlier been seen to have huge and fundamental disagreements over the most important policy matter of this age, namely Britain?s relationship with the anti-nation state, non-democratic and 'transnational progressivist' EU.
The BBC reported the new Tory leader to have said the following:
"We must rediscover the habit of thinking the best of each other. We must rediscover the virtues of mutual support and friendship.
Let us, in this party that vaunts its belief in personal responsibility, each resolve that we will, all of us, assume a personal responsibility for the success of our endeavour.
No bystanders. No snipers from the sidelines. Every one of us a fully engaged participant in the great battle of hearts and minds and ideas.
Because we have an extraordinary common thread that binds us all together.
We all want to see a Conservative government elected. We are all crew on what at its best is the most superb campaigning vessel politics has ever known."
Translated of course , this means, we must forget our deeply held ideological beliefs, give up all thought of proposing to do what we know is best and right for the country and merely work together in order to gain power.
Exactly what Blair did in driving New Labour to Government with no purpose other than power itself, with the ruination of the nation as its result.
Another fitting analogy would be Chamberlain with Hitler and Mussolini. Suppressing his ideological instincts to buy something that appeared more comfortable or desirable however temporary.
The extraordinary thing about the timing of this change within the Conservative Party, is that it comes at a moment when the tide is beginning to turn. Schroeder this week seemed to step back from his support of the EU defence commitment. The folly of recent French domestic policies and questioning of Foreign policy errors are all the talk of Paris.
The consensus within Europe that Howard and the Tories are belatedly rushing to embrace is cracking. 'Transnational Progressivism' and the 'Aqui Communitaire' can be beaten, and indeed the first signs it might be in retreat are only now appearing. In Britain, however, we now have no political party to take the battle forward.







You want to know why we are slipping in the polls. Watch Jeff Randall interview Cameron on sky about ten minutes ago. A complete f*****g disaster. He defended cutting defence but increasing aid, was not at all convincing on immigration and completely lied about Europe. It was a complete car crash. Randall was excellent though and is an example to other journalists of the type of issues that the voters really want answers on. How can the conservative party stand by while Cameron is pushing these policies. Maybe it is about time we took a lead from our cousins in Australia and got rid of Cameron like they got rid of Turnbull.