Saturday's Daily Telegraph had an article highlighting the next step in the fledgling British 'tea party' campaign.
From much conversation and no materialisation, it seems the concept of a 'tea party' movement in Britain now has genuine potential momentum due to an alliance between The Freedom Association and The Taxpayers Alliance to propel the revolution forward. These are two groups whose work this blogger has personally often thought upon very positively.
So, what is the agenda of the 'tea party' movement? How would it's aims mirror those of this blog? Isn't it a movement for right wing, hate-fuelled prejudice?
You know, this whole 'left-right' thing really does need a lot more reclaiming as a label by those of us painted as being on the political 'right'.
'Left' and 'right' are incredibly lazy terms and while I cannot see any rush for the mainstream media to embrace the alternatives put forward in Gerald Warner's recent excellent article on the topic, we can at least make sure we detoxify the 'right wing' label.
How? Well firstly, we must ensure that anytime anyone claims that the BNP are a 'right wing extremist' party, we correct them. Anybody who actually looks at the BNP's policies will see that they are actually incredibly 'left' of centre (under traditional definitions). It's a socialist party which strongly believes in State ownership and interventionism.
So, the next thing we need to do if the British 'tea party' gains momentum and is dubbed 'right wing' in the mainstream media is to embrace the label and state proudly: Yes we are!
The lesbian and gay communities did this very well when they learned to embrace the word 'queer' - once used as a derogatory, offensive insult.
Black and Asian communities have also, to varying degrees, 'reclaimed' words that were once used as offensive insults against them.
So it must be with the label 'right wing'. If the lazy media cannot think of a better term to describe an outlook on the way life should be, then we should reclaim the term as a source of celebration.
For me - defined as 'right wing' on the 'Total Politics' blog database - my political outlook is this:
- Small government, limited in scope, operated at a local level
- The principles of common law are superior to any statute
- No man should be the boss of another; a limited number of peace officers should exist to address complaints of loss and harm; that is all
- A man should be entitled to freedom, liberty and privacy in all things
- Man should be able to go about most things without the state seeking to regulate, with threat of punishment, the activity of that freeborn man
- No office, appointed or elected, nor any fancy costume makes anyone more important than anyone else. We are all equal humans.
No huge taxes. No umpteen layers of Government making up jobs for career politicians who have never had a proper job in their lives.
In much of this, though not all, my aims are being espoused by the fledgling British 'tea party' movement.
One of my other beliefs - that land ownership is a bizarre idea that lacks rational legitimacy - is probably unlikely to be represented. But come on... how can you own huge chunks of a planet? Said who..? In the animal kingdom, dominant animals mark territory with a scent, but they can never truly 'own' it...
That aside, I like the idea of and the principles of the British 'tea party' movement.
Look, the traditional left is the politics of intervention, of interfering, of busy-bodying, of social engineering, of sticking a great big oar in where it is not wanted.
The politics of the traditional 'right' is the politics of 'leave us alone!'.
And as someone on the 'right', I'd give the majority of people a damn-sight far more freedom and liberty back than any of their 'left wing' icons.
The 'left' dominated media won't like a British 'tea party' movement. They'll shout 'right wing' at it with a great frequency. But they use the term as an offensive insult towards a group of people they do not like, rather than describing anything that we small 'c' conservative libertarians stand for or represent.
We should use the opportunity to cleanse the term and educate people on what 'left' and 'right' really mean.
What a great combination - a campaign for less Government and interference, an opportunity to educate people beyond what the media misrepresent, and a chance to detoxify and demystify the wholesome values behind the label of 'right wing'.
How appropriate, given the known antiseptic qualities of tea...
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