Clegg, Cameron and Brown(L-R).."I'm NOT going to look at him..mmph!"
In spite of leading the Labour Party to an historic defeat Gordon Brown continues to sit in Number 10 like a large frog on a particularly cushy lily pad, but it's not certain he'll be able to squat there too much longer.
So far, the Liberal Democrat leader Nicholas Clegg seems to be sticking with his oft repeated campaign stance that the one to form a government should be David Cameron and the Conservatives, based on their popular mandate. Or perhaps Clegg has been looking at the polls, where Britons are saying Brown should resign by a two to one margin.Or it might simply be personal chemistry. But so far, a Liberal/ Labour coalition doesn't seem in the cards so far.
That was underlined after a reported conversation between Brown and Clegg that degenerated into a shouting match as soon as Clegg mentioned Brown resigning. While it's subsequently being officially denied by various spokesholes, it's obvious that the two don't get along all that well, even if Labour and the Liberals share a great many ideological positions on the Left
At the same time,Cameron and Clegg seem to be holding reasonable discussions on forming a coalition government, but it remains to be seen if the Liberals can make the step to govern with the Conservatives. A match between the Libs and theTories is comparable to the far Left members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus getting together with the likes of a group of centrist and mildly Left leaning RINO Republicans to form a government.
There's also the issue of electoral reform, a cause dear to the Liberal's hearts but something of a third rail to the Tories. Cameron has attempted to bridge that gap by suggesting a government commission to look at the issue and make suggestions, but it might not be enough for the Liberals, wary as they are anyway at getting into bed with the Conservatives.
If it doesn't happen, I see only three ways for this to end up - either the Libs will propose a deal to Labour predicated on them kicking Brown downstairs and try to rope in the smaller parties ( an unstable coalition at best!), the Conservatives, who have 315 seats counting the 10 Ulster Unionist seats can try and bribe a couple of the smaller fringe parties to get to 326...or Brown will get tossed out eventually by a vote of no confidence and the Brits will get to do the whole thing over.
That will probably happen in a year or so anyway no matter what.
Aren't you glad James Madison had more brains then to saddle America with this sort of insanity?
A group of Centerist and mildly left leaning Republicans actually describes the leadership of the Republican party perfectly. As such, a coalition between them and far left members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus would be very likley, at least temporarily.
ReplyDeleteWhat would eventually cause this coaliton to break down would be the far left caucus members would not work with the left leaning and centerist Republicans for very long. While the left leaning and centerist Republicans still have visions of working constructively with far left Democrats, the far left Democrats have no such visions. These people want power for power's sake. Some of the Republicans may understand this but most seem not to.
If an alliance of these two groups was deemed necessary to thwart Sarah Palin or some true Conservative, then these two groups would form a coalition at least for the purpose of defeating true Conservatives. The thinking would be work together to defeat a common enemy. After all there will be plenty of time to resume the fighting amongst themselves later.
This type of thing seems to have been common throughout history. It happened during WWII when the Soviets and the Americans allied to defeat Nazi Germany. In this instance, Soviet support was mission critical to defeating the Nazis. Even if the Americans had stayed out the Nazis still would have lost, however, Europe might have been much different.
Furthermore, if America or Israel ivades Iran, Shia and Sunni will ally in a coalition against America and Israel. After America is defeated there will be plenty of time for them to resume the fighting among themselves.
In summary, alliances between people and groups of differing views to defeat a common enemy is quite common. As such, center left and centerists Republicans will be happy to ally to defeat true Conservatives. Frankly RINOs are the true Conservatives. The Republican party does not represent them or their interests.
True Conservatives have two basic options. 1.)Form a third party that will represent there interests. When Center left Republicans and far left Democrats finish making a total mess of every thing, true Conservatives will be able to step in to fix things. This is all predicated on the assumption that the country can survive these people. This is a risky proposition in and of itself. 2.)Contiue voting for the "lesser of two evils."