Mark Steyn on the British elections:
[S]uccessful conservatives don't move towards the 'political centre'. They move the political centre towards them. That's what Thatcher and Reagan both did. Whereas if you move towards the political centre, all you do is move the centre. If Labour is at 1 on the scale and the Tories are at 9, and their focus groups tell them to move to 5, they have ensured that henceforth the centre will be 3, and they'll be fighting entirely on the Left's terms and the Left's issues. . . .Conservatives win when they champion ideas. They win in two ways: sometimes they get elected; but, even if they don't, their sheer creative energy forces an ever more intellectually bankrupt Left to grab whatever right-wing ideas they figure they can slip past their own base. In essence, that's how Tony Blair 'reformed' the Labour party. But contrast the Tories' paralysis in the face of Blair with the Republicans' response to Bill Clinton. Like Mr Blair with New Labour, Mr Clinton sold himself as a New Democrat: he was fiscally responsible and said things like 'the era of big government is over'. And instead of whining, like the Tories, that oh no, he's 'stolen our clothes', the Republicans moved further right — especially on cultural issues — and kept winning. During the 1990s they had weak candidates — Bob Dole — but strong ideas. And it was the strong ideas that won them the House and Senate and state legislatures and governors' mansions, and that by the end of Clinton's presidency left the Democrats with a weaker grip on elected office than at any time since the Twenties. The Dems kept destroying the party's leaders — Newt Gingrich, and the fellow who briefly succeeded him — and it made no difference. Conservative values are the real star. It's like Cats: sure, it's a nice plus if you've got Elaine Paige or Bonnie Langford, but it'll still run for 20 years even if no one's heard of anyone in it.