Michael Gove and Barrack Obama: liberal progressives

One of the most depressing articles I have read in a paper recently was Michael Gove’s in the Telegraph on Sat 8 November [link], expressing ideological solidarity with Obama. Depressing because the conservatives are meant to be the opposition to the liberal consensus. Gove is in charge of the education remit and the conservatives’ plans on vouchers for schools is one of their few reasons they have given so far to support them; the alarm bells started ringing when he talked about McCain fitting in with the moder conservative party because of e.g., liberal immigration policy and being an unabashed neo-conservative. Ironic that a policy of violating the sovereignty of others is seen as consistent with failing to defend your own; how bringing democracy to others means holding the views of your own people in contempt; immigration has been the top concern of British people in polls, with 70% saying there is too much; but enough, I digress …

The wider point to consider is how readily Neo-Conservatism sits with left-leaning liberalism; though Neo-Conservatism is often seen as an ideology of the right, do not forget that many conservatives opposed the war; and much of the left supported it. Think of Neil Ferguson and his half-baked arguments in “Colossus” (history, supposedly); Tony Blair and his doctrine of liberal interventionism, Christopher Hitchens; Thomas Friedman, with his flat-earth liberal optimism about the effects of globalisation and free trade. Be aware that David Frum is arguing that the Republicans should move away, Cameron-like, from social conservatism.

“Neo-conservatism” is really a progressive philosophy, version of internationalism whose proponents, unlike the traditional left, find the rest of the world lacking in its capacity to organise the path of progress to liberal utopia, in which they and their left-wing opponents have placed their faith. They therefore seek to reform the world by extraordinary means. The stated objectives of the neo-cons are much the same as those of the liberal-left: having gained control of the west, they seek to export their internationalist ideology to overthrow traditional structures of problem societies and create a new modern order based on rational virtues. This is the same project ultimately that was pursued by the Jacobins of the French Revolution. Remember that “Liberty” (as they conceived it) was part of the revolutionary agenda – it wasn’t just Equality and Fraternity.