I would not know how much Margaret Thatcher catalysed the right in the USA but she clearly had a symbiotic relationship.
What I do not see coming out in the analyses was that neo-liberalism was an attack on the social wage and protective labour practices in the USA and in the UK which allowed their imperialisms to overcome the challenge of the rising economies, and re-establish their dominance.
Will Hutton is as anti US hegemonism as the conventions of polite debate in the Observer and Guardian allow. His article is designed to undermine the Bush Blair axis at this moment.
His book "The World We're In" (2002) - I think before Sept 11 starts its concluding chapter
"The world finds itself at a critical juncture. The US has emerged as the globe's hyperpower, but in thrall to an extreme brand of conservatism that offers very particular solutions across the gamut of economic, social and security issues." It goes on:
"There can be only one answer to this question - and it is not the one conservative America will give. In the decades ahead the world must develop global institutions to discharge the multiplicity of global responsibilities. The United Nations, portrayed by conservative America as a nest of pink liberals and do-gooders, is rather an institutional arrangement upon which the globe must build. It needs to be strengthen, and its process made accountable and democratised - and here the EU is the inspiration and trail blazer. The techniques it is developing can be transposed to the UN; and it must offer unstinting support for the elder body. As a multinational institution itself it must support global multilateralism."
It ends:-
"Without reform of campaign finance, the US might as well concede that its democracy is a hollow shell in which the public conversation and political discourse are auctioned to the rich. It American liberals can win these arguments at home, they can begin to argue for the US's re-engagement, a recognition of interdependence and an understanding that security in the West means offering hope and opportunity to the destitute of the world. Until then, Europe stands alone. The lesson for the twenty-first century is that the fight for security, prosperity and justice can no longer be won on any one nation's ground. It is international. It requires agreement on values. It is predicated on an acknowledgement of interdependence. It requires a political narrative. It requires courage and leadership. America, for the moment, has disqualified itself from this task. It falls to Europe to undertake it. This is a challenge and a responsibility that cannot be evaded. The building of Europe has become the precondition for securing prosperity, peace and justice not only in Europe, but across the globe. We must succeed."
Hutton is in a sense a multi-lateral imperialist reformer.
Chris Burford London
----- Original Message ----- From: Carl Remick To: will.hutton at observer.co.uk Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2003 11:11 AM Subject: US conservatism not understood in UK?
Dear Mr. Hutton,
Re your: "The rise and rise of American conservatism is neither well documented nor well understood in Britain."
A bit disingenuous, no? As I recall, you -- or rather Margaret Thatcher -- exported to the US the lunatic conservatism that now bedevils the world. The UK has been an initiator and enabler, aider and abettor, these many years, energetically contributing to America's reactionary devolution.
As chaplain of the New Imperialism, the unctuous Rt. Rev. Tony Blair has carried Britain's corruptive influence to a new level. From Kosovo to Iraq, Blair has merely given a higher moral gloss to the primitive policies Thatcher first made respectable and contributed plausibility to Bush's inchoate grunts and gestures.
All in all, for over a generation the UK has been obsessed with trying to breathe new life into the imperialistic tradition and made every effort to hijack the US military so Brits could to continue to swagger around as global cops just a mite longer.
Yes, the US is an evil menace these days, and a lot of the credit for that belongs to the UK.
Yours,
Carl Remick Huntington, New York USA