Austerity-- Here And There: Paul Ryan's Roadmap Wrecking David Cameron's Conservative Party

Failed Austerity warriors Paul Ryan & David Cameron

American voters have, so far, been wise enough to reject Paul Ryan's Austerity vision. Outside the Beltway/Wall Street Axis of Greed, most people seem to think that what works in Ayn Rand's adolescent novels isn't really a roadmap to successful governance. Not only did Ryan's VP nomination help sink the Romney presidential ticket, he came close to losing his own Wisconsin congressional seat-- even falling below the 55% margin that marks an incumbent relatively safe for the next round. First-time candidate, Rob Zerban, who had no help whatsoever from the DCCC, hammered Ryan for his Austerity agenda and held him to 54.5%. Zerban beat him handily in Kenosha and Rock counties (52-46% in each) but perennial GOP election theft headquarters, Waukesha, assigned Ryan an improbable 73% win. Although Romney-Ryan scraped by with a 51.6% win over Obama in the first district, they lost Ryan's home state of Wisconsin with a dismal 46%-- a 7% spread that was the widest of any of the so-called "battleground states."

We've been talking a lot here about how England's Conservative government has implemented much of the Ryan roadmap in a deranged drive for Austerity. Right-wing hucksters David Cameron and George Osborne (see video below) have sold Britain a bill of goods that is leading the country into a disastrous triple-dip recession that Obama has been able to avoid, in large part, by keeping Ryan's and the GOP's demands for more pain and more Austerity for working families at bay. Aside from the fiscal and economic consequences-- and the violence rips in the social fabric because of them-- there are also the political consequences of Austerity staring Cameron in the eyes. A poll by The Guardian this week shows an almost unbridgeable gap opening among voters between Labor, now heavily favored, and Conservatives. Even as Republicans insist that the U.S. embark on the failed Austerity policies that have been catastrophic for Britain-- as well as Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland and every other country that has tried them-- the Conservatives are looking towards an historic defeat in the next round of elections.

Labour has forged a 12-point lead over the Conservatives for the first time in almost a decade, according to a Guardian/ICM poll.

Ed Miliband's party now stands at 41% of the vote, up three points on ICM's January figure, and the Tories are on just 29%, having slipped back four from 33% last month. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have sunk two points, to 13%, whereas [neo-fascist] Ukip has inched up three to 9%-- setting a new record for Nigel Farage's anti-European outfit in the Guardian/ICM series.

...After last month's coalition proposals to shake up childcare provision, the gender breakdown of the vote will further worry the prime minister. Whereas among men Labour enjoys a 7-point lead over the Tories (36%-29%), among women it is 26 points (51%-25%).

But voters, while ready to abandon the Conservatives, are less than willing to embrace Labour with any degree of enthusiasm-- and the reasons should not be lost on Democrats in the U.S. As more and more conservative Democrats in Washington indicate they're willing to conspire with Republicans to balance the budget on the backs of working families, there are indications in the U.K. that just because people recognize how bad the Conservatives are, it doesn't mean they want the same crap in another package.

The sluggish economy will be the decisive battleground of the next election, and after Britain's new dive into a fresh economic contraction during the final quarter of 2012, the opposition might have expected to be winning the blame game. Instead, more voters continue to point the finger at the last Labour government than the current coalition.

The next indication with be a byelection for a scandal-plagued Lib-Dem open Parliamentary seat between a Conservative and a Lib-Dem in Eastleigh. According to the Spectator's James Forsyth, Tory cabinet members were told that they are expected to go to Eastleigh 3 or 4 times between now and February 28th, while a Lib-Dem minister is offering a wager that if Conservative Maria Hutchings wins Eastleigh, she’ll vote with Cameron even less often than the average Lib-Dem backbencher.