Cameron-Clegg: Setting Libertarian Hearts Aflutter

After setting out a promising agenda of government cuts and restoration of civil liberties ("a bonfire of unnecessary laws"!), then launching a website where Brits could make yet more suggestions on how to roll back the U.K. Nanny State, the Cameron-Clegg coalition government is moving toward actual implementation.

And how.

One hundred and seventy-seven taxpayer-funded bodies are to be abolished under Coalition plans seen by The Daily Telegraph.

A further 94 are still under threat of being scrapped, four will be privatised and 129 will be merged, according to a Cabinet Office list compiled this week, while 350 other bodies have won a reprieve.

The list discloses for the first time the extent of David Cameron's plans for the "bonfire of the quangos", designed to save the taxpayer billions of pounds. Thousands of jobs will go as part of the reforms…

However, ministers will point to the billions of pounds that are likely to be saved after the number of taxpayer-funded quangos soared under Labour to cost an estimated £65 billion a year and employ more than 100,000 people.

A senior Whitehall source said: "These reforms represent the most significant rolling back of bureaucracy and the state for decades. Our starting point has been that every quango must not only justify its existence but its reliance on public money."

This is the closest thing we libertarians get to porn this side of . . . well . . . actual porn.

Hats off to David Cameron and Nick Clegg. The phrase "left and right setting aside their differences and coming together to get things done" usually forebodes a disastrous expansion of government reach and power. It's almost miraculous to see the two sides embracing—rather than shedding—their limited government tendencies upon assuming power.

Anyone know where I can get a "Daniels-Feingold 2012" bumper sticker?

Comments

[sage]

One hundred and seventy-seven taxpayer-funded bodies are to be abolished under Coalition plans…A further 94 are still under threat of being scrapped, four will be privatised and 129 will be merged

OMG PEOPLE WILL DIE!!! And the living will envy the dead!

[Jerry]

I am deeply suspicious on Cameron-Clegg, especially as they have not offered the Britons a referendum on the Lisbon treaty. Cameron is also accepting the new financial regulatory bodies put down by the European Union.

[Attorney]

I’m for having all financial regulatory bodies put down.

[lol]

let the bodies hit the floor

[Fluffy]

A large group of federal employees lunches picnick-style in the sun.

Enter Fluffy, carrying an axe

FLUFFY
Clegg the bastards!

[Episiarch]

The interesting thing about this is if they succeed, and it is popular, it could be used as an example by candidates here in the US.

[Tonio]

I guess they’re going to have to stop using “but…europe…”

[kinnath]

England is not Europe……

[Episiarch]

Oh, people were using “but…the UK…” plenty too.

[Anonymous Coward]

The English have a fairly low opinion of the “continentals.” Not surprisingly, the feeling is mutual.

[cynical]

Well, if they don’t want it anymore…

[Apogee]

They may be implementing this to gain a competitive edge over the U.S.

Either way, I wouldn’t hold my breath about its assured success influencing anything, due to the inevitable propaganda campaign by the left. If there’s even one person in all of England that will play sympathetically to the idea of reinstating the excesses of government, expect to see that person on every front page and leading every newscast.

Policies like this strike to the very heart of the left’s ability to ‘compete’.

[Azathoth]

So, that ‘great website’, is that the one that started hiding the comments from all the people who wanted the pub smoking ban lifted? Nah, couldn’t be–after all, what libertarian heart would aflutter over something like that?

[sage]

Who called it “great”?

[Azathoth]

Sorry, “remarkable”. I was paraphrasing.

[Ayn_Randian]

Aren’t you the one trying to sell Republicans under the rubric of “take what you can get”? Spare us your hypocrisy, yo.

[Azathoth]

I’m sorry, your comment was pertinent, how?

Suggesting that the presence of the Tea Party within the ranks of the GOP might alter the field is not hypocrisy–nor is pointing out that gridlock is really the best that a libertarian can hope for(and that, in this case, would be achieved by voting TEAM RED).

Perhaps you simply don’t know what hypocrite means?

[Ayn_Randian]

nor is pointing out that gridlock is really the best that a libertarian can hope for(and that, in this case, would be achieved by voting TEAM RED).

I know what it means. You got your panties in a wad over the fact that people were nitpicking your precious Republicans, insisting that they are the best or better of two bad choices. Here we have you nitpicking Clegg and Co.

[Franklin Harris]

Oh, dear. Sir Humphrey is no doubt spinning in his grave.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sir Humphrey Appleby: The government figures will be incomplete!

James Hacker: So?

Sir Humphrey Appleby: They will be a nonsense!

James Hacker: I thought the government figures were always a nonsense.

Bernard Woolley: Yes, but I think Sir Humphrey wants them to be a complete nonsense, Minister.

Fucking comedic gold.

[JW]

So, what’s the catch?

[sage]

You have to use their dental plan.

[Bill]

+10

[Red Bull]

In size and scope, it’s akin to the state of Texas having a libertarian epiphany (complete with funny accents but with way better food). Easier to do on a small scale, but I wish them luck, and yes, it may very well serve as an example to us other English-speaking peoples. If it is successful. And lasting.

[Spencer Smith]

Um,

People don’t have funny accents in Texas. They sound just like everyone else (except when being portrayed on TV).

[Red Bull]

Are yeee-oooh kiddin’ me?

[Spencer Smith]

You must be watching bad acting.

[Red Bull]

To be fair, my sample is from blond, white, Texas Christian beauty pageant contestants. They’re so cute and stupid!

[prolefeed]

Texans don’t have accents if you’re an actual Texan.

And Tex-Mex BBQ in any actual restaurant in Texas rocks. Don’t knock it if all you’ve had is weak-assed “tex-mex” from somewhere else.

[John Thacker]

Texans have accents, just as everyone from everywhere does. Unless you meant the rather simple statement that to an actual Texan, a Texas accent is not an accent but the reference standard.

The people I hate are those from the Midwest or elsewhere that insist that they “don’t have an accent,” even though I can identify their state of origin with ease.

I have an accent, certainly, befitting my NC roots. I distinguish “weather” and “whether,” I distinguish “cot” and “caught.” I do not pronounce “(car)toon” and “tune” the same. However, I only make a slight distinction if at all between “pin” and “pen.” I have a variety of different vocabulary choices and so forth. In many ways the Southern accent is more conservative, in that it preserves features common in older English that have eroded.

My maternal grandfather has a much stronger accent, and it is different from my grandmother’s, which is non-rhotic since she’s more from eastern NC than my grandfather from westeren NC. My father has a tidewater Virginia accent that is not just non-rhotic (but in a different way from in Boston), but with intrusive ‘r’ as well. (Warsh the car, Warshington, etc.)

[Red Bull]

Texans have accents, just as everyone from everywhere does.

Yeah. “Spencer Smith” seems to be a little touchy on the subject. Not that regional accents was the thrust of my original comment, but this is the internet. We get distracted. Pass the ribs.

[Spencer Smith]

+1

[joshua corning]

complete with funny accents but with way better food

Wait did you just say England has way better food then Texas?

Cuz I am pretty sure in the food department the only food in the world worse then England can be found in Russia….and they both vigorously compete for that low title.

[Rudan]

Although Nick Clegg was never really “left” as much as a neo-liberal who aligned with the left in hating the war.

[Legate Damar]

I would expect that all of the health-care horror stories coming out of Britain (documented here, ignored by the broader media) during the Obamacare debate will become very very popular in the NY Times in 2012.

[19th Century Brit]

Bully!

[Brit, circa 1967]

Gear!

[Brit, cira 1982]

Ace!

[Brit, circa 2010]

Inshallah!

[La Guillotine]

taxpayer-funded bodies are to be abolished

Sounds good to me.

[Divinryan]

Gary Johnson 2012.

[Ken Shultz]

I’ll believe it when it happens.

If history repeats itself, we’ll see strikes in the streets–they won’t take this lying down. I’ve seen this all before.

It’ll get nasty first. Hope for the best–God bless ’em. But the announcement, shouldn’t that just separate the wets from the drys? Make the cuts, then they can celebrate.

[Max]

Off topic, but I hope Arthur Alan Wolk sues your asses off.

[Max's Mom]

Max! You know you shouldn’t be in here. Go play with your toys – we grown-ups are having a discussion.

[Warty]

Corporal Clegg had a wooden leg

[gaijin]

I suspect that this British quango (from the list) will have lots to do shortly:

:: Insolvency Practitioners Tribunal

[frog in a pot]

Interestingly even Cameron wouldnt dare think of repealing the NHS.

[Cytotoxic]

That’s because he’s a pussy and the Brits are fools.

[Dyspeptic Curmudgeon]

177 out of 754 is less than 25%. Cameron/Clegg will suffer less overall harassment if they just went for 750 out of 754!

Maybe. Just maybe, the idea is to let the BBC and other marxist shit-holes scream and yell, and then turn on them too.
But Sean Gabb is correct that the best way to deal with this is to castrate the whole herd in one go.
Including the Guardian, by stopping the advertising of gov’t positions in that rag (no new positions to be filled == no ads).
A promise but not a fulfilled one yet.
If only in some other places……

[Mike]

Tell you what…

Why don’t you wake me up when the Brits dismantle the surveillance regime (i.e., the ever-present CCTV cameras), stop reporting children to the police for “racism”, repeal laws banning handgun ownership (for a start) and de-criminalize self-defense (with or without the use of weapons)?

Give me a break! Libertarian hearts “aflutter”? Only someone completely ignorant of the daily life of modern Britons would applaud the saving of a few billion pounds whilst ignoring the soul-crushing regime that rules the formerly “Great” Britain.

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