Via Gregory Djerejian, a speech from David Cameron, the U.K.'s Conservative Party leader:
I also believe that we should try to debate foreign policy in a mature and responsible way. It is not responsible to try and polarise debate through simplistic exercises in political positioning.If you question the approach of the US administration, you're "anti-American".
If you support what the United States is doing, you're "America's poodle".
If you care about civil liberties, you're "soft on terror".
If you back an extension of our security laws, you're "building a police state".
These are not mature contributions to debate. Foreign policy decisions are not black and white, something which the public well understands. We need a sense of balance, judgment and proportion in handling the complex and dangerous challenges of foreign and security policy in the 21st century.
[...]I believe that in the last five years we have suffered from the absence of two crucial qualities which should always condition foreign policy-making. Humility, and patience. These are not warlike words. They are not so glamorous and exciting as the easy sound-bites we have grown used to in recent years. But these sound-bites had the failing of all foreign policy designed to fit into a headline. They were unrealistic and simplistic. They represented a view which sees only light and darkness in the world - and which believes that one can be turned to the other as quickly as flicking a switch. I do not see things that way. I am a liberal conservative, rather than a neo-conservative. Liberal - because I support the aim of spreading freedom and democracy, and support humanitarian intervention. Conservative - because I recognise the complexities of human nature, and am sceptical of grand schemes to remake the world.
A liberal conservative approach to foreign policy today is based on five propositions.
First, that we should understand fully the threat we face.
Second, that democracy cannot quickly be imposed from outside.
Third, that our strategy needs to go far beyond military action.
Fourth, that we need a new multilateralism to tackle the new global challenges we face.
And fifth, that we must strive to act with moral authority.
A true conservative understands the limits of human power. A true conservative is sceptical of our ability to shape and direct the outcome of human history. A true conservative understands that both tactics and strategy in war must be shaped by reality, not utopian dreams. A true conservative understands that the world is not black and white, not good and evil. A true conservative begins with an understanding of where we are, not where we wish we could be.
The UK, it seems, has not lost its conservative voice. Where is that voice here at home?
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