[gradjobplease]

(Original post by PendulumBoB)
USA is pretty conservative; less than half believe in evolution.

I considered the US, but they've done some pretty radical stuff over the years. The constitution and declaration of independence was very radical for its time. You then also have to consider both the policies of FDR in the Great Depression and Reagan during the 80s, both of which were pretty radical. I'd say recently they've been turning very conservative indeed. With regard to manufacturing, think of the advent of Fordism.

(Original post by Aphotic Cosmos)
No.

The United States, for one, is definitely more conservative. Religious conservatives totally dominate public discourse in the media and even in congress, being a "liberal" is a political death sentence in many parts of the US, Fox News is the most popular news channel by some way, and Liberals are even a minority within the Democrats. Of course, this depends on the state in question. States like Oregon, Minnesota, Washington, California, NY, and Massacheussetts have a strong liberal tradition.

Japan is fairly conservative, too, and in more ways than one. The opposition centre-left entered into power for the first time ever in Japan at the last Diet elections, after 60 years of a total conservative hegemony. In it's corporate culture there is a very strong tendency to err on the side of caution, especially in the wake of the economic troubles of the early 1990s that are still felt today. There's little public sympathy for making amends to Korea or China for the war crimes of WWII, and indeed a lot of public opposition in the media to such notions.

See above for the US.

For Japan, consider what preceded it's period of relative stability, the fascists of World War 2. I'd also ask you to consider the fairly revolutionary "Just in Time" methods of Toyota. Most of our improvements in manufacturing came from technology improvements only, there were even people opposed to techonology (think of the Luddite Movement). Saying that it's a strong case, maybe it's something to do with being an island nation?

(Original post by Craig_D)
Look at the rapid decline of religion here. The US strikes me as much more conservative, I'd say Ireland possibly is too.

See above for the US. I also wouldn't consider Ireland a major country, or if I did, I would say that for a large portion of its recent history, it has been controlled by the UK.

(Original post by Bubbles*de*Milo)
No, ofc not. In ROI and South Korea, abortions are illegal..!

See above for Ireland. South Korea is also a relatively new country and the North part of Korea turned Communist!

[Craig_D]

(Original post by gradjobplease)

See above for the US. I also wouldn't consider Ireland a major country, or if I did, I would say that for a large portion of its recent history, it has been controlled by the UK.

Fair enough, for personal reasons I estimate it higher than perhaps a native Brit would....

[WharfedaleTiger]

I'd say that we've actually been fairly radical recently-look at the huge change in social attitudes, the free market reveloution and so forth. Gradual, peaceful change doesn't equal no change.

[mirandaandhector]

(Original post by gradjobplease)
2. The rejection in the 1975 EC referendum (technically the conservative thing to do)

By "rejection" what do you mean - there was a YES vote in this referendum - in favour of remaining in the common market on Wilson's labour govt.'s 'renegotiated' terms- although this was admittedly supported by 'big C' Conservatives at the time, it did represent the acceptance of a shift away from the traditional 'small c' conservative view of Britain as an independent world power

[MonkeyNews]

Of course this is a conservative country, how can people deny that?

That doesnt mean everybody votes for the Tories, but the majority of people have conservative views.

The Tories and New Labour have dominated politics for the past 30 years, both were and are conversative in the majority of thier views. Tony Blair was most definetely a Tory in many ways, he created 'New Labour' because he knew that people would not vote for a left-wing socialist Labour party anymore, which is why Labour now are looking at 'Blue Labour' to gain back support from the working class vote they have lost.

Thatcher once said her greatest achievement was Tony Blair and New Labour. Why? Because she forced them to change politically, she forced Labour to drop thier left wing socialist ways, and basically become 'Tory-Lite' and Thatcherite. Thatcher was one of Blairs idols, his entire economic policy followed on from hers, he didnt change a thing. He was a Thatcherite, as most in New Labour were. Socially, yes, Blair and New Labour were more to the left, which was good in some ways (child poverty), but in others such as immigration and welfare, has been a disaster.

Anybody saying we are anything but a conservative country, even with Labours open door mass immigration policy which tried to change that, is completely incorrect.

Just because the Tories didnt get a majority, doesnt change that. Many people dont trust the Tories, but that doesnt make them liberal.

[gradjobplease]

(Original post by mirandaandhector)
By "rejection" what do you mean - there was a YES vote in this referendum - in favour of remaining in the common market on Wilson's labour govt.'s 'renegotiated' terms- although this was admittedly supported by 'big C' Conservatives at the time, it did represent the acceptance of a shift away from the traditional 'small c' conservative view of Britain as an independent world power

I refer to small c conservatism as maintaining the status quo, which the referendum did. Perhaps rejection was the wrong word to use, I'll change it.

[gladders]

I'd question the statement that the US Constitution is at all radical. First of all the Founding Fathers claimed, and believed, that they were fighting for the maintenance of their existing rights as free Englishmen, which they felt were being violated by the British government. They did not believe they were claiming liberties which did not before exist.

Secondly, the US Constitution is in its entirety a thoroughly medieval system, having its inspiration the observations of Sir Edward Coke and the constitution of the English Restoration of the 1660s. The British parliamentary system is, in terms of political ideas and in terms of its chronological emergence, newer.

[biggie]

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/finan.../D9L094PO1.htm
I'll just direct your attention to Rand Paul,a member of the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement in the US. If slashing $500 billion from the federal budget isn't one of the most conservative things you could ever see, then I don't know what is...

[CandyFlipper]

(Original post by CoffeAddict)
Just wondering, what does this expression exactly mean : "small c"?

Edit: I am beeing serious, I do not understand it and would be thankful for some explaination, as english is not my mother tongue and not every idiom is familiar to me.

Wait- does it actually mean what it says?
as in ''small c'' refering to conservative being written with a small c?

A small letter thing e.g. liberal or conservative means thats your actual disposition. Being a Conservative means that you support the Conservative party in the UK. So UKIP people can still call themselves small-c conservatives.

To answer OP: surely America is more conservative than we are? Especially on religion, abortion etc.

[gradjobplease]

(Original post by gladders)
I'd question the statement that the US Constitution is at all radical. First of all the Founding Fathers claimed, and believed, that they were fighting for the maintenance of their existing rights as free Englishmen, which they felt were being violated by the British government. They did not believe they were claiming liberties which did not before exist.

Secondly, the US Constitution is in its entirety a thoroughly medieval system, having its inspiration the observations of Sir Edward Coke and the constitution of the English Restoration of the 1660s. The British parliamentary system is, in terms of political ideas and in terms of its chronological emergence, newer.

I still think for that time, the notion of "all men being created equal" and not having a King/Monarchy was pretty radical for the late 18th century. Even the notion of a federalist repubic.

(Original post by CandyFlipper)
A small letter thing e.g. liberal or conservative means thats your actual disposition. Being a Conservative means that you support the Conservative party in the UK. So UKIP people can still call themselves small-c conservatives.

To answer OP: surely America is more conservative than we are? Especially on religion, abortion etc.

I'd say outside the UK, the US probably has the strongest case for being the most conservative. But as I mentioned things like FDR's New Deal, Reagan and Fordism were all pretty radical, including how the country was formed. I'd be willing to be swayed if a strong case was made by someone.

[Reformed2010]

In the 2010 General election 52% voted for the centre-left (Labour and Liberals Democrats) and 36.1% voted for the centre-right (Conservatives) ignoring the BNP, UKIP, Green and SNP. I would think twice about labelling the British electorate as Conservative let alone one with a small C.

[NR09]

Wouldn't describe Britain as Conservative since the majority of voters are not Consevative

[gladders]

(Original post by gradjobplease)
I still think for that time, the notion of "all men being created equal" and not having a King/Monarchy was pretty radical for the late 18th century. Even the notion of a federalist repubic.

You do have a point yes the abolition of the monarchy was pretty radical and its success inspired the French to give it a try. Federalism was originally a British idea and the Americans adopted it first, but their success enabled the Empire to experiment with it itself.

I'd say outside the UK, the US probably has the strongest case for being the most conservative. But as I mentioned things like FDR's New Deal, Reagan and Fordism were all pretty radical, including how the country was formed. I'd be willing to be swayed if a strong case was made by someone.

True, although they didn't nationalise their health service and more's the pity!

I actually think the British parliamentary system has a greater potential for radical policy than the US presidential system, which encourages vested interests.

[gladders]

(Original post by NR09)
Wouldn't describe Britain as Conservative since the majority of voters are not Consevative

Small 'c'. This could include many Labour and LD voters.

[littleshambles]

I wouldn't even say it's the most conservative major country in Europe, tbh. We underestimate the social conservatism of the continent, particularly older generations, probably mainly because they are more social democratic economically.

(People in this thread also seem to think that big-C Conservative support is a good indicator of small-c conservative attitudes [it's really not])

[NR09]

(Original post by gladders)
Small 'c'. This could include many Labour and LD voters.

aaah. i didn't actually know what "small c" meant

[Silly Goose]

(Original post by gradjobplease)
I'd say outside the UK, the US probably has the strongest case for being the most conservative. But as I mentioned things like FDR's New Deal, Reagan and Fordism were all pretty radical, including how the country was formed. I'd be willing to be swayed if a strong case was made by someone.

The New Deal may have been very radical for its time, but so were the Liberal Reforms that laid the foundations of the UK's welfare state at the beginning of the 20th century. If we look at welfare in general, there are alot of strong arguments for the UK making alot more radical changes than the US over the past 100 years or so. The reaction to Obama's universal healthcare plans weren't exactly positive, for example. I honestly don't know nearly enough about Reagan or Ford to comment on them.

Then there's the obvious stuff. If we look to issues such as capital punishment, homosexuality and abortion (which I personally think are fairly good indicators of 'willingness to change') it's clear that the UK as a whole has been alot quicker and happier to change on these issues.

[gradjobplease]

(Original post by Silly Goose)
The New Deal may have been very radical for its time, but so were the Liberal Reforms that laid the foundations of the UK's welfare state at the beginning of the 20th century. If we look at welfare in general, there are alot of strong arguments for the UK making alot more radical changes than the US over the past 100 years or so. The reaction to Obama's universal healthcare plans weren't exactly positive, for example. I honestly don't know nearly enough about Reagan or Ford to comment on them.

Then there's the obvious stuff. If we look to issues such as capital punishment, homosexuality and abortion (which I personally think are fairly good indicators of 'willingness to change') it's clear that the UK as a whole has been alot quicker and happier to change on these issues.

You know what, you're right, I suspect on social issues, the UK has been a lot more radical than the US.

[faber niger]

No, obviously not. Think about Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or somewhere.

[Samwest1992]

I'd say America was the most conservative by a mile. They are the most patriotic in the world, and when they say they love America, they actually mean it with every ounce of their heart. They are also very religious, and even Democrats are expected to be Christian and to be pro-death penalty. They are also conservative when it comes to being pro-war and hard on law and order. And of course economically they are probably one of the most capitalist countries in the world, hating taxes and of course the swear word... socialism.