Getting old

OK, I know I'm getting old when my 19 year old daughter tells me she is going 'clubbing' at her university Student Union. [Yes CLUBBING! I know, I know,  but we are all young once & I have every faith in my daughter that she can enjoy herself, without getting into any kind of trouble, beside which I was a bit of a rocker in my time] . I know I'm getting even more old, when she tells me it is a 'retro '80's night', which is called "Reagan's ", named after the POTUS in the 1980's. 

Now my formative years where the 1980s, so to me they are still quite contemporary & full of nostalgia. A time of certainties, challenge and change. I had confidence back then in both Mrs Thatcher and Mr Reagan. I agreed with their policies and - in the case of Mrs Thatcher- voted for their way. Both were extremely dedicated to their country, knew they had to combat the Soviet Union, brought about its demise & fought wars to protect national interests. At home, at the cost of great convulsions, they brought about much needed reform and change in the domestic political and economic landscape. Except now I look at the state of both Conservative parties in American and Britain.

I am full of disillusionment and disappointment. Where is the vision thing? Where is the leadership? Thatcher might have been Reagan's political soul mate, but as recently released records show, she was NO pushover when it came to dealing with Britain's interests and America. It seems that Reagan admired her for that and as a consequence was prepared to listen to her more. Today we have Cameron, who gets all but ignored by the White House, except when they want us to join with them in lobbing a few missiles etc at Syria. Domestically Cameron has no vision, except for hurting the poor and being unable to understand that cutting welfare without any other support, policy or help to work, is going to lead to a poverty crisis and food banks.In the meantime, his voter base is being depleted  with the gap is being filled by UKIP; I am somewhat unsure about them. They'll have my vote on Thursday, but it is conditional. I don't know if I could bring myself to vote for them in 2015.

The current Conservative Party  is not  a conservative vision. 

Meanwhile the GOP in America has gone from Conservatism to anarchy, having been more or less taken over by the 'tea party'. Hence a budget shutdown of the government over Obamacare. True one can critique Obamacare on merit. But the tactics were stupid, the tea party is nothing other than a noisy, bullying fraction, who threatens to deselect loyal Conservative candidates over such issues as Obama care, gay marriage, budget cuts & anything else this pseudo cult doesn't like;  it does this via claims to be 'libertarian' and  therefore supports practical unlimited gun ownership, wants to repeal 'socialist' Obamacare, but wants to dictate what goes on in people's personal lives.  Contradictory or what? 

The current GOP is not a conservative vision.

Can we  please have a new  Reagan or a Thatcher on both sides of the Atlantic, along with a new vision, policies & ideas for the 21st Century conservative ?