Dinner Party Problem

Part three; systemic measures & psychological solutions

Many critics to the right would simply dismiss the Dinner Party Problem by arguing that the Conservatives were (and are, but I use the past tense for convenience) not truly a conservative party. They would argue that appeals to right-wing voters were a form of deception carried out by the Eternal Centrists in positions of power; a necessary but insincerely offered red meat quotient designed to keep the right-wing base satisfied whilst they pursued the liberal policies they actually believed in. Similarly, some would dismiss it as a symptom of political cowardice; the people who held power were simply unwilling to Do The Necessary.

But both dismissals share a common flaw: they refuse to engage with the practical realities of elite formation, or how the influence and incentives of office & power shape behaviour, and instead demand simple unbending ideological commitment. John Palmer’s comments on Shakespeare’s Brutus are bought to mind; ‘A fastidious contempt of the shameful means necessary to achieve his ends is the constant mark of the political idealist.’

Principled denial soon turns into practical blindness. What we are dealing with is not just bad faith or individual weakness but a structural problem in elite formation, which if we are to rebuild and future-proof right-wing governance requires consideration - and mitigation.