The Conservative Parties

Douthat compares the Tories and the GOP. He likes the specifics in Cameron's platform:

[T]he British state is more centralized than ours and reaches into more walks of life, which arguably makes it easier, politically and intellectually, for conservative politicians to find places to prune and ways to devolve authority. (Although a decade’s worth of losing Tory leaders might dispute that point.) And of course neither the ideas cited above, nor the admirable Tory emphasis on family-friendly tax policy, may end up going anywhere. As Alex Massie notes, in a smart post on localism and Cameron, “it’s easy to make good speeches and interesting promises in opposition,” but “it remains to be seen whether Tory talk on these matters is matched by real action should they form the next government.”

Still, after a year and change of the post-Bush G.O.P., the idea of a right-of-center party that just offers “good speeches and interesting promises” sounds pretty appealing to me.