Just as we are seeing the demise of the influence of the American so-called Tea Party, Great Britain is seeing the beginnings of the success of the UK Independence Party.

What began as a movement against England’s participation in the EU, has recently shown it’s resilience and growth potential in Great Britain. Recent elections surprised everyone, as the UK Independence Party had great success. The UKIP won 140 council seats and averaged around 25% of the votes in the wards in which their candidates stood for election, in what we would refer to as midterm elections. If this trend continues the Conservative Party led by PM David Cameron will find itself in trouble when the next major election arrives.

UKIP, leader, Nigel Farage hailed the results as a “game changer.”

History shows us that when austerity takes control as opposed to having a growth policy, one can expect , a return to the days of the locusts. Churchill used that expression when during the early days of the Depression, Baldwin and MacDonald were more interested in balancing the budget than they were in satisfying people’s needs.

Hard times breed discontent! When good paying jobs are scarce, citizens find ways to blame others for their problems.  

The UKIP has a platform eerily similar to America’s Tea Party. Some of the high points are as follows:

On Immigration, they sound rather xenophobic as they seek a 5 year freeze on immigration. If all else fails blame your problems on immigrants and people of color.

On taxes they seek a flat tax, which is a great financial boon to the wealthy, and a greater burden on the middle class and the poor. They sound like the far right in America as they promise that people can keep more of their own money if only things were made more simple in their efforts to reform the British tax code. Using selfishness as a cynical campaign ploy, this is bound to gain popularity as a policy stance for people who are more about the individual than the welfare of the whole, the community.

In the arena of education, the UKIP encourages a voucher system. This plan smacks of a system that will help increase an educational divide. England has a fine educational system. Don’t mess with success. A voucher system increases the class divide, and creates a situation where students from a lower socio-economic level do less well.

The UKIP would increase defence spending at a time when America and her ally England should be more careful on where money is spent. Money would be better spent on making England more competitive on the job front. We have had enough of war for the moment. When England and the United States have a genuine national interest in maintaining peace through strength should be the only time that our national treasure should be spent on increasing military spending. We have both spent too much in human treasure and in our expenditures of financial treasure.

They have also joined the ranks of climate change deniers. It is time to prepare for the human costs of climate change. It is not the time to put ones head in the sand and pretend that extreme weather conditions are not the new norm.

Progress is not the mantra of the UKIP. They would cut public expenditures by the billions of dollars and hunker down in a libertarian mold, thinking and caring more about the individual than about what is best for the community.

If you wish to grow the economy you must spend money to do so. It does not work the other way around, Cutting and cutting more from the budget only creates a greater downward thrust into the world of austerity where we all wind up having less and enjoying our lives less. The only people who will benefit from the world of the UKIP are the people with the most to gain, financially and with an increase in the power of the oligarchs.

Improving ones infrastructure can only result in more jobs with better wages. The UKIP is against the expansion of Heathrow and they oppose Speed 2. If you loved Margaret Thatcher you will love the UKIP.

America has seen the pitfalls of electing members of the Tea Party. It is my hope that England does not fall into the trap and appeal of the fiction of a libertarian world that the UKIP promises.

England has a proud political tradition. Let us hope that they do not copy America by making the mistake of electing members of a political party whose only interest is to divide people and to foster greater wealth for those who are among the most fortunate among us.