simon silverdollar said:how is it naive?
a consensus can be, and has been, built on certain policies ( the minimum wage, the end of thatcherite/nozickian moral arguments against taxation to help the vulnerable-which is why tory arguments now focus on 'waste' in public services-, and overt racism against british ethnic minorities is now beyond the pale for mainstream parties, as is homophobia). why think that this consensus cannot be extended to become more progressive, however painfully slow this process might be?
i don't think that it cannot be extended, just that it won't necessarily be. the naive bit would be trusting it to happen. i guess it does seem kind of inevitable though, however long it takes. which is good.