Conservative Party

The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that espouses the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. As of 2012 it is the most powerful party in the United Kingdom, being the largest single party in the House of Commons with 303 MPs, the largest party in local government with 9,391 councillors, and the largest British party in the European Parliament with 25 MEPs. It governs in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, with party leader David Cameron as Prime Minister.

Colloquially referred to as the Tory Party or the Tories, the Conservative Party was founded in 1834. The party was one of two dominant parties in the 19th century, along with the Liberal Party. It changed its name to the Conservative and Unionist Party in 1912 after merging with the Liberal Unionist Party, although that name is rarely used and it is generally referred to as simply the Conservative Party.

In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives' main rivals. Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the 20th century, including Winston Churchill (1940–45, 1951–55) and Margaret Thatcher (1979–90). Thatcher's tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation and saw the Conservatives become the most eurosceptic of the three major parties. The party was returned to government in coalition, having failed to win a majority, in 2010 under the more liberal leadership of David Cameron.

In the European Parliament, the Conservatives are the largest British party with 25 MEPs, who sit with the soft eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) parliamentary group, while the party itself is a member of the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR) Europarty. They are the third-largest party in the Scottish Parliament and second-largest in the Welsh Assembly. They were formally allied to the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) as part of the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists arrangement, with the UUP currently participating in the five-party Northern Ireland Executive.

Cajun

Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles (French-speakers from Acadia in what are now the Canadian Maritimes). Today, the Cajuns make up a significant portion of south Louisiana's population, and have exerted an enormous impact on the state's culture.

While Lower Louisiana had been settled by French colonists since the late 18th century, the Cajuns trace their roots to the influx of Acadian settlers after the Great Expulsion from their homeland during the French and Indian War (1754 to 1763). The Acadia region to which modern Cajuns trace their origin consisted largely of what are now Nova Scotia and the other Maritime provinces, plus parts of eastern Quebec and northern Maine. Since their establishment in Louisiana the Cajuns have developed their own dialect, Cajun French, and developed a vibrant culture including folkways, music, and cuisine.

Conservatives in the United States

Conservative thinkers and leaders

These are some important conservatives in America:

Politicians
President John Adams (1735–1826)
Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (1757–1802)
Senator John C. Calhoun (1782–1850)
President Grover Cleveland (1837–1908)
President Teddy Roosevelt (1858–1919)
Senator Robert A. Taft (1889–1953)
Senator Barry Goldwater (1909–1998)
President Ronald Reagan (1911–2004)
Vice-President Dick Cheney (b.1941)
Representative Newt Gingrich (b.1943)
President George W. Bush (b.1946)


Judges
Chief Justice John Jay (1745–1829)
Chief Justice William Rehnquist (1924–2005)
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia (b.1936)
Judge Robert Bork (b.1927)


Economists
Milton Friedman (1912–2006)
Russell Kirk (1918–1994)
Irving Kristol (b.1920)
Alan Greenspan (b.1926)


Writers and intellectuals
Ayn Rand (1905–1982)
William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925–2008)
Robert Nozick (1938–2002)
Pat Buchanan (b.1938)


Media personalities
Rush Limbaugh (b.1951)


Financial supporters
Charles G. Koch (b. 1935)
David H. Koch (b. 1940)


Think tanks
Cato Institute
Heritage Foundation