We fought the British over a 3 percent tea tax. We might as well bring the British back

–William Temple of Brunswick, Ga., perhaps marginally better known as the fellow appearing at tea-party events dressed in his trademark three-cornered hat.

Indeed, William, why don’t we? The Brits are at least having a truth-commission of sorts that aims to get to the bottom of (but not prosecute those involved in) their complicity in the lie-laden run-up to the Iraq folly. Likewise, the Brits enjoy (and broadly support) their National Health Service, which, I might add, routinely outperforms American healthcare in any outcome metric you might reasonably choose to look at and costs half as much (as a share of GDP) to operate. Conservatives in Britain strongly support NHS. Wouldn’t think of privatizing it. Furthermore and finally, the Brits actually have a functional parliamentary system, as opposed to our functionally parliamentary system in which nothing can get done. In scary, scary Britain, when your party wins an election, you get to set the policy and set about governing. Imagine that. If the public broadly disapproves of your outcomes and prefers the platform of the shadow cabinet, then, hey what do you know, those folks get elected and start governing. Lather, rinse, repeat. It’s what we in the Big City call “representative democracy.”

So count me with the Tea Partiers. Let’s ask Big Daddy Britain if we can just come back and all is forgiven.