Why I'm a Lib Dem
May. 4th, 2005 06:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shinytoasterIn 2001 I voted Labour. I have absolutely no regrets about this - simply because we had absolutely no idea then that what was about to happen was about to happen. I voted for them as a taxpayer because I felt their record on the economy was superb. I voted as a disabled person because the Tories want to privatise the NHS by the back door, and make me pay for the care I may need in the future. I voted as a gay man because they backed my right to not be discriminated against. Yes, I voted Labour in 2001 and it doesn't bother me.
But I can't vote for them again.
Looking back at Iraq, I can see that I was wrong on a number of points. Whatever I may have said about the situation in the past, I now believe I would have supported the war with a resolution.
However, the mess we now see in Iraq is entirely of our own making, based on false intelligence and base lies. If Tony Blair, who I used to like, would go that step further: apologise; admit his errors; his lies - because he is a liar, that's the one thing the Conservatives have got right - then my respect for him would skyrocket.
But he won't and so I won't vote.
So it's eight years - though it doesn't seem it - since we got rid of the Conservatives, and eight years on their back is still broken. They have elected a succession of buffoons and idiots as leaders. Their support base is a joke. They are a joke; Michael Howard looks and behaves like Dracula. Boris Johnson is a bumbling arse in a blond fright wig. Oliver Letwin is actually mythical. The Conservatives are a comedy party; they exist for our amusement.
I do not believe they will be back in power for a long time.
Good thing, I say.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have been 'sailing the river of progressive politics' as the Guardian put it, for some time, and so I see this election as a choice between those two parties, and I will be voting Liberal Democrat tomorrow.
I don't believe for one second the Liberal Democrats will win. I doubt Charles Kennedy's ability to form a cohesive government. I doubt their policies - some of them are very strange. They are stretched too thinly to cover the ground between centrism and the left.
In realistic circumstances, it would take a swing of such magnitude to displace Labour in favour of the Liberal Democrats, that it cannot happen. It is impossible - it would require the Conservatives to be wiped out in every seat they hold. So why vote for them?
I see this election as another step towards a viable three party state. I think it's important that we move away from a two party system. I want to strengthen the Liberal Democrat hand in this election so that they are in a position to make a serious challenge for Downing Street in the future - it may not be in 2010 or 2015 or even 2020, but I genuinely believe we will see a Liberal government in our lifetimes. I think they will make gains tomorrow - possibly substantial ones. I certainly hope they do.
Therefore, tomorrow, if you can feel you can safely vote against Labour without risking Conservative gains, then I urge you to back the Liberal Democrats. If you do not feel you can make that choice, then the other alternative is to spoil your paper. Please consider doing this.
But I can't vote for them again.
Looking back at Iraq, I can see that I was wrong on a number of points. Whatever I may have said about the situation in the past, I now believe I would have supported the war with a resolution.
However, the mess we now see in Iraq is entirely of our own making, based on false intelligence and base lies. If Tony Blair, who I used to like, would go that step further: apologise; admit his errors; his lies - because he is a liar, that's the one thing the Conservatives have got right - then my respect for him would skyrocket.
But he won't and so I won't vote.
So it's eight years - though it doesn't seem it - since we got rid of the Conservatives, and eight years on their back is still broken. They have elected a succession of buffoons and idiots as leaders. Their support base is a joke. They are a joke; Michael Howard looks and behaves like Dracula. Boris Johnson is a bumbling arse in a blond fright wig. Oliver Letwin is actually mythical. The Conservatives are a comedy party; they exist for our amusement.
I do not believe they will be back in power for a long time.
Good thing, I say.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have been 'sailing the river of progressive politics' as the Guardian put it, for some time, and so I see this election as a choice between those two parties, and I will be voting Liberal Democrat tomorrow.
I don't believe for one second the Liberal Democrats will win. I doubt Charles Kennedy's ability to form a cohesive government. I doubt their policies - some of them are very strange. They are stretched too thinly to cover the ground between centrism and the left.
In realistic circumstances, it would take a swing of such magnitude to displace Labour in favour of the Liberal Democrats, that it cannot happen. It is impossible - it would require the Conservatives to be wiped out in every seat they hold. So why vote for them?
I see this election as another step towards a viable three party state. I think it's important that we move away from a two party system. I want to strengthen the Liberal Democrat hand in this election so that they are in a position to make a serious challenge for Downing Street in the future - it may not be in 2010 or 2015 or even 2020, but I genuinely believe we will see a Liberal government in our lifetimes. I think they will make gains tomorrow - possibly substantial ones. I certainly hope they do.
Therefore, tomorrow, if you can feel you can safely vote against Labour without risking Conservative gains, then I urge you to back the Liberal Democrats. If you do not feel you can make that choice, then the other alternative is to spoil your paper. Please consider doing this.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-08 12:06 pm (UTC)Happy Birthday! Many happy returns!
From Down Under - best wishes for a belated happy birthday and a great year to follow.
Megan and EQ