A Good Time To Be A Liberal Democrat

And last night someone phoned me oout of the blue and asked how they could be a candidate!

What an earth gives you the idea it’s a good time to be a Lib/Dem? Apart from V Cable who isn’t preaching rocket science on the economy (it’s just labour are clueless)i can’t think of one thing you stand for? Your in favor of more immigration and the surrender of British sovereignty to the EU…sorry love the website, party is a joke!

Geoff, I joined the Liberal Party in ’79 or ’80 , I think – now that was after a really bad time for the party when Jeremy Thorpe was on trial for conspiracy to murder. Then it was really pretty obvious what we stood for. We were against Labour’s failing Trade Union dominated politics but didn’t believe in the ‘market forces are always right’ policies of Mrs Thatcher.

Well, 25 years years later that’s still pretty much the same – we don’t want a huge amount of state-owned industries but we know that sometimes market forces get things wrong and the state has to be there to intervene for the benefit of the public.

But that economic viewpoint is really just part of a liberal, democratic attitude (with small l and d) that says that you can’t leave the individual to fend alone against the powerful forces of the world. So we are against the erosion of people’s liberty and privacy , we don’t think you should be treated unfairly because of your race or gender or sexuality and the Lib Dem party supports the war in Afghanistan because of the threat from the Taliban, who neatly epitomise the absolute opposite of being a liberal Democrat. We believe that power should be devolved down where possible from Westminster (and Brussels) down to local councils and communities.

The party has a whole raft of policies on it’s website – trouble is they don’t get into the press enough.

As for immigration, here’s a couple of recent examples from the national Lib Dem website:

Responding to Linda Costelloe-Baker’s comments that nearly 300,000 short-term visas are wrongly approved each year, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said: “Labour’s increasingly bullish comments about immigration control are completely undermined by revelations like this.”

“Exit checks must be reintroduced immediately so we know how many people, whether their visas are dodgy or not, are leaving when they are supposed to.”

and

Jacqui Smith must get a grip on the SIA – Huhne

As for Europe, this is the atart of the motion that was passed at the last Lib Dem Conference :

Conference believes that:
I. The EU has achieved a great deal in the last 50 years and continues to do much to increase prosperity
and promote freedom and democracy.
II. The EU needs to do more to put its own house in order to focus better on its core objectives and
realise its full potential.
III. The EU provides the best available platform from which to respond to the challenges and exploit the
opportunities of globalisation: the UK is far more secure within the EU.
IV. Labour and the Conservatives have taken a half-hearted approach to the UK’s relationship with
Europe, refusing to provide political leadership and undermining the UK’s standing and influence
within the EU…..

Lib Dems (or at least the ones I meet) don’t want to perpetually hand more and more power to Brussels – we also believe in devolving power – which is why, for example a lot of Lib Dems are campaigning to keep Britains opt-out regarding the working time directive. Mind you , that has caused disagreements with other Lib Dems who believe that people shoudl be protected from excessive hours

And by the way , all the above is my own personal view, not an official party line!

Geoff. The bottom line is that you say you love this website, probably because you can see how hard the Liberal Democrats are working at LOCAL level in the community you live in and you like that. That’s the most important factor. Locally, if you support the hardest working party, you CAN (hopefully) make a difference. With respect, your National argument doesn’t stack up – There are far more Character faults and serious examples of various foul plays at the top levels in the other parties. There are many Sovereignty and immigration issues with them too.

Trevor, thanks for your comments obviously all three parties have skeletons in the cupboard, However yours just all sort of came at once! Labour are re-employing theirs and the Tories sleaze skeletons also remain. I don’t agree that my National arguments don’t stack up, the things i mentioned effect our country Nationally and at a local level if you don’t understand that the Lib/dems really are in trouble! As for the website I was referring to its interaction, but nice try with the working hard locally bit! I don’t think any of the main parties feel the anger from grass roots about the EU Immigration etc because your all hamstrung by political correctness…their are none so blind who cannot see! sorry until you find the radical animal in yourselves you will find you slice of the cake nibbled away by other emerging parties.

Chris, thanks for the offer mines a large one…lol!