I don’t quite know what to make of the launch of the UK Libertarian Party. It seems a little - how can I put this nicely ? - low-key.
It’s not that I don’t like what they’re saying. I do. It presses the right buttons for me: too much legislation; no trust placed by government in individuals; politicians serving their own interests; indoctrination of our children.
I’m not the only one this kind of agenda is likely to resonate with, either. Many people are completely sick of what’s on offer from the political classes in this country and would love to see a change (although the claim that this explains why 17 million didn’t vote at the last General Election is a little far-fetched !)
There is unquestionably an audience out there (how big, I’m not quite sure) waiting to be captivated by an organisation prepared to take on the “accepted” political thinking of the day, to challenge wholesale the roll of the State in our lives and to put forward a set of arguments for fewer laws, more freedom, and less interference from those whom we elect. The trouble is, for the audience to be captivated, their attention has to be captured in the first place. And as launches go, this is pretty subdued.
I have to say I was hoping for a bit more than the odd web page. I was hoping for some signs of leadership, some names and profiles, the semblance of a party structure, perhaps a draft constitution, and, most importantly of all, signs of a campaigning strategy. Instead, we’ve got some very high-level philosophy and an assurance that there’s more to come. If you delve a bit, you can come across an invitation to get involved in policy-making in the party forum (which I’ve tried to subscribe to but the mail it claims to have sent me appears to have been blocked by our over-authoritarian mail sweeper tool). So this is less a launch than a call-for-papers. Well, OK, now I know that I can wait a bit longer, and perhaps even contribute at some point.
I hope there is more to come, because it would be so good to have a proper debate about the role of the State in this country. The political elite need to be held to account and they need to be challenged in a new and different way. They need to be shown that they cannot go on treating us like kids. They need to see us as a threat, not as one collective servant of their own ambitions.
It’s not that I don’t like what they’re saying. I do. It presses the right buttons for me: too much legislation; no trust placed by government in individuals; politicians serving their own interests; indoctrination of our children.
I’m not the only one this kind of agenda is likely to resonate with, either. Many people are completely sick of what’s on offer from the political classes in this country and would love to see a change (although the claim that this explains why 17 million didn’t vote at the last General Election is a little far-fetched !)
There is unquestionably an audience out there (how big, I’m not quite sure) waiting to be captivated by an organisation prepared to take on the “accepted” political thinking of the day, to challenge wholesale the roll of the State in our lives and to put forward a set of arguments for fewer laws, more freedom, and less interference from those whom we elect. The trouble is, for the audience to be captivated, their attention has to be captured in the first place. And as launches go, this is pretty subdued.
I have to say I was hoping for a bit more than the odd web page. I was hoping for some signs of leadership, some names and profiles, the semblance of a party structure, perhaps a draft constitution, and, most importantly of all, signs of a campaigning strategy. Instead, we’ve got some very high-level philosophy and an assurance that there’s more to come. If you delve a bit, you can come across an invitation to get involved in policy-making in the party forum (which I’ve tried to subscribe to but the mail it claims to have sent me appears to have been blocked by our over-authoritarian mail sweeper tool). So this is less a launch than a call-for-papers. Well, OK, now I know that I can wait a bit longer, and perhaps even contribute at some point.
I hope there is more to come, because it would be so good to have a proper debate about the role of the State in this country. The political elite need to be held to account and they need to be challenged in a new and different way. They need to be shown that they cannot go on treating us like kids. They need to see us as a threat, not as one collective servant of their own ambitions.
2 comments:
Shame you can't get in the forum due to registration hiccups, but you shouldn't be looking at it from work anyway ;-)
Register via your home email (or your blogger/gmail account). You will then be able to access it from your workplace according to Corporate Policy. "A friend" tells me that it works fine there!
Get yourself in there, it is worth the effort. You have to say a little about yourself and ask for access to the member forums but it is a formality. There are lot of anonybloggers in there, but not Iain Dale.
(Nice word verification- fyxzfukp)
I've just come across your post - it seems some over-zealous spam filters stopped our registration mails getting through, so I disabled this feature. Your account is active and I'd like to invite you to join in the discussions on the forum... http://www.lpuk.org/forum
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