Thursday 25 February 2010

God help me

I have decided, I believe, who I am going to vote for in the coming elections. And it truly is something I'm going to do with gritted teeth and no small amount of personal anguish.

I'm going to vote for the Labour Party.

Not only am I going to vote for the Labour Party, but I urge you to vote for the Labour Party too.*

Now, you may well believe that I've either lost my senses or I've been kidnapped by Peter Mandelson who is currently writing this for me.

But neither of these is true.

I have come to the conclusion that there is little point in voting for a fringe party, because British people are still far too tribal to elect loads of little parties into parliament (although that would be great, too!)

The reality of this is that either the Tories or Labour are going to wind up running the show and contrary to what you might expect, I'd like it to be Labour that wins. Well, not really, what I'd like is for them to be burned at the stake, their ashes pulverized and then scattered to the four winds. But think about this: no matter who wins the election, we're going to be crucified for the next decade at least. The state is going to have to be decimated, spending programs will have to be slashed and the economy is going to be crushed under taxes and shit growth.

When the Major government won the '92 election, Major said that the only thing that would keep Britain afloat was the ERM. When we were unceremoniously ejected, his credibility and that of the Tory Party was bludgeoned into nothingness, something that took more than a decade for the Tories to even think about getting back.

Imagine what havoc would be wreaked upon Labour's credibility if they had to be the party of cuts, the party that actually inherited the consequences of their economic mismanagement? It would take a generation for them to recover. The faction fighting and internecine struggles would prevent them from doing any actual governing as well.

But even better, imagine what the consequences would be for the Tories if they were rejected at the polls again. The buttered new potato would certainly get the hoof, and the centrist, vapid, statist, social democratic wing of the Tory party would be rightly silenced. Iain Duncan Smith and his fucking one nation social justice would finally be consigned to the dustbin of history and who knows, the Tories might actually implode altogether.

And from the ruins of this morass of big government, quango-loving goat-felchers may well arise a different political system, one which recognises that British people have to potential to be something other than vacuous sheep. A political system that has learned the lesson that you cannot have everybody living at the expense of someone else. A political system that has learned that government is the problem, not the solution.

So once again, I ask you to vote Labour, but failing that: anyone but Dave.

*Unless there's an LPUK candidate in your area. Obviously.

58 comments:

Constantly Furious said...

This is a wind-up, right?

Or do you seriously want five more years of the worst PM, and the most corrupt, dishonest party ever to gain power?

Just so that, by continuing to fuck everything up, they look bad?

They look pretty fucking bad to me already, and I'm not prepared to give them another 5 years to continue fucking us all over, just for the privilege of laughing at them and pointing out how crap they are.

Would you burn your house down rather than re-decorate?

Fidel Cuntstruck said...

Ohhhh!


Ohhhhhh! My head!!

Where did this creeping apathy come from Mr Clown?

Surely the very reason that the two main parties have held sway for so many decades is that the sheeple have belived that "fringe" parties weren't worth voting for as they'd never get in anyway?

Surely the best outcome for the next election would be a much more divided house? with none of the major parties having anything like the number of seats they currently hold? That would lessen the power of the whips - which should make things harder for those who seek to railroad stupid legislation into being?

I do see your argument, but I'm afraid that even having electrodes attached to my testicles at the ballot box wouldn't persuade me to vote NuLabia back in.

RantinRab said...

You know, I think you might be on to something.

David Cameron = political placebo

Angry Exile said...

If there's no LPUK candidate I was going to spoil my ballot paper, but since I vote by proxy and my proxy will absolutely refuse to use the word 'cunt' in anything I ask to be written on it voting Labour in the hope that both parties will implode over the next five years has something going for it. Mind you, my proxy is a member of the DING fan club and might prefer writing 'cunts' all over the ballot paper, the exit survey and the polling station car park than put an X by the Labour candidate.

Timdog said...

Sorry Obo, I like your theory but in practice Labour cannot look any worse than they do now. If Labour get in now, it's 50 years of Labour government, they will fall over themselves to pander to every single special interest out there (even more so than now), so no matter how utterly, royally fucked the country is, they'll still get in. There will be an exodus of everyone mobile and vaguely talented, and the UK will fall into a morass of hell.

Anonymous said...

Pretty much what I concluded. Since we have a choice of 2 1/2 Socialist parties, why not vote for the one that caused the mess?

With any luck BluLabour may eventually become a Conservative party again.

JohnW

Uncle Marvo said...

Only one problem with your hypothesis, Obo.

If these scumbags get in again they will see it not as "Oh, shit, hoist by our own petards" but as a VICTORY.

They are already unbearable. Imagine how bad it would be were they actually elected.

Mitch said...

The only problem with that idea is having to endure the snot munching hob goblins victory speech and the satellite tracking system we would all be forced to wear.

Balanced against this would be the sheer delight of watching Brown have to dismantle everything he has built under the eyes of the IMF.
tough call.

Peter Risdon said...

Yup. I came to the same conclusion recently. Whoever wins the next election makes little difference with Dave at the helm of the Tories. A loss would mean Labour has to cut, and Dave would be replaced, maybe even with someone better.

Triffid said...

Absolutely wrong on every principal. Anyone but Gordo - do you actually think he has done well for the country ? You simply can't reward such abject failure.

if you think there is no point voting for a "fringe" party then why on earth would you still say "*Unless there's an LPUK candidate in your area. Obviously." ?

You don't like tory - fine. Vote liberal, vote green - frankly I don't care who you vote for. But voting for someone like Brown means you get the blame for his actions if the odious c*nt wins.

That's you. Personally.

Guthrum said...

I think you need to reread/read the Road To Serfdom by Hayek.

If Labour win, it will reveal that no matter how much they lie,start foreign adventures, subvert our freedoms that they will get back in, they will see themselves as the natural party of Government as much as the corrupt Conservatives did in the nineties.

At that stage, the Banks will stay nationalised, and we will have a state directed economy, financed by Peter's friends from the East.

Anybody but Gordon/David/Clegg, a hanging Parliament is what is required with a very British Revolution.

J said...

I came to the same conclusion when I was watching an episode of the New Statesman where the Tories won an election that they didn't really want to win because it meant that they would have to clear up all their own mess and get the "credit" for it.

If elections and politics are going to be strategic then voting needs to be too. The only way to get rid of Labour now and forever is to vote them back in and watch them writhe around in their own filth and the only way that politicians are going to do anything is if there is a major crisis. So, bring it on!

Anonymous said...

poress
I think you have a point. Why shouldn't the fuckers who caused the problem be the ones to suffer the consequences of sorting them out?

If Dave gets in then he will have to be the bad guy and that gives Labour the moral high ground as they seek to protect the vunerable pets that they have created. It would be nice to see them have to turn on their own and sit and watch the backlash across the country.
Roll on general Election, it's gonna be fun.

Furor Teutonicus said...

I have come to the conclusion that there is little point in voting for a fringe party, because British people are still far too tribal to elect loads of little parties into parliament.

Which is virtualy EXACTLY the same as I said on Faustys place a week or so ago, and got ripped apart for it.

Fringe parties are for playing around with in local election politics and NOT for something as important as how the whole country will be "lead" (by the nose probably), and how it is seen in the world for the next five years, at LEAST.

Only by showing their metal at local level can they then be trusted to give National level a go.

As to voting "Labour", I totaly agree.

If dipshit Cameron wins, they will see it as a message that the more communist they become, the more votes they will get. They need that idea slapping RIGHT out of them.

John Pickworth said...

"Imagine what havoc would be wreaked upon Labour's credibility if they had to be the party of cuts, the party that actually inherited the consequences of their economic mismanagement?"

That would be a world first wouldn't it?

I like your thinking Mr Clown, I've been saying the same and I know others are coming around to this idea too.

Lets be honest here, whomever gets in is going to fuck us over... I say we take a leaf from Bush's Pop-up War Book and get our fucking in first.

John Demetriou said...

I agree with your 'Hitchens logic' on the matter. I like what you say. It makes sense. It has great potential.

But I would never forgive myself. So UKIP it is.

I would add here, though, that the Tories need a good 6 or so thou to overturn Labour in my constituency. And they are cocky about getting it.

But, if loads of Tory voters and right wingers (like me) go UKIP, it would split the vote, allow Labour a good chance of keeping the seat, and therefore the goal you describe has as much chance of becoming reality. Minus the pain of people having to vote Labour.

Plus, there would be less mandate for Labour. Which would be helpful. We don't want to give the BBC any excuses to paint Labour as the popular party. Which they would do if apathy isn't properly registered.

That said, I can see why you've mad your choice.

Jeff Wood said...

You have been reading Peter Hitchens under the blanket again, haven't you?

All the same, you both could be right.

Rather than vote Lib/Lab/Con, plus where I live the SNP, I may either get drunk or take the dog for a decent walk up a nearby hill.

Over 3,000 feet, you cannot see, or even imagine, the nonsense down on the plains.

Mark Wadsworth said...

By the same logic, I am voting UKIP. Whether that lets in the Tories by the back door or Labour by the back door is of no immediate concern to me.

Chuckles said...

Indeed. I think it was Heinlein who suggested in one of his books that the person getting the least votes should be elected.
This would ensure that they would start off intensely unpopular, everyone would be watching them like a hawk, and they wouldn't be able to pull any fast ones.

Surreptitious Evil said...

"Now, you may well believe that I've either lost my senses or I've been kidnapped by Peter Mandelson who is currently writing this for me.

But neither of these is true.
"

Okay, then, you've stopped taking the medication.

Much as I would like to see Labour erased from history in true Stalinist fashion, you have to be sure that there is no situation, political or economic, so bad that being managed by the Rt Hon G Brown and his cronies cannot make it much, much worse.

And up with that, we cannot put.

Jackart said...

I rather like IDSs work. If implemented it will remove most of the perverse incentives in the welfare state.

I don't understand this hatred of Cameron on the Libertarian right. It seems to me that you can't see through the rhetoric necessary to get elected to actually find out.

1. School Choice: enough reason alone to vote conservative.
2. A radical localising agenda including directly elected police chiefs. Enough reason alone to vote conservative
3. an as yet undefined great repeal bill, to include the repeal of the hunting ban
4. no ID cards or database.
5. a more liberal stance on DNA
6. Defence of Trial By Jury.
7. IDS's social policy work may be an aspiration at this stage, but elements of it are making it into policy and will involve the greatest shake-up of personal taxation since the war.

That's off the top of my head, without looking

Sure they're not Libertarians. Hence the name, Conservative Party. Not Libertarian Party. But they're much, much better than Labour.

You fucking "Blue Labour" cunts are doing the wrecker, Brown's work and you're too fucking stupid and blinkered to see it.

Tim Almond said...

"I have come to the conclusion that there is little point in voting for a fringe party, because British people are still far too tribal to elect loads of little parties into parliament (although that would be great, too!)"

Please don't, Obo.

I don't know how you feel about UKIP, but they're basically much more of a "small government" party than the current Conservatives.

By voting for Labour, you don't just help get rid of the Hot Buttered Potato. You also signal that it was because he wasn't socialist enough. If you vote UKIP, you're saying that you want smaller government.

Also, the only way to get minor parties up is by voting for them. A lot of people will vote tactically and so will choose whoever is 2nd or for a party that looks like it might have a chance. If you help push the 4th towards the 2nd place then they become the 2nd biggest tribe and stand a chance of taking the seat.

If you can't vote UKIP, at least vote LD. They might be wet lettuces, but they at least want PR which is more likely to allow minor parties to break the stranglehold on politics by the 2 main parties.

The other option is to look at the candidate outside or party. I might consider voting Conservative if I lived in the neighbouring constituency. Local candidate who's lived here and been involved in local politics for years, has his own small business, so more likely to make decisions for the constituency than the parachuted-in candidates around here.

I've been saying for a while that this is the best election in years when you shouldn't vote tactically because you might as well take the risk and take a decision for the longer term.

SaltedSlug said...

Ah, you too?

See you in hell.

Obnoxio The Clown said...

"if you think there is no point voting for a "fringe" party then why on earth would you still say "*Unless there's an LPUK candidate in your area. Obviously." ?"

Because I'm a libertarian. The problem in voting for most fringe parties or independents is that they're all pretty muddle-headed. The only party I do support is LPUK and they have a coherent agenda I can endorse.

I would be just as happy with a massive rag bag of independents and fringe parties in parliament causing chaos, but in reality, it's not going to happen. DING is going to sweep all before him and we're going to be faced with his useless and inadequate policies fucking things up even more. Labour will lick their wounds and re-organise and in five years' time, we'll be worse off because DING is no fucking different to Labour and Labour will be back with fresh bile and someone who has really just been pushing their agenda forward in their absence.

I'm not saying "anyone but the Tories", hell, if DING was a genuine Tory I'd be delighted to have him have a go. But in reality, DING is just a Blair clone, carrying on the same mendacious statist agenda. No: this is specifically "anyone but DING".

Sperm Lewis said...

The plan:

1. Go out the day before the election.

2. Get pissed.

3. Find some twat, any twat, wearing the insignia of the enemy class, namely a fluorescent jacket.

4. Knock him to the ground.

5. Perform simulated homosexual rape.

6. Get arrested.

Or vote Plaid.

Tim Almond said...

Jackart,

1. School Choice: enough reason alone to vote conservative.

They've forbidden profits being made on it, which means that poor people are going to have to hope that some educational charities help them. I'm not saying it's not going to be a help, but it won't make much difference.

2. A radical localising agenda including directly elected police chiefs. Enough reason alone to vote conservative

Whose targets and priorities will still be set by central government.

If Cameron's such a localist, why is he imposing candidate lists?

3. an as yet undefined great repeal bill, to include the repeal of the hunting ban

Yeah. "as yet undefined". This is backroom talk "don't worry, Dave isn't really a blue socialist. Once he gets into power, he'll be a proper Thatcherite. Just trust us and vote".

4. no ID cards or database.

True. But that's not a big enough reason for me.

5. a more liberal stance on DNA

True.

6. Defence of Trial By Jury.

I'd trust the Tories on social liberty about as far as I could throw them.

7. IDS's social policy work may be an aspiration at this stage, but elements of it are making it into policy and will involve the greatest shake-up of personal taxation since the war.

The CSJ has a pretty good document about the reason people stay on benefits, but there's no solutions in it, nor is there anything from the Conservatives about dealing with it (based on the discussions about unemployment on Newsnight last night).

john miller said...

It may be that the reason I'm banned from the Coffee House is because I suggested this a few months ago.

There's no real risk of any further serious damage, because the IMF would be called in within months of a Labour victory.

As old as I am I really, really don't want to go through this cyclic thing where old fashioned Tories resurrect the economy and a subsequent Labour government fucks it up.

Tories voting Labour seems a win-win to me.

JO said...

What.

BTS said...

An interesting idea, although I have come across it before, but fundamentally flawed. The problem being is that they won't necessarily have to clear up their own mess. Everything will just continue to get worse.

And don't forget that powers, once granted by government to themselves, are never returned. How many more freedoms can we lose and how many more restrictions and regulations put in place?

I'd say that there's still plenty to go.

We've all been dying to get these fucks out for years already so why wait for 5 more?

I don't think I'd last that long and I'm still not able to buy alcohol without ID.

Vote for someone other than the main three, get involved in a campaign or even stand for election yourselves people but please don't ram Brown's cock up my arse for another 5 years..

BTS said...

By the by, what's with the comment moderation?

Have you been getting cyber-bullied Obo..?

John Pickworth said...

The more I think about it, the more convinced I become that Britain's future is best served by trashing the election.

The politicians have rigged the game... its time we stopped playing it. If you must play then pervert the outcome. Resist.

Toss the dead loss Brown back into the fire that he himself has set. Allow the result to demonstrate that it wasn't Labour which won but an opposition that lost. An opposition that has proven nothing more than vapor and gases.

Vladimir said...

Hear, hear, Obo. I support this too.

Will I feel dirty for voting Labour/Libdim? No, not really. I'll be doing my bit. Any vote against the "Conservatives" is good, but in order to count, votes really need to be directed at whoever else is most likely to win.

And I don't believe any of this shit about Cameron being a closet Thatcherite. By this point, there would be many more votes if he "came out". And yet he doesn't do this. He's never been any sort of opposition to Labour, even though opposing them is his job. Draw your own conclusions from that.

Anonymous said...

Don't matter what we vote for, they'll be doing the counting.

Being in Peckham, it's a sure thing that Labour or Lib Dems will split the vote. Immigrant block-vote for the former while the student block-vote for the latter.

We'll have a hung Parliament soon enough though. Too many to please so some areas are bound to be more pissed off than others.

I'm surprised no-one of sound mind and good standing is having a go as an independent on an anti-corruption ticket?

Are there no honest ex-coppers lawyers or such out there willing to press the matters we hold dear?


For that stance would get my vote. Black, muslim or even a lesbian blind midget, so long as they promised to do their utmost on taking the Houses of Swine apart, I would throw my (meagre) weight behind them.

We haven't even got a Baldrick ffs so need all the help we can get.

Dick Puddlecote said...

I'd prefer to throw my weight entirely behind the SNP and their referendum on independence.

Without the Jocks routinely voting Labour, the Tories would have a better chance of representing the English and might not be so scared of being, well, conservative.

Let's get all William Wallace and hope the Scottish cut themselves away from the Union.

cootes said...

Your position has a logic to it. However, prior to 1945 Labour was a fringe party. The SNP, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Fein were all fringe parties, but which have power of sorts in all 3 regions where they stand for election.

I think you should take a stand on principles. If you believe in what UKIP or BNP or the Libertarian Alliance advocate then vote for them. It takes about 3 generations for a new party to make any headway in the UK. If you agree with a party's manifesto vote for it regardless of the pointlessness of so doing. You may have lost but you will remain an honest man true to his principles. You can hold your head high.

BTW, most political parties nowadays have low memberships. If you want a party to take a particular view on issues then join that party. A few hundred people in every constituency pick their candidate. And in many wards the party members pick the MP or councillor because the voters vote for whomever the party puts up.

Participate. We are not China. We can freely join a party -even a governing one.

Me? I have put out leaflets for the party I support, and I give them money. All parties need that. And I ALWAYS vote. In fact 2 years ago, after 28 years of voting I finally helped elect 2 councillors and an MSP.

Never surrender. Thats what they want.

Obnoxio The Clown said...

@BTS: yea, Gordon McSnot is a regular reader. :o)

cuntface said...

i'm gonna smuggle some of my shit in to the polling booth, then smear it on the ballot paper. this is what you should be doing, and encouraging others too, not encourage them to vote labour.

ps you are a fucking cunt.

Obnoxio The Clown said...

Or you could just have a dump in the voting booth, cuntface?

Personally, I'd like to have a dump on Cherie Booth.

BTS said...

Second only to Armitage Shanks in the polls that woman..

cuntface said...

lol... taking a dump is not a bad idea, but risky. i'm gonna stick with 'smearing' those cunts names, literally. please don't vote labour, do something obnoxious. it'll be five years before you get another go.

ps if you ever get to shit on cherie booth, or any of them, remember to film it for this blog. A 'face smear' may be easier to do without getting arrested, but still rewarding. good luck.

Anonymous said...

If they are re-elected do you honestly believe this lot will do anything to clear up their mess?

They would see victory as a massive support for what they'll doing now, approval of their current policies, and will carry on down their current route of irrevocably changing Britain.

They are in power for themselves, not for either their electorate or for the country. Watch out for challenges of vote rigging, and look out for very surprising results, especially in areas where many cannot speak English.

Obnoxio The Clown said...

I believe that they'll be cap in hand to the IMF within six months. Or the bond markets will implode. There is no way they can sustain their current policies.

OldSlaughter said...

Took you long enough. I have been working on this assumption myself for some time.

John Pickworth said...

BTS said...

"An interesting idea... but fundamentally flawed. The problem being is that they won't necessarily have to clear up their own mess. Everything will just continue to get worse."

You're right. Like a bad puppy, they probably won't clear up their own mess. If however, they're left in the kitchen with the big steaming pile of poo its pretty obvious who is going to get the blame when the owner gets home. And that's the point, we want them getting the blame. Be rather a shame to switch pups on the day of reckoning and see the wrong one have their noses rubbed in it later?

And yes, things will get worse... I'm banking on it. This is precisely the medicine the country needs to shake it from its stupor.

Remember, we're in this mess largely because Labour wrapped themselves in the Tory's clothes and the nation swallowed it. If anyone thinks its all going to be magically put right by the Tory's pulling off the same trick then they're sadly asking to share a cell with Bubber (the result will be the same).

Trust me, I'm as keen to see Labour defeated as anyone... but not if you're just going to replace them with clones. All that will do is tell the party's we like this weak wibble leftist style authoritarian nonsense! Give it a few years and the LibDems will be described as ultra-right extremists.

Its got to stop.

Its time someone stopped Labour making an escape just as they bugger up the country. This time they go down with the rest of us.

Its also time the Conservatives were taught a lesson too. We don't want more of the same, we've had enough of it. If thats all that is on offer then we simply won't vote for you.

Noose-Maker said...

I fully agree, Obo.
We have to hit rock bottom now before we can rebuild. Things have gone too far for the usual, periodic makeover Lab-Con power swap con trick to reverse this protracted decline.
Another few years of Brown and this country will be totally fucked and forced to look reality in the face and see Leftism for what it is.
It ain't gonna be pretty; there will be rivers of blood. But we shall rise from the ashes reborn and unhindered, because anyone who by then is still spouting socialist principles will be trust up and burned at the stake. And if I am there I'll make bloody certain they are.

Juno Moneta said...

i think you may have a point, and i have been having similar thoughts. The Union Scum are going to fist call me dave without a drop of lube. they are just waiting, smirking into the crystal glass of Chardonay and waiting to royal fuck us all.

just maybe if brown gets back in we will see the cunt hanging from a lampost.

BUMHAIR said...

Have you thought that after another five years of these totalitarian statist bastards you may not be allowed to vote? Although i can see your logic on this one i think it is a massive risk for any right minded thinker to take, they certainly will not clear up their own mess they will just create more,i for one find that a very frightening thought, russian roulette springs to mind.

BTS said...

John - perfectly good comments mate but again we come back to the question of how long do we allow a party (any party) to royally fuck us over?

The thing is that if Labour get in, no matter how it happens (if only one person in the entire country votes and it's for them, they will call it a resounding victory), they will take it as confirmation to get on and do as they please.

And don't forget, no matter how bad things get for us, the whole lot of them still get their nice wage packets, expenses, pension contributions, subsidised food and drink in Westminster and so on. When shit happens, it happens to the rest of us.

To actually punish the main parties I think we need to do it now by voting for smaller parties and independents or even spoiling one's ballot, but voter turnout seems to decrease with every election and as each generation sees their parents disinterest so it gets worse. And so the chances of change are diminished.

(It could be argued that the lower the turnout, the greater value is placed on each vote, but it's the diehards who always make sure to vote so it doesn't actually work to our advantage in the end)

With all that's been done in parliament over recent years, now is the time to make a change.

Or at least try.

Please people - I can't take it any more. And I'm already on a bottle of vodka a day..

Furor Teutonicus said...

Angry Exile said...

If there's no LPUK candidate I was going to spoil my ballot paper,


Oh, that will REALLY teach the cunts hey???

What the FUCK use is destroying the ballot paper?

You think for one fucking SECOND, that the M.Ps all sit weeping at night over spoiled ballot papers?

As to voting Captain Queeg "Brown" in again giving him and hois non performing parliamentary apes a green light to carry on as normal.

THAT, as I see it, is not the point.

Another 5 years of these dip shits MAY just be enough to tip the Brits over the edge and get rid of the bastards alá Mussolini.

I.e, lamp post and length of strong rope.

FlatEric said...

You might have argued the same thing in 1979. And you'd have been wrong then, too.

MTG said...

I will be voting Labour and cursing because it is the least damaging option.

Obnoxio The Clown said...

Flat Eric: you're going to have to do better than that! Don't just tell me I'm wrong, tell me why I'm wrong!

Angry Exile said...

"You think for one fucking SECOND, that the M.Ps all sit weeping at night over spoiled ballot papers?"

FT, of course not. There are so many safe seats that a majority of MPs probably don't give the faintest shit if votes go to the opposition, let alone someone half a world away leaving a mouthful of abuse on the ballot paper. It would have as much effect as voting LibLabCon would, and since I vote in a very safe Tory seat that's as close to fuck all as makes no difference (which means I'm not yet convinced by Obo's idea even though I think it's an interesting one). But I can't quite bring myself to not vote at all, especially as from this distance I have to go to a little extra effort to keep my right vote, so the last resort is to vent some of the rage out of my system and on to the ballot paper. It won't be the first time and as before the only change I actually expect is a temporary reduction in my blood pressure and the desire to start blocking up fire exits.

Breaker said...

You're late to the party

Jonny said...

Here's why you're wrong.

I've been in marketing and advertising long enough to know that people are incredibly resistant to buying brands that they don't know.

Apply that aspect of human nature to politics and you suddenly understand that the only way to make the country go libertarian is to take the existing centre right brand - ie the Conservatives - and convert it fully to the cause of freedom rather than authoritarianism.

This the the Hannan/Carswell approach and it's one with which I heartily concur.

LPUK, on the other hand, simply sucks libertarians out of the only non-socialist party that can win a national election.

If your objective is a country run on libertarian principles, fight to change the Tories from within. If you'd rather destroy the fabric of the country - including, probably, my business and yours - in the Leninist hope that the subsequent revolution might be a libertarian one... well, be careful what you wish for.

Anonymous said...

You're a fucking genius; you must be because I've come to the same conclusion. I'm not going to vote Labour because then I'll bear responsibility for what follows, but in all seriousness I want them to win on seats and lose the popular vote (as predicted by YouGov). it's a DREAM outcome! Hung parliament, reform irresistible, Brown starts killing his own ministers with his bare hands. Nothing would ever be the same again.

Tom said...

I came to the same decision yesterday too.

The longer term interests of classical liberalism are best served by a fourth election defeat for Conservatives, especially if it consigns the Cameroons to the dustbin, and hopefully takes the entire party, with all its toxic baggage, down with it.

While the Labour MP in my constituency (Glenda Jackson) is a mad socialist, she is opposed to foreign military adventures, which is a point in her favour. In addition, she hardly bothers to vote or speak in the Commons these days, and is almost never seen in the constituency, another point in her favour.

The Tory is merely a social democrat with a blue rosette. He's young and ambitious, and will meekly toe the Cameroon line, if the Tories win.

On balance, an ambitious, energetic social democrat is much more dangerous than a do-nothing, exhausted socialist.

Anonymous said...

Oh god you are right. I was thinking the same thing. I ran into two die hard labour haters recently and they had both independently come to the same conclusion. However if Labour get re-elected (with a slim majority) I can't see them lasting 2 years. We will have a currency, then a bond crisis and the IMF will be called in. Their credibility will be destroyed. They will have to butt fuck their own supporters with the imposed cuts. The flip side, that the Tories win and administer the nasty medicine, get no credit for avoiding the crisis and NL get back in in 5 years to continue its totalitatrian policies for a generation. No Thanks.