There was a moving article on the BBC news yesterday evening about the way that English people may have to sell their house to pay for their care but if you live in Scotland then house sales are not a factor. It is an issue that is costly to the government and it is certainly contentious, but this one issue is a microcosm of the whole political agenda.
If you support the Tory views in general then you will support the idea of paying a few thousand pounds for social care. The problem with this is it doesn't help the poor. It is fantastic for those who have the odd £8000 to spare as they won't have to pay anything if they have to go into a care home. It isn't so good if you don't have a few thousand pounds to hand.
Maybe it is time to change from writing serious blogs to looking at soundbites and talking tough, as I feel the hand of destiny on my shoulder. There is only one poll that counts today as we put our cross in the box. In short, vote for the Liberal Democrats.
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Irrespective of what senior Liberal Democrat politicians think about their potential allegiance with the Conservatives there are other issues that people inside and outside the party should be aware of. The two most important are 1) the impact this collaboration will have on the Lib Dem voter and 2) the impact it will have on the UK voter in general. On both counts things are definitely not looking good. Already the idea of a ‘third force’ of British politics has suffered over the years. The fact that once the Liberals and the SDP has to unite to form the Liberal Democratic alliance is a testament to this. By gambling is this way with the Conservative party the work of the past 30 years could be undone. Much of the damage has already been done. Where does this ‘sympathy’ with Dave Cameron comes from? Is it the upbringings? Is it the public school background? Is it that they are the same age? Is it that they are inexperienced? From a distance they both look like two people playing at being politicians. The excessively fast way in which things developed since May 6 points to an affinity that was already there. Whatever it was, Clegg should not have jumped. There was no hurry. The issue of an alliance didn’t even have to be pushed. Now, to backtrack from this situation will be impossible without looking foolish and losing even more votes. In my family, we voted Lib Dems. We did so because it is a principled party. But those principles are today hugely under strain. To see Paddy Ashdown arriving at the BBC together and Gove and then verbally cosying up to each other is the shape of things to come. We will not be able to criticize the Conservative Party as we should do. The opposition will be left to Labour. And the party that wins votes and elections are generally in opposition. There are huge, fundamental differences between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives parties, except perhaps, the upbringing of the two leaders and a general dislike of the working class. This alliance has the potential of being the beginning of the end of the Lib Dem as a political party in the UK. With this alliance now with the Conservatives the penny will have dropped for a lot of people. When the end comes, remember where all started. This idea of political reform ‘given’ by the other two parties is just wishful thinking. You have to fight for it yourself with the electorate. I am not suggesting that the Lib Dems should have joined Gordon Brown’s Labour Party, far from it. But I do think that the Lib Dems should’ve kept their distance and their identity FAR AWAY from BOTH parties. This idea of fighting for “the National Interest” doesn’t wash. We are not under a WWII situation. The electorate knows this. The damage has already been done. I am not sure how you are going to get out of this one. Good luck now.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure where you're getting any of this from. I don't know of any expressions of sympathy for David Cameron, except in the context of the death of his eldest son last year, where it is surely justified. You talk about "the excessively fast way in which things developed since May 6", but I don't see amy evidence for this. Before May 6th the talk was of the Queen not wanting to see anyone early on the 7th. It was anticipated that even with a hung parliament someone might want to try to form a government that early. Instead here we are a few days later with no sign of an agreement and no sign of any rush.
ReplyDeleteAs of this writing, Nick Clegg hasn't jumped. The issue of an alliance may or may not be being pushed - I don't know.
I'm glad that you see the Lib Dems as a principled party. You raise some valid points, but I don't see where you get the "general dislike of the working class" from. Liberal Democrats politics is not class-based, and we welcome members of all classes and backgrounds. The damage has not "already been done", and Nick Clegg is an intelligent person who is aware of what his base is saying. I suggest that we wait a while and see what develops, rather than worrying unduly about things that haven't happened and may never happen.