UK Politics

[sun-star]

Originally Posted by Draken

Right observation, wrong conclusion, for my money. Half wrong anyway. With an absolute lack of ideology, people cared about things that in most democracies would be fringe issues - gay marriages, biomedical ethics and, God help them, religious rectitude. Let's not kid ourselves that Kerry was anything other than a candidate who was pretty much as acceptable as Bush to the big money sponsors without which an American election campaign cannot be mounted.

I don't quite understand. Do you mean they replaced political ideology with religious ideology? Why do you think people got so involved if there wasn't really a choice?

After spending most of the 20th century as the 'middle way', the Lib Dems find themselves as the radical force in British politics - and look terrified at the prospect.

Radical? In what way? I just read their pre-election manifesto, and the only policies which can be distinguished from Labour (or even the Conservatives) are:
1) They're against the war in Iraq - it's not clear what long-term principle this represents.
2) They'd abolish tuition fees and council tax - both good policies, but hardly radical.
3) Raise (some) pensions. I think this is what Americans call a no-brainer...
4) Environmental protection - fair enough.

That's four unique policies out of their ten "top priorities", "ten reasons to vote Liberal Democrat". They're not bad policies, but calling them radical just shows how timid and unimaginative British politics has become.

I don't mind that too much - veering between dogmatic socialism and dogmatic conservatism hasn't done us that much good in the past in my opinion. Dogmatic ANYTHING is crap because dogma is an excuse for not thinking. But dogmatism hasn't been replaced by rationalism - just by an overwhelming desire to top polls and get elected, no matter what it takes.

I agree. There's a difference between ideology and conviction, and I'd rather politicians had the second. But at the moment, either would be better than vote-chasing populism.