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Libdemologists: Feelgood Quackery via Relentless Misery
This LDV guest post by John Dixon who blogs at a radical writes says it all:Liberals however talk of freedom, individuality, choice and tolerance. People are not numbers, happiness cannot be measured, humans cannot be made happier, better, more moral beings. It is only through them and through their own society that people can make themselves happy, make themselves better and choose their own beliefs. To a liberal there is no set way of life, no right or wrong way, there is only one way of life and that way is your own, you own your own life, and you should choose how to live it.
What John is saying here is that Lib Dems should be all things to all people and that that's the right way. This seems to me to be a devoidance of politics. The Liberal Democrats are an a-political party. Official! Aiming for feelgood quackery. With relentless misery as the means of production.
2 comments:
No, this is not "official", it is one person's view. And if you read the whole article in context, it is part of a debate against the right-wing "economic liberal" infiltrators into the Liberal Democrats who are prominent in the blogosphere (less so actually doing the hard work in the party) which says that there is more to liberalism than economic freedom, freedom from taxation is not the only freedom that exists - something I would have thought a Labour Party supporter would agree with.
"It's Official!" is an habitual tabloid journalist assertion when anything is put into writing, no matter how flakey the source.
Obviously - though I believe in society and community goods and tax - there are other liberties to look out for.
One freedom I do not support however is the freedom to say something different on every door step and to pander to whatever nonsense some people come out with.
This is a-politics. That is my point. The Lib Dem party are sadly hollowing out politics and trying to pretend there's no need to have any.
This is not a recipe for a political party. It's just feelgood quackery. It doesn't stack up when decisions have to made. It is bankrupt.
Actually Cable has some politics I feel, Lord Greaves does, but Clegg and Huhne are sadly airy fairy mirrorers.
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