Saturday 8 March 2008

Dustbin of history

Yes, it's true; I am no longer a member of the Conservative party.

I realise of course that readers may be surprised to know that I was a member.

Let me explain.

When I first got interested in politics in the late '60s I went through a leftist phase. That was par for the course in those days. I confess, I was even a Guardian reader for several months. But something didn't quite make sense. To cut a long story short, I discovered the IEA and learned a bit about economics. I joined the Young Conservatives and attended a few meetings. I heard Ted Heath speak!

But as Prime Minister, Heath soon abandoned his free market rhetoric and, fortuitously, at the same time I discovered libertarianism. Now there was a group of people with whom I could associate who really did share my views. Like many other libertarians I did vote for the Tories during the 'eighties as Mrs Thatcher started to reduce the power of the state and created the wealth that the current administration has now almost entirely dissipated. But I was no longer a member.

In 1995 we bought our present residence in Edinburgh with a view to eventually moving up here permanently. I decided that the best way to contact folk who might be sympathetic to the libertarian cause was to join the Conservatives once again. After arriving here I discovered that there were people in Scotland who liked libertarian ideas, and they were by no means necessarily supporters of the Tories. I kept renewing my Conservative subscription each year but when it came to the Holyrood elections last May I switched to the SNP. The main reason was to get Labour out (Yeah!), although I was also influenced by those in the English blogosphere who think that all Scots are welfare junkies and that no-one up here pays any tax. So when I received the latest membership renewal notice in February it seemed a bit odd to subscribe again to a party that I'd recently voted against. (I had voted Tory for the City Council however.)

But then there's the problem discussed endlessly in the blogosphere. Should one vote for Party C because they're not as bad as Party L or should one punish Party C because they are too scared to offer a real alternative to Party L? My continuing but non-active Tory membership indicated that I'd chosen the first option. It seemed the responsible thing to do. But here in Scotland there's also Party S (so to speak). And they are the main local opponents of Party L.

But that's not the only reason that I shredded Ms Goldie.

To be frank, there's only so much nonsense a sensible person can take from Party C. As many others have pointed out, the Tories seem to dread the idea of positioning themselves more than 1% away from Labour. Why do focus groups support much of the status quo? Because the Tories haven't argued for any alternative. Does anyone seriously think that they'd retake British sovereignty? Or abolish the ID Database? Or privatise schools and hospitals? Or sort out the politicians' expense accounts? Of course not.

I've come to the view that we'll just have to wait for the fiat money boom to blow up and for the country to go broke. Hopefully something better will emerge from the resulting chaos. But it's not going to come from the current political class.

2 comments:

David Farrer said...

Comments made on previous template:

Andrew Duffin
"Vote SNP to get a generation who has not been brought up on birth to death welfarism." 
 
How does that work then? 
 
Where do the SNP say they will abolish or even reform (even slightly) the welfare state? 
 
Can't see that bit in their manifesto.

20 March 2008, 12:41:03 GMT
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Andrew Duffin
What Sam Duncan said.

19 March 2008, 17:15:14 GMT
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Sam Duncan
Vote again SNP get a) independence 
 
Have they changed their policy towards the EU, then?

14 March 2008, 21:42:30 GMT
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dearieme
I can remember my father voting for a "National Liberal and Unionist" on the grounds that (a) he was getting three for the price of one, (b) anyone but Labour, and (c) the candidate had been a very fine centre threequarter in his youth.

10 March 2008, 15:37:51 GMT
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APL
šBecause the Tories haven't argued for any alternative.š 
 
Yes, exactly. But (and this is not a good enough reason for not doing so) they are infiltrated with lefties, for example - Kenneth Clarke, it should have spent the last ten years putting the case for free market ideas, but instead tried to turn itself into a chameleon, thinking it would be able to present itself to the electorate in different colours and we would be fooled by the camouflage. 
 
Hitchens, said, on the ŽPolitics showŽ and was right - no one will vote for the Tory party, it is a busted flush, a totally devalued brand. Like that fellow Ratner, who destroyed his company by a few ill judged comments, there have been loads of supposed Tories rushing forward to sully the brand, it really must have been successful infiltration, it canŽt have been incompetence, can it?

9 March 2008, 18:45:12 GMT
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David Farrer said...





Guest
I'm beginning to sound repetitive on this ol' interwebby but: vote SNP get Labour out. Vote again SNP get a) independence b) a new understanding of politics in Scotland and a realignment and a thinking returning to Scottish politics, c)a generation who has not been brought up on birth to death welfarism. 
 
This I hoped would have happened within 2 terms of an assembly but it now seems I was too optimistic. I remain to be proven wrong however because, slowly but etc. the people of Scotland appear to be growing up politically and the children of 'Labour because oor family has always voted Labour' are now questioning the status quo. 
 
I continue to live in hope. 
 
STB.

9 March 2008, 16:43:00 GMT
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David Farrer
It's easy to forget that The Traitor Heath came to power on a radical, almost proto-Thatcherite, manifesto. 
 
Yes, Selsdon Man and all that stuff. It only seems like yesterday. 
 
In future, I'll do what I did in May and vote on a case-by-case basis. We don't have a presidential system so individual constituencies matter. If I still lived in Ealing, I'd probably vote Tory to get Labour out. Actually, if I still lived in Prestwick I'd vote Tory as they are best placed to get Labour out in that constituency. Here in Edinburgh a certain Mr Darling is a juicy target. But does that mean I should vote for the Lib Dems? Oh dear...

9 March 2008, 12:02:33 GMT
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Sam Duncan
But as Prime Minister, Heath soon abandoned his free market rhetoric 
 
It's easy to forget that The Traitor Heath came to power on a radical, almost proto-Thatcherite, manifesto. 
 
Does anyone seriously think that they'd retake British sovereignty? Or abolish the ID Database? Or privatise schools and hospitals? Or sort out the politicians' expense accounts? Of course not. 
 
The trouble is, does anyone seriously believe the SNP would either? I know there's a non-socialist faction in the Nats, but the operative word is "seriously". There's some reason to think they might get rid of the ID database (although since its origins can be traced to Brussels, even that isn't certain), but could they really get the rest past the Labour cast-offs who make up the majority of the party? 
 
I'm not arguing that this is a reason to stick with the pathetic spineless excuse we have for a Conservative party - I completely understand your decision - just bemoaning the fact that there's nobody anyone with libertarian leanings can vote for in the kid-on parliament with a clear conscience.

9 March 2008, 00:19:14 GMT