by John B
Yes, we all know the current government is hopelessly inept at PR, quite inept at sticking by its decisions, and quite fond of authoritarian intervention (whether on The Terrorists or The Smokers). So it’s nice to be reminded that, on aggregate and including their oh-so-cuddly leader, the Conservatives still hate women and hate gays.
Dunno about you, but if we’re going to be ruled by authoritarians, I’d rather they were inept ones who stuck to banning fun stuff. The idea of being ruled by competent authoritarians who seek to force straight women to have children whilst banning lesbians from doing so is quite a lot scarier…
That doesn’t mean I don’t think the current lot deserve a kicking. It does mean that I’m slightly more worried by the prospect of an incoming Tory government with a giant landslide majority than I am by the prospect of an extra five years of mildly authoritarian misrule. So what can a liberal do? Well, the least worst outcome at the next election (yes, I also mean ‘better than a Labour victory’) would be a hung parliament.
So my suggestion would be that - for as long as the popular polls imply a large Tory majority - anyone who considers themselves liberal should vote for whoever’s best placed to beat the Tories in their constituency. In the unlikely event that the popular polls start to imply a large Labour majority, anyone who considers themselves liberal should vote for whoever’s best placed to beat Labour in their constituency. And if it’s all looking hung, we can vote however we like.
Maybe this should apply to right-libertarians too (do we have any listening here?). A narrowly elected struggling Tory government is more likely to favour your interests than one elected on a massive landslide, both on the grounds that it would be more constrained from acting illberally on social issues, and also that it would be more likely to introduce PR, allowing parties representing minority views like yours into Parliament…