Friday, June 28, 2013
10 Reasons Why LibDems Should Vote UKIP At The Next Election
I used to be a Liberal Democrat until I was expelled on a charge of having had letters published in newspapers supporting the classic economic liberal principles the party was founded on and also for saying we needed nuclear power to stop the lights going out.
I am now a member of UKIP and remain a classic liberal to my bones. As such I may be in a position to understand the position of most LibDem voters (who are not the same as party leaders and activists) and to say why, in the next UK election, LibDems across the country should give their votes to UKIP.
1 - The one thing all LibDems (& most of the rest of the electorate) are agreed on is that our current first past the post system is corrupt; that it produces results that disenfranchises most of those who vote for small parties; that it keeps unpopular LabCons in power and that by providing what economists call "high barriers" to entry to those with new ideas, has been partly responsible for a century of national decline.
Only UKIP agrees with this. For the first time in a century we have a real chance for an electoral breakthrough by electoral reformists. The UKIP and LibDems together are polling about 30% which exceeds what either of the Tweedledum/Tweedledee parties are likely to get.
Electoral reform is within reach if LibDem voters support UKIP candidates in constituencies the LDs aren't going to win. The fact that UKIP's vote is currently bigger may annoy many LD leaders but surely the principle of democratic & competent government is more important.
2 - Electoral Reform, however achieved, might be the only thing that can stop a LibDem meltdown.
3 - UKIP has the same democratic principles the LDs lay claim to. UKIP supports referenda as a major restraint of the political class both locally and nationally.
4 - The LibDems went into both the last election and the one before with manifesto promises of a referendum on the EU. Whatever they did after the election it is clear that true democracy demands that the people get a right to choose. Perhaps we would be on opposite sides in a referendum but at least, however it went, the boil would be lanced.
I think even our opponents would accept that this is a promise we will keep.
5 - UKIP supports the principles of economic liberalism, the individual being more important than the state and the rights of small nations not to be attacked by bigger neighbours (having opposed all our illegal wars) which were the founding principles of the Liberal movement and party.
6 - This would indeed finally "break the mold of British politics".
7 - UKIP has opposed all our recent illegal wars which have only been devisive, expensive and destructive with no benefit for Britain.
8 - Nobody ever joined UKIP to get into the easy road to power. We all did so because we actively want to reform and improve the country. In this, though we disagree with the LD party leadership, we are similar to the LDs.
9 - During the BBC coverage of the Council elections Simon Hughes the LibDem spokesman (there was of, of course, no UKIP spokesman, repeatedly claimed that though UKIP had got far more votes than the LibDems (we got 23% which put us, the Tories and Labour all within 6% points) the LibDems had got more seats under the first past the post system.
This "death bed sinning" must raise concern that UKIP is actually more reliable on this traditional commitment than your current party.
10 - When they look at our policies, which admittedly is not that easy to do if you rely on the BBC and other traditional, media many people who previously voted LibDem find that they actually like most of our policies such as cutting regulation, rolling back the nanny state, free trade, not allowing unlimited immigration, at least questioning the catastrophic global warming scare story, reducing rather than pushing up electricity prices and allowing the economic freedom that can get us growth at least matching the world-outside-the-EU average of 6%.
I am now a member of UKIP and remain a classic liberal to my bones. As such I may be in a position to understand the position of most LibDem voters (who are not the same as party leaders and activists) and to say why, in the next UK election, LibDems across the country should give their votes to UKIP.
1 - The one thing all LibDems (& most of the rest of the electorate) are agreed on is that our current first past the post system is corrupt; that it produces results that disenfranchises most of those who vote for small parties; that it keeps unpopular LabCons in power and that by providing what economists call "high barriers" to entry to those with new ideas, has been partly responsible for a century of national decline.
Only UKIP agrees with this. For the first time in a century we have a real chance for an electoral breakthrough by electoral reformists. The UKIP and LibDems together are polling about 30% which exceeds what either of the Tweedledum/Tweedledee parties are likely to get.
Electoral reform is within reach if LibDem voters support UKIP candidates in constituencies the LDs aren't going to win. The fact that UKIP's vote is currently bigger may annoy many LD leaders but surely the principle of democratic & competent government is more important.
2 - Electoral Reform, however achieved, might be the only thing that can stop a LibDem meltdown.
3 - UKIP has the same democratic principles the LDs lay claim to. UKIP supports referenda as a major restraint of the political class both locally and nationally.
4 - The LibDems went into both the last election and the one before with manifesto promises of a referendum on the EU. Whatever they did after the election it is clear that true democracy demands that the people get a right to choose. Perhaps we would be on opposite sides in a referendum but at least, however it went, the boil would be lanced.
I think even our opponents would accept that this is a promise we will keep.
5 - UKIP supports the principles of economic liberalism, the individual being more important than the state and the rights of small nations not to be attacked by bigger neighbours (having opposed all our illegal wars) which were the founding principles of the Liberal movement and party.
6 - This would indeed finally "break the mold of British politics".
7 - UKIP has opposed all our recent illegal wars which have only been devisive, expensive and destructive with no benefit for Britain.
8 - Nobody ever joined UKIP to get into the easy road to power. We all did so because we actively want to reform and improve the country. In this, though we disagree with the LD party leadership, we are similar to the LDs.
9 - During the BBC coverage of the Council elections Simon Hughes the LibDem spokesman (there was of, of course, no UKIP spokesman, repeatedly claimed that though UKIP had got far more votes than the LibDems (we got 23% which put us, the Tories and Labour all within 6% points) the LibDems had got more seats under the first past the post system.
This "death bed sinning" must raise concern that UKIP is actually more reliable on this traditional commitment than your current party.
10 - When they look at our policies, which admittedly is not that easy to do if you rely on the BBC and other traditional, media many people who previously voted LibDem find that they actually like most of our policies such as cutting regulation, rolling back the nanny state, free trade, not allowing unlimited immigration, at least questioning the catastrophic global warming scare story, reducing rather than pushing up electricity prices and allowing the economic freedom that can get us growth at least matching the world-outside-the-EU average of 6%.
Labels: British politics, UKIP
