Taking A Liberty

Image via Wikipedia

As I frequently state, I am a Libertarian. I believe in individual rights and responsibilities. A couple of years ago I joined the Libertarian Party UK because they seemed to hold the same views as me and I would like to see those views expressed more widely in British politics.

I met some great people and I have made some firm friendships from being in the LPUK, but I found myself exposed to the darker side of politics as well.

A few months ago the Anna Raccoon blog posted a piece about how badly she had been treated by Andrew Withers, the leader of the LPUK. I already had some worries about him so this blog grabbed my attention and I started to look into the man and ask some questions.

Instead of getting answers to my questions I got some very abusive emails and then a campaign was started to try to smear my character. I won’t repeat the whole story, but what it amounts to is that the LPUK leader, Andrew Withers, has kept full control of all LPUK money throughout its existence. We don’t know how much that is, but it is certainly more than £15,000. There is no money left now and Withers has failed to account for what he has done with it.

Withers has form with money matters. He is disqualified from being a company director until 2016 because he carried on trading an insolvent company causing several people to lose a great deal of money. Check on the whole sorry story by visiting these two blogs:

http://outspokenrabbit.blogspot.com/2011/07/cult-of-andrew-withers-deserve-what.html?showComment=1311263093397#c8148848202897222596

http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/libertarian-libertinage/

Reform the Libertarian Party UK

It seems that what remains of the Uk Libertarian Party is making a serious attempt to move on from the carnage, destruction and eventual insolvency of the Andrew Withers era. With that in mind, Ken Ferguson, for whom I have always had enormous respect, posted this -http://lpuk.org/2011/05/ideas-and-suggestions-for-reform/ on the party’s official site. The invitation to all members and supporters to recommend ways in which LPUK can move forward is indeed welcome, and itself makes a refreshing change from the top-down fuhrer principle that has appeared to consume the party recently.

As a former member who remains a supporter, I have a few strategic and structural changes that would in my view benefit the party’s fortunes greatly. Here are eight moves that LPUK could make that would represent a shift in the right direction:-

1 – Monthly Online Publication of the Party’s Accounts

The root cause of much of the recent dissent within LPUK has been the feeling amongst a great many party members that it was time to be completely open and transparent about the way in which the money coming in was being spent. The divide over the whether or not the accounts should or should not be audited would have been completely avoided had a culture of openness already been in place. Of course, the names of the donors and recipients of money would be excluded from what was published, and any non-member of the party wishing to donate money would have this ‘open declaration’ policy explained to them before they parted with their hard-earned cash. Members would have no such concerns as they would be voting on the policy, which would only come into effect if a majority supported it.

We would also have an account for each region as opposed to one national LPUK account (see point 7)

2 – A Realistic Manifesto – Not a set of Pipe Dreams

Reading LPUK’s current manifesto is akin to scanning through a Utopian shopping list of the features of the ideal society. It always struck me as odd, as if those shaping policy did not quite understand what a manifesto was. LPUK need to agree some realistic mid-term aims and accept that zero income tax, universal private healthcare and education, along with many other current policies are light years away. By all means keep some of them (see point 3) as long-term aspirations, but on a separate page to the plan for government in the next four years or so. The manifesto should be a simple document, detailing some fairly radical changes that we genuinely believe we can implement within a single parliamentary term.

3 – Abolish the ‘Abolish Income Tax‘ Policy – the sums do not add up

None of us like paying income tax, so the pledge to abolish it may well be the most eye-catching and appealing policy currently on LPUK’s books. But then it prompts the predictable questions of how you’re going to pay for even the significantly smaller state that remains after a term of a Libertarian government? Candidates will get asked a variant of that question on the doorstep and would currently have to scramble around desparately for an answer. The reality is that as long as there are functions of the state that we are all agreed upon (namely law and order and defence from invasion), then there will be the need for at least some level of direct taxation to meet the costs of these requirements.

The party’s focus should therefore be on opposing ‘brain drain’ taxes, gradually cutting public spending and taking the least well off out of income tax altogether, which will also enable an unravelling of the bureaucratic minefield that is the tax credits system. Eliminating the ‘churn’ in terms of tax and benefits should also be a high-priority economic aim.

4 – Re-Establish Social and Constitutional Liberalism as Key Policy Themes

Over the last year or so, LPUK has become something of an ‘economics party’. This is understandable given the fiscal problems faced by the current government, but then Libertarians tend to believe in so much more than this. The danger of focussing on monetary matters is that of being perceived as a slightly more radical alternative to the Conservative Party or UKIP. The Tories in particular believe strongly in using the tax system to promote ‘correct’ lifestyle choices. They want to retain the status quo on drug control, are anti-immigration and vehemently support the monarchy.

LPUK needs to make its distinction from the Tories and UKIP absolutely clear so it does not end up being lumped in the same bucket as them by the uninformed voter. Doing so will also dissuade illiberal people who happen to believe in lower taxes from concluding that LPUK is a party they should join and look to influence. In practical terms. this involves promoting social, constitutional and economic liberalism with equal vigour, and adopting republicanism as a policy at the earliest opportunity.

5 – Ditch the Fuhrer Principle

LPUK believes (or at least is supposed to) in moving decision-making down to the lowest level. This means that any national leader of the party ought to be there only to fulfil an administrative role and face the media if and when necessary. The more power one loads at the top of any organisation, the less empowered, enabled and involved those at the grass roots will feel by definition. LPUK needs to build its base from the bottom up, and a top-down structure will not enable such a structure to flourish. Internal debate of policy, direction and where the party is going should be encouraged, not stifled, with the young, keen and talented given opportunities to develop themselves and the party as a result.

6 – Ongoing Review of Policy and the LPUK Manifesto

There is no reason why the manifesto cannot be a fluid document, with members free to recommend policies that should be added, removed or amended. The best way to encourage people into a political party is to give them a sense that they will be personally involved in decison-making. For example, LPUK could adopt a system that allows a member to make a suggestion, seconded by another member and then some sort of online poll to be announced and conducted. We have the technology now to get around issues such as duplicate voting, so why not enable a massive, completely clean break from the past and make LPUK the most internally democratic party out there?

7 – A Regional Structure to Support Candidates

The libertarian attitude of shifting power down to the most local level of course means moving responsiblity with it. Local branches of LPUK should be in charge of their own finances and fund-raising, paying the deposits of candidates and encouraging members and supporters from that region to back those candidates with time, money or whatever skill they bring to the table. This will have three positive effects. Firstly, members of a branch will have the ability to use their own initiative and work in a way that suits the strengths and weaknesses of active members within that region. Secondly, candidates will get support more specific to their needs, so no LPUK member should feel the urge to stand as an independent.

Most importantly, it will mean that any dishonesty or misuse of LPUK monies in the future will damage the party only on a regional level as opposed to a national one. Concentrating all of the dough in one pair of hands appears to have been at the root of many of the party’s recent difficulties.

8 – A Shorter and more Concise Constitution

Libertarians believe strongly in having as few rules as possible. They also aspire to have those rules written in such a way so that even a complete moron can understand them. However LPUK, a party whose membership has never passed 1,000, currently has a constution which resembles that of a mid-sized European country. We need to move towards a document which has a small number of clauses, all of which should be crystal clear and leave absolutely no wriggle-room for personal interpretation. What is ‘unconstitutional’ in party terms should be beyond doubt and not the subject of a tedious debate as was the case recently when Mal offered to stand in as temporary treasurer. We preach simplicity to the wider world and should also practice such principles internally.

That means, in the words of Edwyn Collins, “rip it up and start again.”

I will of course be sending this ‘action plan’ via e-mail to LPUK with a view to them posting it online. It will be interesting to see if they run this, and whether or not it helps to spark some the serious internal debate that it must be said is overdue. If the discussion of the party’s direction, policy and structure takes place in the manner that I know Ken would wish it to, then there is a glimmer of some hopeful phoenix rising from the flames of the inferno of the last month or so.

As a supporter of LPUK and liberalism as a whole, I sincerely hope that this happens, because amid the current statist monopoly in Uk Politics, a party with consistently liberal instincts spanning all issues is needed more than it has ever been.

By Darren Pearce

http://outspokenrabbit.blogspot.com/2011/05/best-thing-to-come-from-lpuk-in-months.html

Electoral Reform

Opportunities for meaningful political change do not come often, but there is one now and it must be seized.

The situation is clear although it is complicated. The Tories did not win the right to form a government, but Labour most definitely lost the election. The bizarre effects of a First Past The Post (FPTP) election means that many people who do not support Labour or the Tories either do not have any opportunity to vote for a party that they do support or they vote tactically for one of these two in order to keep the other out.

This means that although the Lib Dems (LD) had 28% or 29% popular support before the election, only 23% of voters turned that support into a real vote. In addition to this, the LD vote was more evenly spread than that of the two major parties so they had lower chances of their votes being converted into seats. The consequence is that with 23% of the vote the LDs have only 10% of the seats. That is profoundly undemocratic and it is worse when you consider that 28% of voters may have wished to vote LD.

For Libertarians, the situation is far worse. We are in the position that the Green Party were in a generation ago. Despite the Greens standing hundreds of candidates and having a massive public profile for their policies, they have only just been able to secure a single seat in Parliament for their leader. This is a democratic disgrace.

For a new party with good, clear policies that would appeal to many voters, but lacking big financial backers and the army of backers of the big institutional parties, FPTP prevents any chance of even the smallest success in either national or local elections. That is not democracy and it must change now.

The Labour Government has taken this country into such massive debt that our economy is on the brink of collapse with all the terrible consequences that are beginning to unravel in Greece. This means that we must have a new Prime Minister and the prospects of reasonably stable government in the short term established very early this week. If that is not achieved, there will be great volatility in the currency markets and it will become harder every hour for all of us to be saved from very serious damage to our quality of life and financial future.

The tasks for today for our political leaders are these:

Gordon Brown.

Resign immediately. You were never elected as leader of the Labour Party, you were never a legitimate Prime Minister, your performance in office has been disastrous and in the only leadership election you have ever faced you have conclusively lost. The Labour Party cannot maintain any credibility so long as you remain Prime Minister and the interests of the country require Labour voters to be adequately represented in the negotiations to form a government.

Nick Clegg

Do not make any deal that does not include a commitment to the introduction of electoral reform with a timetable for completion before the end of this year. You stood on a platform of fair votes and your present bargaining position owes everything to that undertaking. Failure to deliver electoral reform would be a betrayal of the worst kind and would not be forgiven.

David Cameron

You did not win a mandate to form a government and the economy of this country is in such a perilous position that you have a duty to reach agreement without delay on the formation of a government that can command a clear majority in Parliament so that effective decisions can be taken without delay. There is no Parliamentary majority among parties of the political right. Differences between Tory and LD memberships mean that a coalition is unlikely and a supply and confidence arrangement will be fragile. In these circumstances you should present a simple draft Queens Speech and emergency budget to all Parties and seek agreement to them being allowed to pass. Despite the opposition of your party to PR, there is clear demand from the public for electoral reform and it must be offered within a strict timetable that does not extend beyond this year. All other Parties should allow your minority government to function until a reformed electoral system is in place and a new General Election can be held.

The chaos of queues outside polling stations as polls closed; the disgrace of stations running out of ballot papers; the nonsense of an unelected second chamber and the absurdity  of not having fixed term Parliaments, all contribute to Britain being seen as a country with third world election standards and grossly outdated democracy. All our leaders have an urgent responsibility to resolve these matters with the urgency that is necessary to prevent us collapsing into a third world economy as well.

Vote for David Kirwan in Wirral West

Libertarians are not like the big Parties. We do not want to force a party line onto anybody. We recognise that as individuals everybody is entitled to make up their own mind on all issues and that applies to MPs as much as everybody else. The Party whipping system is a big part of the cronyism and secrecy that has given us claims for duck houses and moat cleaning along with all the other abuses of this disgraceful parliament.

David Kirwan is an anti-sleaze candidate who has committed himself to the complete openness that is necessary to clean up Parliament and restore trust in politics. David is a Wirral Councillor who left the Conservatives to be free to represent his constituents without the constraints of a failing Party interested only in its own interests. From this independent perspective he has read the LPUK manifesto and found that he agrees with us enough to be able to work together. Having met David Kirwan and discussed what motivates us I can say his views meet the basic criteria that I would require to give support to anybody. These are simple:

• A recognition that Government usually creates problems rather than solving them and that there must be a return to much more individual responsibility, stronger families, stronger communities and an end to state snooping and interfering into so many aspects of private life.
• A determination to eliminate the secrecy, corruption and waste that comes with our system of patronage government and the armies of Quango’s and consultants that squander our tax money to bully, coerce and cajole us into New Labour clones. Cameron’s Blue Labour would be no different.
• An understanding that it is not possible to export democracy to other countries any more than it is acceptable for our values and culture to be crushed under a welter of stupid laws and PC multiculturalism. Decent values and respect for others comes from behaving decently and not by beating people into submission if they have different opinions from your own.
• Knowledge that prosperity and wellbeing for everybody depends on the enterprise and initiative that we have in abundance in this country. Our economy is crippled with massive debt because of the crazy spending by Brown’s government as he tries to buy his way to a fourth term of ruinous Labour Government. The companies that could provide the jobs to bring people out of poverty and hardship are being strangled by ridiculous laws and red tape from Whitehall and Brussels.
• Like Libertarians in all our varieties he wants respect for individuals who are responsible citizens; safe streets brought about by simple laws that are firmly enforced; low taxes that allow people to use the money they earn in the way that they choose; a country that is respected in the world for its defence of its own interests without interfering in the legitimate affairs of others.

For the cause of Liberty to gain from this election we need only to show the big parties that we will not allow ourselves to be dragged any further into the sovietisation of this country. A hung Parliament would be a big step in the right direction and an Independent MP for Wirral West is an important element in achieving that objective. Libertarians should vote for David Kirwan

Wirral Libertarians New Year New Party

 

Yes it is something to get really excited about. Not just a drink and the company of good friends although it will be that I am sure.

What this is really about is getting together to discuss the problems of Wirral and finding solutions through clean, decent, honest politics. In recent times our politicians have disgraced themselves by their secrecy, deception and fiddled expenses, but the truth is that we cannot do without government or politics. We have to do politics differently.

Instead of Party puppets who vote however the whips tell them, Libertarians believe in independence and individuals who are happy to be held to account for everything they do and say. The Government that has bankrupted this country is probably in its last weeks, but there will be no solution from Caneron’s Tories who offer nothing other than Blairism with a blue rosette. The Liberal Democrats are a directionless irrelevance who will be used by one of the two big parties as crutch to help them cling onto power.

What has been happening to us for too many years now is that government has grown and taxes have been increased by stealth until the state now directly controls nearly half of the economy and you cannot move without being on CCTV, needing a Police check or permit, or having to follow endless amounts of expensive and useless red tape.

Libertarians know the way to get lower taxes, safer streets, full employment and freedom from officials interfering in the private lives and decisions of adult citizens, but I can’t deal with all that in this note. We need to get together and discuss it.

Please come along and join us at 8pm on Wednesday 13^th January 2010 at:

Punch Bowl Hotel
77 Market St

Hoylake
Wirral
Merseyside
CH47 2BH

The pub is a five minute walk from Hoylake railway station. If you are unsure how to find it please contact me for further directions.

Everyone is welcome. You do not have to be a member of the Libertarian Party UK. The meeting will be relaxed, friendly and informal. At this first meeting we will be getting to know each other and having a chat about what Libertarianism is. I am delighted to tell you that Councillor David Kirwan, Prospective Independent MP for Wirral West, is in agreement with the Libertarian approach and will be coming to our meetings. This is your opportunity to meet the man who will break the grip of the failed Parties in Wirral and take a truly independent, honest voice to represent us at Westminster.

We look forward to meeting you.

Best regards

Malcolm Saunders

malpoet@hotmail.co.uk

Sons of Liberty

Listen to Frank Turner. Great folk rock artist singing for freedom.

 

http://www.we7.com/track/Sons-Of-Liberty?trackId=3203453&m=0

Liberty and knowledge

 

Free choice in education

Vouched safe with Libertarians.

Drugs and the Law

The Home Secretary has sacked Professor David Nutt from his position as Chairman of the supposedly independent Drug Advisory Committee. The alleged reason was that Nutt was lobbying for a change in government policy when the reality is that the government insisted on re-classifying cannabis against the evidence presented by the experts and refuses to accept the expert advice on the proper handling of ecstasy.

The simple truth is that the government has no interest at all in professional advice. What it really wants is to be able to use the experts to justify the decisions that it is determined to take irrespective of where the truth may lie.

When cannabis was reduced from a class B to a class C drug in accordance with expert advice and with the support of police who wanted to concentrate on real crime there was not an increase in cannabis use as anti drug campaigners predicted. There was actually a reduction in cannabis use when it was regarded as a less serious offence. This should not be too much of a surprise. Forbidden things always have an attraction and if it is recognised as not being such a big deal, the excitement and pull reduces.

It is not sensible risk mental and physical wellbeing by harmful drug use. That applies to alcohol and tobacco as much as it does to the misuse of medicines or taking illegal, recreational drugs. The point is that humans have always done these things and no amount of laws will stop them. Masking it illegal to take certain drugs causes death, injury and serious ill health because the drug users do dangerous things like sharing needles and taking contaminated products supplied by the criminals who are the only source of the drug they want.

Illegailty also creates a vast amount of crime. This ranges from the international multi millionaires who produce the drugs to the street corner gangs who murder and maim to protect their territory. Very few societies have had the courage to leave drug users alone, but those who have tried, such as Holland and Portugal, have found enormous benefit from it.

It is impossible to stop people from trying to use escapist substances. The best way to minimise the harm and risk is to provide the free and prosperous society from which people do not need to try to escape. Our police should also be left to stop rape, violence, burglary and terrorism.

We should throw out a government that sacks people for telling the truth.

Ron Paul Gets 8% in New Hampshire

Ron Paul the libertarian Republican was never going to win the New Hampshire primary, but gaining 8% of the vote after achieving 10% in Iowa is a very significant achievement.

To me it suggests that there is a very real appetite in America for a radical reduction in taxes and much smaller government, interfering much less in the lives of citizens in their everyday affairs.

 I think that we are a long way behind in the UK and we don’t have primaries where minority political philosophies can express themselves. What we should be doing is looking to the experience of the emerging central and eastern european democracies where freedom from the tyranny of communism has led many voters to distrust intrusive government. Poland, for example has a flat tax system that we would do well to examine and emulate.

Obama and Huckabee Win in Iowa

I am delighted that Clinton was in third place for the Democrats in the Iowa caucus. Lots of reasons. It is good that the big money is not crushing all others. It is good that a non white candidate is making such good progress and above all it is an indicator that the contest is going to be an open and interesting one.

I find the Republican result in Iowa even more interesting. Again it is open and I doubt that Huckabee will maintain the lead as things go into the bigger states. I do not like Huckabee or Romney so I actually look forward to them losing ground. However, the really interesting result as far as I am concerned is that Ron Paul managed to secure ten percent of the vote.

I disagree with Paul on some quite important issues, but for a Libertarian to have gained such a large share of the vote fills me with optimism for the growth of ideas of much smaller government, lower tax politics in the USA.

When we combine this with the free market, flat tax developments in some of the former communist countries of central and eastern Europe, it gives me real hope that we might be able to get some proper debate in the UK to take us away from the stifling welfarism and intrusion into every aspect of each citizen’s life that has been increasing here for many decades.

Probably too optimistic, but I am forever hopeful.