Supertramp Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Why is there no prober Liberal/Libertarian party in the UK? A minimal state with minimal laws and government intervention, a real free market economy etc.? Is it because all politicians are only there to increase their own wealth and their power? I know I would vote for such a party and many others I know would, so why doesn't one exist. What were the aims of the original Liberal Party before they became the Lib Dems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ampersand Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 There still is a Liberal Party - not sure how many candidates/members it has though - it was formed by those who didn't agree with the takeover by the SDP in the Eighties - as far as I know it's still in existence I'm sure if you googled it you'd find them The "old" liberal party, pre SDP days, tended to be the refuge of ideologists who wanted a "better world" but didn't support socialism - it was generally about personal freedoms, but with social responsibility to others - they were pro-European, pro-proportional representation, against big government and, broadly, against big business, but they had so many disparate views among the membership that the message wasn't always clear and wasn't always unanimous - I know because I used to be a member - getting a consensus on some issues was like wrestling with jelly The ideal you mention of minimal laws and Government intervention with a real free market economy is more an old fashioned Conservative view than an old fashioned Liberal one - although these days the terms Conservative and Liberal tend to denote only the name of the party, not their policies or ideologies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supertramp Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 All the current 3 parties are the same. There are very little differences between them, I would have thought such a party would do well at a time when people are fed up of the government scandals but according to the interest generated by this thread obviously not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingjimmy Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Why is there no prober Liberal/Libertarian party in the UK? A minimal state with minimal laws and government intervention, a real free market economy etc.? Is it because all politicians are only there to increase their own wealth and their power? I know I would vote for such a party and many others I know would, so why doesn't one exist. What were the aims of the original Liberal Party before they became the Lib Dems? I think you're confused, liberalism is categorically not the same as libertarianism. The liberal party were never supposed to be libertarian. There is a Uk libertarian party already, it was founded only a couple of years ago. I flirted with the idea of joining briefly having been convinced I am a libertarian but a quick look at their manifesto convinced I am not. I'm a social libertarian, but not an economic one. I do not want the NHS to be privatised and I do not want income tax to be abolished, the people at the top should be taxed more, not less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supertramp Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 I think you're confused, liberalism is categorically not the same as libertarianism. The liberal party were never supposed to be libertarian. There is a Uk libertarian party already, it was founded only a couple of years ago. I flirted with the idea of joining briefly having been convinced I am a libertarian but a quick look at their manifesto convinced I am not. I'm a social libertarian, but not an economic one. I do not want the NHS to be privatised and I do not want income tax to be abolished, the people at the top should be taxed more, not less. Thanks I wan't sure of the differences between Liberals and Libertarians but I'll read up on it. The people at the top are already taxed too much, I wouldn't want to give away 50% of my hard earned. Reduced public services will fund that the reduction in tax revenue. Anyway I've found their manifesto, will have a look now. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeMaquis Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Why is there no prober Liberal/Libertarian party in the UK? A minimal state with minimal laws and government intervention, a real free market economy etc.? Is it because all politicians are only there to increase their own wealth and their power? Do you mean something like the Tea Party in the USA? They support a minimum form of government except in their own states where cuts wouldn't go down too well and they wouldn't get elected. Just let all the other states have minimum government, please Lord. There are different forms of libertarianism. Anarchists want to see the end of all government. Lenin thought the state would wither away but Stalin saw things differently. There used to be economic libertarians in the Tory Party who thought all drugs should be legalised and sold on the free market. Even Norman Tebbitt thought they were mad. What is it about minimal government intervention that you find so attractive? Let's say there were no NHS and no police and someone burgled you and shot you. What would be so appealling about that? Or a real free market where someone sold heroin to schoolchidren? You could go and live in Somalia if that's the kind of thing you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supertramp Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 Do you mean something like the Tea Party in the USA? They support a minimum form of government except in their own states where cuts wouldn't go down too well and they wouldn't get elected. Just let all the other states have minimum government, please Lord. There are different forms of libertarianism. Anarchists want to see the end of all government. Lenin thought the state would wither away but Stalin saw things differently. There used to be economic libertarians in the Tory Party who thought all drugs should be legalised and sold on the free market. Even Norman Tebbitt thought they were mad. What is it about minimal government intervention that you find so attractive? Let's say there were no NHS and no police and someone burgled you and shot you. What would be so appealling about that? Or a real free market where someone sold heroin to schoolchidren? You could go and live in Somalia if that's the kind of thing you want. Minimal, not no state involvement. There would still be law enforcement, health car to be provided on an insurance based system rather than the inefficient NHS. Legalising drugs for adults is the only way forward, prohibition has never worked. In fact apart from abolishing the BBC, I agree with a lot of what the Libertarian party stands for. I wouldn't want to see the end of all government, but a massive reduction in size would be great. None of these useless QUANGOS and non-jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Thanks I wan't sure of the differences between Liberals and Libertarians but I'll read up on it. The people at the top are already taxed too much, I wouldn't want to give away 50% of my hard earned. Reduced public services will fund that the reduction in tax revenue. What reduction? All the evidence shows that cutting the top rate of tax from 50% down to 40% would produce more tax revenue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Dome Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 from what i understand about Libertarians, they are more or less anarchists - would that be right? Check out this little interview with Doug Stanhope, entertaining stuff: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Shaw Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 There still is a Liberal Party - not sure how many candidates/members it has though - it was formed by those who didn't agree with the takeover by the SDP in the Eighties - as far as I know it's still in existence I'm sure if you googled it you'd find them Yes. The Liberal Party is at http://www.liberal.org.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.