Partisanship
I was corresponding with a member of the Labour Party earlier today who claimed that he could not think of a single Lib Dem stance on anything past or present that he had agreed with. That's right, anything. Ever.
I intend to pursue this with this particular individual further to see if I can find a policy or position we have taken that he actually does agree with. Of course he could just say "no" to all of them no matter what arguments I use so this is potentially an invidious task and I would be relying on him being honest with me and himself.
A wider point on this though is that his position just does not seem credible. I doubt there is any mainstream party (and indeed most fringe parties) with whom I cannot find something they say (or have said in the past) that I support and in some cases many more than one I suspect. For example just off the top of my head I thought Labour bringing in the minimum wage was very good and necessary and the Conservatives privatising the telecoms industry was a great move.
The idea that someone could credibly claim to never have agreed with a single stance of one of the major political parties in this country just strikes me as partisan nonsense and the sort of thing you would get from an unthinking party hack.
Am I being unfair?
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5 comments:
No, I dont think your being unfair. Parties are by their very nature coalitions of different shades of opinion. How they deal with that diversity says alot about their character.
You're not being unfair, as a Tory myself I quite like a lot of Lib Dem's but disagree on constitutional reform, foreign policy, and when it comes down to it, they're a party of high spending
If I wasnt alligned with a political party I'd consider voting for them at the European elections or something, otherwise a no no no.
It's one of the reasons I just don't align myself with a party. I tend to vote Lib Dems, but I'd be lying if I said I agree with everything they say. Right now I'm fairly vehemently against Labour but they just keep pushing out policy and legislation after policy and legislation that is an affront to my views.
In 4 years that could change, sticking to a "party" for any long period of time is a ridiculous notion, especially when most aren't driven by their members but by policy strategy teams that can change their direction at a whim and without appropriate consultation of their membership.
Now might be a good momment to keep in mind the old Spanish proverb - he who washes the head of an ass wastes both his time and his soap.
Hmm, I also had this discussion recently. I mentioned the NHS, state pensions, votes for women...
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