Liberty Alone

Some like to claim that the Liberal Democrats is a Liberal party but its not liberal. The distinction is that a Liberal party is deescended from the Liberal Party or perhaps a liberal party, whereas a liberal party pursues liberal aims.

Clearly the Liberal Democrats are a Liberal party, formed from the merger of the Liberal Party and the SDP and a member of the Liberal International.

What about the liberal bit though?

Personally I think the LibDems are broadly speaking a liberal party, although sometimes policies verge on statism and nannying and, like all politicians, severe doses of ‘we must do something’ which generally leads to state intervention, which is fundamentally an illiberal concept, although there are some cases where it can further individual freedom.

The party maintains a comittment to free trade, a central tenet of the Liberal and liberal traditions. There is a strong comittment to the rule of law and the restraining of government power, both liberal policies.
The comittment to localism and the division of power which it entails and the right to self determination is solidly liberal.
Freedom of expression is fundamental to the views of the LibDems. The freedom of the press, the right of political parties we disagree with to exist (such as the BNP) is held closely. Free debate not censorship is another central liberal tenet. The opposition to this government’s destruction of civil liberties, on principle, not for political gain puts the party firmly in liberal territory.

There is a tendancy towards attempting to protect people from themselves, which is not part of the liberal tradition. There is plenty of room for criticism of the party’s support for the illiberal NHS and lack of serious debate and ideas for reform along liberal lines. Education policy also lacks much of a liberal element.

On Europe, the policy is generally liberal, but that is not articulated. For example, the scrapping of the Common Agricultural Policy is hidden beneath talk of reform. The LibDems do not talk about the EU, apart from being vaguely positive. Policy may object to the illiberal measures of the EU, but we fail to state these objections.

What many party members may feel is necessarily tempered for political purposes, there is a limit to what a political party can say and expect to get elected. It is unfeasable to come out in support of decriminalisation of drugs in the current climate, no matter the liberal nature of the policy.

There is room for criticism of the party for illiberal measures, which mostly come from politicians seeking electoral advantage. That however is the nature of politics and politicians. On the whole however, the LibDems are broadly a liberal party and have a comittment to individual freedom and less state interference in people’s lives.

I would never claim the LibDems are a perfect liberal party, I don’t believe any party will ever be that, however, for liberals from the whole spectrum of liberalism, the LibDems are the only serious party in the UK.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.