Political Guilt

I've always voted for the Liberal Democrats because I'm a wooly liberal. I believe in social health care, education, the welfare state and all that warm and fuzzy hippy stuff. All the stuff we aim at.

I always voted for the Liberals because I hate the Tories with a passion. I grew up in Lanarkshire in the '80s and it was nice enough but I remember when we stopped getting our free milk thanks to Thatcher the milk snatcher. Some of my friends used to play a game called 'miner's strike' where they they would fight with each other like the miners and the police. I remember the tories strip-mining our infrastructure and selling off British Gas and British Telecom making the middle class, at least those with money to invest, richer than ever. I remember the adverts for shares in our national resources and the greed is good philosophy of the Conservative government.

I never trusted Labour. I think some of the stuff that they tried to do was good but they were ineffectual in the '80s. Briefly, when the late John Smith was in charge, they may have been a worthwhile party but I never trusted Tony Blair with his New Labour bulllshit. He always seemed to be a bit greasy. As soon as I could vote, I voted for the liberals. After the mess of Iraq and Afghanistan I felt that I'd done the right thing. New Labour also let the bankers get away with murder.

I liked Charlie Kennedy, a Scot who liked a drink. A Glasgow Uni graduate. I could understand him. I also liked Menzies Campbell. Nick Clegg was a bit of an unknown but he seemed to have his heart in the right place. He was a nice, warm, fuzzy liberal who wanted to do the right thing. My vote was safe with the liberals.

Then everything got fucked up. We end up in an economic disaster and a lot of people realise that Labour and the Tories are useless fuckers. In fact, all politicians are useless fuckers. And Nick Clegg is the kingmaker. And he makes a pact with the greater of two evils. He puts his party in Government with the Tories.

In under 7 months we have been hit with a torrent of tory 'I'm all right jack'/'fuck the poor' ideology disguised as 'necessary cuts' to pay off our defecit. Despite the fact that our deficit has often been higher. Despite the fact that large companies like Vodafone get tax-breaks allowing them to keep money that could have helped our society.

So, the Liberal Party has sold me out. I don't know who I'll vote for in the future. A lot of Liberals have decent ideas and a good moral compass. Sadly Nick Clegg is a Tory glove puppet with David Cameron doing the fisting. I hope this coalition splits soon.