Lib Dem It Is, Then

Really grateful to Annie at Retrotype (Happy Birthday, Annie!) for pointing out WhoShouldYouVoteFor?, a brilliant site where you can find yourself surprised at what your own politics boil down to.

I may have come out more Green than anything, but I already knew I would vote for the Liberal Democrats this time round, not just because it really is a three-horse race this time and they have a real chance of winning, but because I watched Charles Kennedy being grilled by Jeremy Paxman and there wasn't even a flicker of maintaining a public face - in spite of Jeremy's best 'attack dog' efforts to dig dirt, there just wasn't any to be found - Kennedy came across as completely honest, completely able to put credit where credit was due, totally committed to his principles and presenting a manifesto he actually personally believed was moral and right and just and best for the country, rather than one peppered with tactical charm policies - you know the type, the ones that blatantly offer cash to a certain demographic.

The other two parties are far too good at wink-wink nudge-nudge bribery of the masses. Sorry boys, same as we question our GPs and headmasters, we're just not that stupid and subservient anymore. Believe it or not, we can judge for ourselves what is moral and right.

None of Labour's cash-back goals can be taken seriously, IMHO, because given the amount of debt the country is in, it would have made no difference at all if they had given pensioners or newborns half the cash they are now waving like a carrot, from the word go. So what if Aunty Flo died last winter eating bugger all in a freezing flat because of the wacking great Council Tax, this year vote for the same guys who let that happen and Bingo! Miraculously there will be a £200 Council Tax rebate for Grandad Joe. Putting £250 into a savings account for baby will just mean that in eighteen years time there will be another expense like schooling that they can start charging for because hey, we all know the kid has the money. And in the mean time you can fool yourself that your precious child will go to University, and even be able to partially afford it.

The Conservatives are on a hiding to nothing - the local would-be MP's main promotion point is that we shouldn't vote for his Lib Dem opposition because it means we'll end up with Tony Blair again. Sorry mate, this time around I really dont believe it - and thats a piss poor selling point. Not a word of 'I would be good at the job because', just a schoolyard finger-pointing exercise.

The Conservative 'cashback' offer is to do with house prices, because of course we all know that for a Conservative to even notice you exist you have to have the cash for a mortgage in the first place, which wipes a third of the population or more out of the equation.

The other good thing about Lib Dems? Charles Kennedy (and Norman Baker and all the others) have been active in the heart of politics all these years, listening to both sides, taking in all the information, and free to design policies that actually do the Country some good, without having to worry about which section of the population would come running for their pick from the sweety bag.

Both the Conservatives and the Labour Party are openly saying, to our faces, that we are incapable of taking a long term view of the health of the Nation without some sort of softener, that we are not so much involved in whats right for as all, as whats right for me me me, and my pocket, my hobbies, my imagined lifestyle. They are calling us selfish, self involved, small minded and stupid. And that gets up my nose. More than that, they are saying it of themselves. You can only ever convince yourself that 'everybody is like that' if you're like that too. Cannabis smokers say everybody smokes dope (well everybody that counts). Adulterers will tell you everybody's at it, also.

Anyhow back to what started this - heres my result from that Poll:

Who should I vote for?

Your expected outcome:

Liberal Democrat

Your actual outcome:

Labour -37
Conservative -24
	Liberal Democrat 51
	UK Independence Party 30
	Green 63

You should vote: Green

The Green Party, which is of course strong on environmental issues, takes a strong position on welfare issues, but was firmly against the war in Iraq. Other key concerns are cannabis, where the party takes a liberal line, and foxhunting, which unsurprisingly the Greens are firmly against.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For