I didn’t realize how liberal the United Kingdom had become. Of course this is a country where the Conservatives are solidly for the National Health Service, an overtly socialist health-care system, so you know something’s up. Maybe it’s the Prozac in their water; in 2004 there were reportedly 24 million prescriptions for antidepressants in a country with just under 60 million inhabitants. But we’ve probably got at least as high a proportion of folks high on prescriptions in the US, and here they don’t stereotype as liberal.
Sure, you say, but the NHS there is like Social Security for us, the third rail. After all, look at how conservative Labour has become, leading the charge in Europe for the Iraq war everyone else was skeptical of, and attacking civil liberties with all the gusto of a Clinton or Bush. New Labour is to Old Labour as Clinton Democrats are to FDR Democrats.
Well, here’s what I offer as evidence, from an unimpeachable source. You might have heard that the leader of the third party, the Liberal Democrats, was generally agreed to have won the first-ever American-style televised election debate among the three party leaders, who would become Prime Minister if their party gained enough seats. Here in the US, of course, we deal with problems like Nick Clegg’s counter narrative simply by restricting the debates to candidates the two major parties approve.
So who are the Lib Dems, and what do they stand for? You can read the voluminous reports of the debate, or take a one-page quiz on which party you’d agree with most. I’m a Green there too, if Greens are considered, Lib Dem if not; and this has been my result in UK politics polls for years.
After all, in Britain right now the supposed liberal party, Labour, which had to scrap its plans for mandatory national ID cards due to widespread resistance, wants to extend the pre-charge detention limit, which I believe is a GWOT-era manifestation and thus a Labour invention, from 28 days to 42. Conservatives are fine with 28 days, but interestingly also propose such reforms as a Bill of Rights and stripping local authorities of surveillance power — actual conservative positions. Lib Dems want the limit reduced to 14 days, plus what the Tories want, plus some other stuff like protecting non-violent protest and extending the Freedom of Information Act. Who’s right wing here?
And it’s not just civil liberties: on transportation, environment, relations with Europe, foreign policy, I’m with the Lib Dems. Occasionally, according to the quizzes and comparisons, I’m with Labour, mostly on economic issues, and I think I ended up with the Conservatives on transportation, who want to build a bunch of new high-speed rail. Their damn Conservative party is so far to the left of our whole political system!
This entire rant was provoked by reading an article in the Times, and no I don’t mean the Murdoch paper. It consistently referred to the Conservatives as center-right, Labour as center-left, and the Lib Dems as centrist. No wonder Americans are confused about what’s happening abroad! The Times has always had certain blind spots, like Israel and Venezuela; but I thought they’d at least have someone who knew more about British politics than the readers.
To me the most interesting prospect is that of a hung Parliament, where no party gets enough votes to govern on its own. In the weird system Britain uses, Labour could actually poll third in total votes and still get the most seats in a hung Parliament. In that case, which looks increasingly likely, the Lib Dems will be kingmakers. What will they demand in return for coöperation? It’s been sugggested that they want election reform. Which will change everything.
Where’s the American counterpart?
My long-term but not very close friend who is an elected Liberal Democrat official is definitely to the left of Tony Blair.
Posted by: Joyful on April 24, 2010 4:51 AM