Clegg and Change

It doesn't happen often - mainly because the guy is amazingly silent for someone who runs a major political party - but I happen to agree with something that Nick Clegg has said:

"The Tories simply believe it's their turn, that they don't have to work for it, they don't have to prove themselves."

Spot on, as far as I am concerned. The Tory party is still sitting tight until they can stroll back into power. The political pendulum, which swung so hard against them in 1997, is now swinging back in their favour. They no longer need to make a case for being elected, and as a result they don't even try.

And Clegg goes on to talk even more sense:

"If you want things to be different, really different, you have to choose different. That's our message."

It is my message as well. If you want something different, then you do have to choose something different. Unfortunately, I rather think that my idea of what is different and Mr Clegg's idea are radically different, and represent the point of departure. Clegg is trying the tried and tested technique of positioning his party as the real alternative to the status quo. Unfortunately, these days that fools practically no-one. There is nothing in the Lib Dem platform that isn't replicated in the manifestos of the other parties. For example, they are making a big fuss about spending cuts at the moment - just as the other parties talk about cuts. And the complicity of the Lib Dems in this summer's expenses scandal shows just how much they are caught up in and part of the status quo. They are resolutely part of the post Blairite consensus that both dominates and cripples British politics today.

There are small parties and new political movements that are growing in influence in this country. If you truly want change, then support/vote for them. If you want real change and a proper break from the bloated, statist status quo, then support the Libertarian Party.

Unfortunately for Mr Clegg, the Lib Dems do not represent change on any level. Still, at least he was right about the Tories.