Throughout this blog I have described myself as a ‘liberal Conservative’.
Now however, I have no need to describe my political ideology in couched terms — I was previously a ‘liberal Conservative’ and now I am just a liberal. I have always believed that where appropriate, the government should avoid interaction with peoples’ lives and I used to think the result would be a society of people who take responsibility for their actions and who genuinely work as hard as they can to improve their own life and that of those around them they care most deeply about.
I have since grown-up, however, and I now realise that there’s often a back-story. Bad people were not made bad by molly-coddling of the state, and not because they were born that way (in most cases) but because they have had a bad experience of life so far.
Where previously I limited ‘appropriate’ interference by the state to collecting minimal taxes and funding the police force, I now see a role for the state in providing a framework in which good people can live and in which people who don’t have the same life chances as everyone else are treated with compassion and provided with assistance. Where the Conservatives would have compassion provided by charities, I would have that compassion provided by the most appropriate body in any given situation.
The Liberal Democrat Party logo
Like this entry? Share it with others:
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
