Thanks for getting this far.
My name is John a Lib Dem activist. I class myself as being on the soft left/radical but pragmatic wing of the Party. Saying that I’m open to new ideas and am a particularly tolerant human being who doesn’t believe in human perfection!
I want this blog to challenge our thinking but generally to be polemically against the other two mainly boring parties. Let me make it clear I’m honing the skill of balancing Liberal polemics with pragmatic sensibilities.
Three huge challenges loom large for our Party:
a) Can we show the British people we want to CHANGE THE SYSTEM not just tinker with it. I want to see a strong shift from the centre to local people – through their ELECTED LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES (not anarcho-syndicalism from the Centre).
b) Showing how we can govern more effectively than both Labour and the Conservatives.
c) Can we show the British people we can be for the many and not the few by thinking the unthinkable and saying the unsayable?
Liberal Revolution 
The alliance that has not been mentioned is the Conservative/Labour alliance which blocks proportional representation. The present system suits them both, with unadulterated power swinging from one to the other every ten years or so. Proportional representation lifts political awareness, interest and voting numbers in percentage terms wherever it is used. Proportional representation shakes off the tribal bigots at either end of the political extremes. Nick Clegg should make an agreement on a referendum for proportional representation a prerequisite for any alliance he should make with any party. If he fails to achieve an agreement, he should call for a re-run of the election. The country would respect him for standing on his principles. The other parties would have passed up the opportunity for immediate firm government in favour of preserving their own cosy status quo.
By: sullivan becher on May 11, 2010
at 2:34 pm