THE LAST DITCH

The election campaign already leaves me cold, because I can imagine no outcome that will make our country better. Three packs of wolves have fallen on our unfortunate fold. Does it matter which way we run?

The fact that it's likely to be close should at least be piquing my interest, but it's not. No party with a chance of forming, or being part of, a government will in any way get the state off our backs No party is dangling the keys of the prison door. We are being graciously asked to choose in which cell to spend the next five years.

If you are lucky enough to have a Libertarian Party candidate in your constituency, please vote for him or her. I harbour no illusions of electoral victory, but your vote will not be wasted. You will help to remind the political class that individual freedom matters.

Failing that chance to light a candle in the cursed darkness, I can only repeat advice I gave many years ago in Warsaw to my elderly Polish teacher. About to vote for the first time in her life, she told me, "I don't know what to do, because they all promise things that sound good." I told her to ignore pretty promises and "choose the candidate you think most likely to do least harm."

Cynical, perhaps, but not a bad approach.

7 responses to “Election chill”

  1. JenS Avatar

    Thanks. At least someone thinks it matters.

    Like

  2. Harry Avatar

    I’m as gloomy as you are.

    Like

  3. Peter Whale Avatar
    Peter Whale

    It’s hard to find the effort to vote when the choice is between who lies the least.

    Like

  4. Suboptimalplanet.blogspot.com Avatar

    @Peter Whale
    Actually, I think our only hope is that David Cameron has been lying … to the socialists.
    There’s not much hope, though; not even a glimmer.
    They’re hardly even bothering to play Quisling Right any more. Witness the Chris Grayling B&B gaffe, which caused much excitement on last night’s Question Time. Nobody dared defend the proprietors’ right to choose their customers. We didn’t even see a spurious defence on religious grounds.
    I will certainly vote LPUK if the option is available. I’d even be tempted to stand, though I expect it’s too late.
    Failing that, I’m minded to vote UKIP, in spite of their Daily Mail populism. Does anyone have a better idea?

    Like

  5. jameshigham Avatar

    The election campaign already leaves me cold, because I can imagine no outcome that will make our country better. Three packs of wolves have fallen on our unfortunate fold. Does it matter which way we run?
    In this we can agree, Tom.

    Like

  6. Colin Campbell Avatar

    Glad to be out of it.

    Like

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Tom is a retired international lawyer. He was a partner in a City of London law firm and spent almost twenty years abroad serving clients from all over the world.

Returning to London on retirement in 2011, he was dismayed to discover how much liberty had been lost in the UK while he was away.

He’s a classical liberal (libertarian, if you must) who, like his illustrious namesake, considers that

“…government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”

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