I have never been much of a joiner - clubs, societies, political parties; I might support what they do, or have an interest in what they promote, but in the end I can't stand the shenanigans that seem inevitable whenever two or three are gathered together to organise something. I joined the Triumph Owners' Club last year, and it has been a lot of fun, but even in this low-key organisation there are huffs and spats and hurt feelings and flouncing off in a temper. Luckily, this is all at national level and nothing to do with the guys and gals I go riding with, but it's a pain even reading about it in the club magazine.
I have never joined a political party and probably never will. Partly this is because there has never been a party whose aims I have wholeheartedly agreed, and whose programme I could support without caveat or reservation, and partly it's because I have an aversion to people telling me how and what I should be thinking and saying. I don't see myself as right- or left-wing, more as a believer in freedom and leaving people alone to live their lives as they think best. So I did, briefly, consider joining the Libertarian Party a while ago. Certainly their core beliefs accord quite well with mine, and I would probably have fitted in quite well.
But something stopped me. I read a lot of the stuff on the website and it somehow seemed wrong. Too many spelling and grammatical mistakes (not important in themselves, but an indicator) and too much of the tin-hat conspiracy theorist stuff for me to put my name to. So, after considering it briefly, I stayed away.
I'm glad I did. There is now a storm brewing. One of my favourite bloggers, Anna Raccoon, has a post today that tells of her experiences with the LPUK leader, Andrew P Withers, and a couple of other high-profile faces from the Libertarian blogosphere. It makes shocking reading. It's a long post, but worth reading to the end. Mr Withers has now stood down as LPUK Party Leader amid calls for a thorough investigation, and I am sure the matter won't end there.
I make no judgement as to the rights and wrongs of the story, nor for its accuracy, as I have no experience of the events beyond reading about them in my daily scan of the blogs. Anyone can be who they want to be on the internet, and it would be foolish to make judgements on the basis of a blogpost or an online persona. All I will say is that I have had intermittent contact with Anna over a couple of issues to do with the technical side of blogging, and she has always been unfailingly kind and supportive - on one occasion writing several screens' worth of technical advice when many would have said 'work it out'. She is one of the big names in the blog world and I am tiny in comparison, and I appreciate her assistance all the more for that.
By their works shall ye know them, and unless and until I see compelling evidence to the contrary I am inclined to trust what Anna has said and believe her account.
All very sad.
Showing posts with label LPUK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LPUK. Show all posts
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
The Devil Speaks
I'm a libertarian, rather than a Libertarian, if you see what I mean, and I was impressed by this post from the Devil's Kitchen. It's a recruitment poster for the Libertarian Party from its leader, and I am not sure if I want to promote a political party on here, but the points he makes are good ones. It wouldn't be fair to post only the non-party bits, so I quote it in full:
My friends,
We are broke. Our country—whatever it may once have been—is now laden with debt. And this isn't "the government's debt": it is our debt.
The government has no money but what it takes—what it extorts—from us.
We have gone beyond consensus politics: if a man were to come to your door, with a gun, and demand half of everything that you earned—on pain of severe punishment, on pain of the total ruination of your life—would you not protest?
For a moment, lay aside those dutiful thoughts of those starving millions beyond your gate, and think, instead, of those within your own household—within your own family: would you not rather protect them first?
Of course you would: they are your kith and kin and you would expect—would you not?—that everyone, like you, would defend theirs against you were you the one holding the gun.
The government has now utterly removed from you the means of protecting yourself and your family against the man with the gun: indeed, you dare not defend yourself because you fear that it is you, not the mugger, who would end up in the dock.
For the government is the man with the gun, demanding tithes from you: the government is here, at your door. But not randomly.
No.
The government has gone out and bought itself nice things—plasma TVs, second homes, duckhouses, moats. And jobs, and votes. All of those things that you could not afford—because it has been here before: at your door, with a gun.
Five years ago, it was here—threatening you with prison if you did not pay up—for the sake of all of those children who were not yours. You paid, because you had no option.
Four years ago, it was here—threatening you with prison if you did not pay up—for the sake of all of those unhealthy who were not yours. You paid, because you had no option.
Three years ago, it was here—threatening you with prison if you did not pay up—for the sake of all of those uneducated who were not yours. You paid, because you had no option.
Two years ago, it was here—threatening you with prison if you did not pay up—for the sake of all of those feckless bankers who were not yours. You paid, because you had no option.
One year ago, it was here—threatening you with prison if you did not pay up—for the sake of all of those MPs who had no duck-houses or second homes or moats. You paid, because you had no option.
And now the government has spent everything that you had to give, and more, on its pet projects—on buying its second homes, on buying its duckhouses, on buying its votes—and none of it benefited you and yours. Not even by one iota.
The government didn't care that you couldn't afford to give any more: it didn't care that you had no money.
The government didn't care that you had lost your job: the government didn't care that all of those thousands of pounds it took in National Insurance payments translated into a few hundred when you were in need.
And now, when you are getting back on your feet—back in a job that is not as good as the one the government destroyed, back struggling to look after your family on the pittance you are paid, back paying off your debts—the government, too, is back: it's back with the gun.
The government is back—demanding half of what you broke your back to earn—because it has more grand schemes, more votes to buy, more trinkets to deliver to its favoured ones.
Will you so willingly hand over the sweat of your brow? Will you so willingly condemn you and yours to penury? Will you capitulate again?
Or will you fight?
Join us—and help us to stop the extortion.
Join us—and understand that providing for you and yours is not a sin.
Join us—and realise that a society that pulls together is a society that stays together.
Join us—and help us fight for a future in which people help each other voluntarily, because it is right and fitting to do so.
Join us—and help to build a future in which men, women and children take back their work, their birthrights, their dignity and their compassion from a government that cares nothing for you.
Join us.
Because—whether the government is Tory, Labour or LibDem—soon you will have nothing left to lose.
My friends,
We are broke. Our country—whatever it may once have been—is now laden with debt. And this isn't "the government's debt": it is our debt.
The government has no money but what it takes—what it extorts—from us.
We have gone beyond consensus politics: if a man were to come to your door, with a gun, and demand half of everything that you earned—on pain of severe punishment, on pain of the total ruination of your life—would you not protest?
For a moment, lay aside those dutiful thoughts of those starving millions beyond your gate, and think, instead, of those within your own household—within your own family: would you not rather protect them first?
Of course you would: they are your kith and kin and you would expect—would you not?—that everyone, like you, would defend theirs against you were you the one holding the gun.
The government has now utterly removed from you the means of protecting yourself and your family against the man with the gun: indeed, you dare not defend yourself because you fear that it is you, not the mugger, who would end up in the dock.
For the government is the man with the gun, demanding tithes from you: the government is here, at your door. But not randomly.
No.
The government has gone out and bought itself nice things—plasma TVs, second homes, duckhouses, moats. And jobs, and votes. All of those things that you could not afford—because it has been here before: at your door, with a gun.
Five years ago, it was here—threatening you with prison if you did not pay up—for the sake of all of those children who were not yours. You paid, because you had no option.
Four years ago, it was here—threatening you with prison if you did not pay up—for the sake of all of those unhealthy who were not yours. You paid, because you had no option.
Three years ago, it was here—threatening you with prison if you did not pay up—for the sake of all of those uneducated who were not yours. You paid, because you had no option.
Two years ago, it was here—threatening you with prison if you did not pay up—for the sake of all of those feckless bankers who were not yours. You paid, because you had no option.
One year ago, it was here—threatening you with prison if you did not pay up—for the sake of all of those MPs who had no duck-houses or second homes or moats. You paid, because you had no option.
And now the government has spent everything that you had to give, and more, on its pet projects—on buying its second homes, on buying its duckhouses, on buying its votes—and none of it benefited you and yours. Not even by one iota.
The government didn't care that you couldn't afford to give any more: it didn't care that you had no money.
The government didn't care that you had lost your job: the government didn't care that all of those thousands of pounds it took in National Insurance payments translated into a few hundred when you were in need.
And now, when you are getting back on your feet—back in a job that is not as good as the one the government destroyed, back struggling to look after your family on the pittance you are paid, back paying off your debts—the government, too, is back: it's back with the gun.
The government is back—demanding half of what you broke your back to earn—because it has more grand schemes, more votes to buy, more trinkets to deliver to its favoured ones.
Will you so willingly hand over the sweat of your brow? Will you so willingly condemn you and yours to penury? Will you capitulate again?
Or will you fight?
Join us—and help us to stop the extortion.
Join us—and understand that providing for you and yours is not a sin.
Join us—and realise that a society that pulls together is a society that stays together.
Join us—and help us fight for a future in which people help each other voluntarily, because it is right and fitting to do so.
Join us—and help to build a future in which men, women and children take back their work, their birthrights, their dignity and their compassion from a government that cares nothing for you.
Join us.
Because—whether the government is Tory, Labour or LibDem—soon you will have nothing left to lose.
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