[BBC News] Shock results in island election

[VinnieK]

As Steve said, solid policies and agenda will evolve and you will see this happening shortly. It is admitted the principles we espouse are worthy and "(which, after all, is a description that no political party would refuse)."

 

It just seems odd for a party to consciously align itself with a particular ideology before even having come up with the policies and agenda - usually it happens the other way round, a party and its alignment being defined by it's policies and principles.

 

All I'm trying to find out is what makes you liberal (in the political sense, rather than the everyday use of the word as a synonym for tolerant or open minded). The party has canvassed for votes under the liberal banner (under which it has done very successfuly), so surely there's a responsibility there to explain what this association means and how it works.

 

The world of political liberalism is a big one, from classical and conservative liberals to social liberals. It'd just be nice to know where LV fits in with all of this.

[thesultanofsheight]

All I'm trying to find out is what makes you liberal (in the political sense, rather than the everyday use of the word as a synonym for tolerant or open minded). The party has canvassed for votes under the liberal banner (under which it has done very successfuly), so surely there's a responsibility there to explain what this association means and how it works.

 

Good point. I always thought that a core principle of liberalism was "laissez-faire" government. Well we've got that so I can't really ssee what their point is trying to change that.

[VinnieK]

Good point. I always thought that a core principle of liberalism was "laissez-faire" government. Well we've got that so I can't really ssee what their point is trying to change that.

 

That's one form of liberalism (the classical one), but there's also social or progressive liberalism that tries to readdress social inequalities whilst still resisting the full scale intervention, planning and protectionism of socialism. The term is so broad that to call yourself liberal these days is largely meaningless in a practical sense, despite still having connotations that are important from the electorate's perspective, which is why I'm interested in knowing where LV stand.

[thesultanofsheight]

Good point. I always thought that a core principle of liberalism was "laissez-faire" government. Well we've got that so I can't really ssee what their point is trying to change that.

 

That's one form of liberalism (the classical one), but there's also social or progressive liberalism that tries to readdress social inequalities whilst still resisting the full scale intervention, planning and protectionism of socialism. The term is so broad that to call yourself liberal these days is largely meaningless in a practical sense, despite still having connotations that are important from the electorate's perspective, which is why I'm interested in knowing where LV stand.

 

Vinnie the truth of it is this.

 

They can't use the word "labour" anywhere in their title because of certain peoples' past connections with Manx Labour, so they picked on "Liberal" as the next best word.

 

Don't try to analyse this situation too deeply.