The General Election: What is a bear to hope for?

Confession time. I just can’t get up any enthusiasm at all for the General Election. Why? I simply cannot see anything good coming out of it. All the likely outcomes seem, from my point of view, to be bad.

Another Labour victory? The Labour Party’s record over the past 13 years has been absolutely terrible. Old freedoms are fast disappearing.

A good showing by the LibDems and a hung parliament? The Liberal Democrats, despite having some good points, are, on the whole, no better than Labour.

A Conservative victory? The Conservative Party is, in my opinion, better than Labour or the LibDems, but not much. I continue to hold the view that I have held for many years, that the Conservatives have the potential to be OK, but in the end, they always disappoint. And under David Cameron, they are less promising than ever.

My estimate of David Cameron is that other than a loyalty to his party, his country, and his own poltical career, he has no strong political beliefs or convictions. I may do the Mr Cameron an injustice, but my guess is that Simon Heffer’s assessment is accurate. It also seems to me that Mr. Cameron is one of the less libertarian figures in the Conservative Party. Of the likely election results, an overall Conservative majority would yield the most palatable goverment. But this would serve to bolster Cameron’s leadership, and weaken the hand of those in the Conservative Party who love freedom and distrust government. So in some ways, a disastrous result for the Conservative Party might, strangely enough, be a more hopeful result.

The minority parties don’t fill me with hope either. This is partly because none of them are likely to make a breakthrough, so they are all fairly irrelevant. Plaid Cymru and the SNP have the potential to win some seats and be in a position of power in the event of a hung parliament, but they seem to me to be no better than Labour and the LibDems. The Green Party and the BNP are no better. They both talk about freedom, but one gets the impression that it is their kind of freedom, freedom on their terms, that they are dreaming of - and if you want other kinds of freedom, you are out of luck.

UKIP have their faults, but they are easily the best of a bad bunch. And because of that, since I’m not a political purist, I hope that they do well. I’d love them to get 7 or 8% of the popular vote - and win Buckingham. Alas, I can’t see it happening.

And Libertarians? There are a couple of LPUK candidates - Nic Coome in Devizes, and Martin Cullip in Sutton and Cheam - as well as a handful of independents who are standing on a platform of upholding freedom. I hope they do well, but even if they do spectacularly well, they are not going to be a factor in the next government.

So what am I hoping for? Oddly enough, that all of the big three parties do badly. Ah well, I can dream.