The Future of Everything
We appear not at one crossroads but many. The current COVID saga and the resulting chaotic rules rumble on, alongside the continuation of Brexit negotiations, combined with a backdrop of lockdown, BLM and xR protests, a fight for our culture, a battle for free speech and the devastating erosion of our civil liberties. As the government secures more powers and builds more debt than it has ever done before, we ask ourselves, “what of the future?”
It may be true that life is always full of constant and maybe even eternal struggles. Not just in our personal lives, but of ideas, beliefs and our vision for the future of our country and the world. As understandable as the scrutiny around policy proposals may be, when even our Christmas plans surrounding the number of people in our homes becomes the matter of political debate, is it not time to accept that enough is enough?
Whenever and wherever the government intervenes, interferes or intrudes, it always makes things worse. Healthcare, education, the economy, trade, environment, etc. An over-reliance and abundance of centralised power is the reason that so many lobby, look for favour, cancel the opinions of others, or resort to violent protest and brutality to try and get their way from those that pull the Westminster levers and push the Whitehall buttons. They think that they’re trying to fix the system that is already broken.
Simultaneously, of course, expecting public sector pay rises and more money from the public purse to help. Well, we certainly don’t need any more help from these people. They have spent all of our money, become too bossy and too nosy. Recently, of course, they have resorted to the forced closure of businesses, allowed people to lose their jobs, quarantined a healthy population and brought the economy to its knees. All with Labour’s support.
Instead, our libertarian vision of the future must be to limit the power of the state. When we allow the private sector to innovate and create jobs, we usher in prosperity. When we allow the charity sector to fill in the gaps to help those left behind, we usher in cooperation and responsibility. When we uphold free speech, we see increases to the levels of tolerance.
Much needs to change. Mindsets, voting habits, and our trust in each other to solve our own problems and not to rely on those we send to London. Unless you are an influential donor or powerful trade union, they do not act in the best interests of the real people that send them there, whether we cosy up to them or not.
We will step in where the Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party have failed. Neither is it the time for single-issue populism to combat them. We will continue to be the party of limited government, as we uphold these principles of freedom and continue to seek the expansion of liberty, bringing this monopoly to an end.
Here’s to the hope for a better future, not only for ourselves but for each other.
Andrew Kinsman – Libertarian Party Cheshire Group Leader and Nominating Officer.