My Next Vote Goes To The Libertarian Party

Well I've just joined up which is not only a rare thing for me, but it's the first time that I've joined a political party.

Reply to the comment left by Paul Shears at 25/11/2017 - 23:20
Hi Paul,
It's Will Taylor, thanks for your comment. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of the party so far. It's officially existed since 2007, but over the years (before my time) there has been quite a lot of instability in the leadership team, with people coming and going. There was a real lack of momentum. However, since early this year some fresh faces got involved and got elected to the leadership team, including me. Membership has tripled since January, and we've had a lot more press coverage.
Who knows what the future holds? I'm confident that we're on an upward trajectory from now on. We'll continue to work on growing the membership and getting more press coverage.
Our annual conference is in Westminster on 20th January. It's a reasonably small affair, only a 100 tickets available, but it's a good chance to meet the team. Further details are here: http://www.libertarianparty.co.uk

Voting is a very big deal for libertarians, and I feel very honoured that you've signed up as a member and will consider voting for us. Hope to meet you in person at the conference.

Best regards,
Will

Reply to the comment left by Annie Landlord at 24/11/2017 - 14:17
Hi Annie,
Will Taylor here. Whether we're left or right wing depends on your definitions of these. Personally I use the following:
- Right wing: favours economic freedom, but socially conservative.
- Left wing: favours civil liberties, but wants to control your money.
We don't fit on the traditional left/right spectrum. Economically, we are very right wing. From a civil liberties point of view, we are very left wing.
We think the left/right paradigm is a fallacy. It is freedom vs authoritarianism, or individual freedom vs state control. We stand on the side of freedom of the individual. Labour, the Conservatives, UKIP (since 2009ish) are all authoritarian parties.

Best regards,

Will Taylor

Reply to the comment left by Neil Patterson at 24/11/2017 - 09:13
Hi Neil,
I agree that our manifesto does need a review. That's my job, and I'll be doing it in the new year. There are some parts which are a little provocative for my taste, and some policy ideas need a bit more debate. I'd like it to be a lot clearer in some parts on precisely what steps we would take if we have the authority (especially in the Welfare State section).
Which parts did you find extreme? And how would you change these?

Best regards,

Will

Reply to the comment left by Will Taylor at 26/11/2017 - 17:56
Hi Will,

Sorry to miss your question as I follow so many threads.

As an example:

"The Libertarian Party is committed to:

– Abolishing Personal Income Tax

– Abolishing Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax

– Lowering Corporation Tax to 10%

– Ending the budget deficit and reducing the National Debt

– People and organisations trading freely, honestly and voluntarily"

I see no alternative plan supported by economic, statistical or modeled evidence.

Reply to the comment left by Neil Patterson at 28/11/2017 - 19:47
Hi Neil, sorry for the late reply. I'm trying to earn a living, raise a family, and run a small political party at the same time!

I'm not sure what you're after when you say "alternative plan". Essentially, the libertarian party seeks to shrink the size of the State and the government over the long-term, to its two core duties: protection of individual rights through a criminal justice system, and military defence.

That is a utopian aim, and frankly I doubt we'll ever get there in my lifetime. So pragmatically, we're after changing the direction of this country which is becoming increasingly draconian and authoritarian, violating more of our individual rights for the greater good of the collective. We wish to make society and individual more free, and place responsibility for actions firmly on the shoulders of the individuals who are acting.

The above commitments you mention, such as abolition of income tax etc, are long-term aims. One of the libertarian slogans is "Taxation is theft". I think, broadly speaking that is true. But we are not a zero tax party. We do not seek the end of civilisation as we know it. But we do want to have an honest conversation about the role of government, and how much tax we should be spending in return for a society that is reasonably safe and secure.

The big question is: how do you reduce taxation AND pay off the £1.9 trillion in debt???

Good question. And honestly (libertarians are known for brutal honesty), we have yet to figure out the exact specifics and a step by step plan and costings. There are many options, and none are particularly pleasant. We are a small party, run by volunteers. We have good economic understanding, but until we grow larger we don't yet have the money to invest in economic researchers or number-crunchers to come up with specific timebased proposals and costings.

So until we can do that, these are considered to be long-term aims. How long it takes we do not yet know.

However, all of the options we have are preferable to the long-term economic trajectory we are on. Just this last week, a Bank of England member said that we are on course for a Venezuela style meltdown. And according to the Taxpayers Alliance, we are on course for a Greek style debt crisis from 2034 onwards. NONE of the mainstream parties have a plan to tackle this.

So what would we do?

We can close the deficit very quickly. The Taxpayers Alliance did some number-crunching and produced a "spending plan" which we endorse, and they reckon you can quickly reach £50bn of savings. Cancelling HS2, foreign aid (charity on a credit card), a large bonfire of the quangos and some government department would take us a long way. That buys us some time.

The Spending Plan then details further savings, up to £115bn. These savings could be used to partially start to pay back the national debt, and also reduce corporation tax levels, thereby encouraging businesses to invest and grow. As the debt comes down, tax revenue begins to increase, and we shrink government further, other taxes could be reduced gradually.

When I say gradually, I mean over a 20 year period. We are a nation addicted to government welfare and intervention. We need to be weaned off, without killing the patient.

That's a long answer, and I've thrashed around the edges of the question. But I hope I've given you some insight into what we would hope to achieve IF we were ever to be in a position of power.

In the meantime, we just want to grow the party, so we can have a larger voice, and influence the national conversation.

Here's a link to the TPA Spending Plan: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/taxpayersalliance/pages/5255/attachments/original/1425976126/The_Spending_Plan_WEB2.pdf?1425976126

Best regards,

Will

Thank you Will for your explanation and time.

Your manifesto makes more sense as a pressure group rather than policy to enact now so I will not debate the micro and macro economics without the figures.

HS2 like most government projects is almost certain not be cost neutral especially when you look at the opportunity costs of spending the money elsewhere. However, the investment can't also be considered as a pure cost.

I myself naturally take more of a laissez faire attitude to economics, which would not be too far from your spectrum, but there is still I believe a place for Fiscal and monetary policy stimulus decisions.

Keep up the great campaigning for Landlords as you are the only political party to consider the PRS as an asset 🙂

PS. I am also taking an interest in how the economy might be shaped in the longer term term (5 years plus) by advances in Robotics, other autonomous machines and AI.

As your planning is much longer term this would be an interesting area to consider, but others might call me boring too lol.

The reason I joined the party is, as Neil Patterson has said above, because the Libertarian Party is the only party which truly recognises the value of the PRS.

When I vote Libertarian I accept it will be a protest vote.

Some will say that my vote is a wasted vote but I don't accept that. The more noise we make the more we will be heard. For this reason, I joined the party to help fund more nose making. If all landlords were to do the same the noise we make would stand a better chance of being heard by the partial of hearing sitting in the House of Commons. Maybe then the war of landlords might be re-considered.

watching the video of your housing policies was worth my party membership fee alone. I am proud to have shared it and hope that many Property118 members have done the same.

I also hope many more Property118 members will financially support your party to make more noise, especially about your housing policies please!

I suggest that anyone who is interested in Libertarian philosophy might consider following Noam Chomsky (Left of the party) and Stefan Molyneux (Right of the party). Warning: This can become addictive!

Reply to the comment left by Barry Fitzpatrick at 23/11/2017 - 20:28Is it housing, or more accurately a population crisis ? The utility & food supply Co's put uk heads at around 80m.