Not long ago, a young fellow named Nick left a comment on one of my posts, saying there was no need to start my own political party, as there was a perfectly good party that had just registered for the Federal Election. Turns out Nick is the Liberty and Democracy Party’s candidate for the Victorian seat of Deakin… good on him I say! I have said many times on this blog that I lament the Liberal Party’s departure from their founded ideals of classical Libertarianism, and I want to see a party in Australia that supports free trade, classical liberal economic policies, whilst also supporting a progressive social policy. The LDP claims to support all of that, so I decided to check it out.
It was interesting, to say the least. A quick look at the candidates show a good portion of them to be engineers or lawyers, and a majority of them appear to be target shooters. The kind of crowd a firearms-owning engineer would fit well into. I thought I would examine a few notes from their policies, maybe the readers of this blog could offer their ideas (I love discussion).
Nuclear Power
I like this one… LDP support nuclear power, which I think is essential to Australia’s growth. They aptly point out that nuclear safety has increased exponentially since the disasters of Chernobyl or Three Mile Island, and Australia is not short of space when it comes to storing waste product (which is volumetrically negligible). As they state… if Sweden can use and store their own, Australia has no excuses. And as the No.1 supplier of uranium worldwide, why not use the resources we already have. They support coal power for as long as it is economically viable and sustainable, but in my opinion nuclear power is the way to go.
Global Warming
Whether real or not, whether man-made or not, the pragmatist’s view remains, i.e. we really can’t do much about it… the deed is done. We don’t know enough about our climate history, and notable “experts†keep contradicting each other… if climate change is happening, we would be far better off preparing for different climate conditions and adapting than spending money on “green†industries whilst China builds a coal power-plant every 2 weeks. When it comes to global warming, my opinion is that we would be better off saving our water, and learning how to harvest more, as it’s going to become the new scarce resource.
Lifestyle-choices / Gay Marriage
One of the LDP’s main tag-lines goes along the line of “You can live and do whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t directly hurt others or their propertyâ€. As such, gay marriage is in, and the government has no right to morally police the populace. They state that marriage is not historically a religious thing, and definitely not originally Christian, so it is completely hypocritical to deny two loving people the chance not to officially wed like anyone else.
On the same stroke, one of the things I like is that they state that an individual must be responsible for their own choices… whether good or bad. It is not up to the Government to nanny a person and protect them from themselves… you do it, you live with it.
That’s the pros, now the cons:
State-based responsibility
It would appear that the LDP, in their drive towards a minimalist government, would have education and some other departments devolved almost completely to the state level, using governmental competition to drive an efficient outcome. Nice thought, but no. The state governments on the whole have no idea how to run a toaster, much less an economy or even worse the state’s education. Mismanagement, disparity between states and constant federal-state blame-shifting have gotten the education (and health) system to where it is now… In my opinion it’s time to ged rid of state governments, and enjoy the savings from not having that extra level of control.
Invididual Health
I’m sorry, but this stink like America. The LDP appear to far less government control in health, which whilst it would encourage efficiencies, would undoubtedly lead to an American-style health system where poor people die on the streets. Also, by relying on provider competition, we would see “low-cost†and “budget†health providers, which would see cartoon-like surgeons operating with a bedsheet and a rusty scalpel. Encouraging free economy is one thing, but regulation must exist somewhere because people will do anything for a dollar.
Gun Control
I’ve used firearms since I got my minor’s permit at 13, and owned my first rifle at 18. I balked at how insane the legislation is to own a firearm… I do anything wrong, store it incorrectly or even not fill out the right forms, it’s an instant $5000 fine, a criminal conviction, and a possible jail term. However, the LDP supports giving people the right to own firearms for “self-defenceâ€, which I think is inherently dangerous. Whilst we don’t have the underclass of America, we still do have an underclass, and frankly I like being able to walk through dodgy neighbourhoods knowing that worst comes to the worst, I mostly likely won’t have a gun pointed in my face. Whilst it is still possible to get a gun, we are saved by the fact that it is bloody hard unless you know the right people and can pay a premium for it. Buying one down at the local K-Mart will lead to an incredible surge of people having guns “for the sake of itâ€, and people will end up being stupid with them. As it currently stands, the laws mean that any firearms owner must be very responsible with them, and the draconian laws mean that they are very unlikely to misuse them in any way.
So as it stands I am unsure. As with any party, there are pros and cons. I’m thinking they would do well in the Senate… I would far prefer them to have the balance of power rather than Family First. As for the lower house… well I met the Democrats candidate for Bennelong last weekend… maybe it’s time the Dems had another crack at the target?
Thoughts, Comments, Poems… the floor is yours 
Well, it’s the “new” TV… streaming media!
Quite a lot of blogs out there have “purposes”, whatever that may be. Many are political, lambasting liberalism, gay rights, free dogs for the elderly, anything really that is a cause usually has a blog associated to it. Or there are sewing blogs, kniting blogs, blogs about running, jumping, swimming, horses, cats, everything. 
My gawd I’m a duffer. When I posted the link to Adam’s survey, I misspelled the link! Thanks so much to Neil for pointing that out!
