On Supping With the Devil: Commiserations

[f4f3]

Well, to be accurate, commiserations to the Lib Dems who never intended to support a Tory government. I'm sure there are some who are happy with this arrangement. After all, it has much to recommend it to them: four cabinet seats, 20 government posts, and promises of various policy adoptions (I'm afraid I can't put any value on these promises until they're implemented. There's an old Scottish saying: "Shit in one hand and put a Tory promise in the other. Squeeze them both and see which one comes true...").

For anyone else, though, who voted LD because they wanted an LD government, or who voted tactically to keep the Tories out, or who felt betrayed by Labour and voted for what they saw as a progressive alternative, I'm sorry.

I'm also sorry, genuinely sorry, for the LDs as a party.

Now that they've agreed to a coalition with the Tories, there's no way they can break it without destroying themselves at the polls. Their vote share could only come down if they force a general election. They won't increase their vote from Labour supporters, who will see them as having sold out to to the Tories, and they won't gain Tory voters if they're seen to bring down a Tory government. Their best hope is to remain in coalition for as long as possible and be seen to be a moderating force on the Tories, which means anything up to four years of this.

So Nick, and all your supporters, get ready for a diet of shit sandwiches. Every time something comes up that makes your stomach churn, replacing Trident, say, or semi-withdrawing from Europe, or cutting benefits, or hamstringing the BBC, or bringing in American Insurance Companies to "modernise" the NHS, you'll just have to chow down on that big wad of shit, chew it up, and swallow it. What will be the effect of four years of that sort of diet? Well you know what they say about "you are what you eat."

Coalition is a positive thing for me - I hope it brings out the best in both parties. But I can't help paraphrasing Alan Moore here (the paraphrase is in substituting Jason Blood's word "demon" with "Tory")

"We made a deal with the Tories, that we would become a bit more like each other. But Tories cheat. It's in their nature. We've become a bit more like the Tories, and they, too, have become a bit more like themselves".

I hope, Nick, that you brought a very long spoon...

Comments

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I think Clegg's boxed himself into a corner. He would have had more leverage under a "maintenance and supply" arrangement. As it is, the LDs will get stitched up in Cabinet every time and will be able to do nothing about it short of dissolving the coalition.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Yup, and I can't see any circumstances where dissolving the coalition would work for him.

[anthrokeight.livejournal.com]

It's the American Insurance thing that makes me sick to my stomach. In the 13 years of a Labour govt, health care in America has become less accessable in terms of all that "pre-existing condition" stuff, and more expensive.

It would a truly tragic thing for anyone's health care system to become more American. So much so that I wouldn't have a modicum of desire to say "bed, made, now lie in it" to the first British citizen who voted Conservative and then is denied healthcare as justified by Allina Health Inc's for profit health care provision plans. And I do enjoy an occasional vindictive bout of I told you so-sim. (Usually in my head, but all the same).

My friend M, who is a member of and works for the Chickasaw nation was talking about her health care plan (short answer: as good as you're going to get in America. Better than the military, which has very limited reproductive rights, better than for State employees on co-pay.)

Her comment on health care reform? "I am so glad I work for a man [the chairman of the tribe] who believes in healthcare for all his employees. Not just citizens, but employees. And, if a bunch of Indians can make universal health care happen, why can't a bunch of Ivy League-educated white guys?"

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

But those Ivy League-educated white guys do make it work. There's a lot of money to be made in health care for Ivy League-educated white guys. And for public school-educated guys too, especially the ones who paid good money to get the Tories educated.

Imagine how much the State could save, how much of the deficit could be paid off, if only health-care wasn't paid for by the State from money it collects from us. Think how much more efficient it would be if private companies took on the burden of collecting that money, and of spending it too, why not? The State isn't expert in these things, no, it should stick to what it's good at, and let the market take care of the poor, and the sick, and the old.

And while I have your ear, should the government really be in the business of paying for state sponsored media?

[anthrokeight.livejournal.com]

*blam*

*thump*

*leaves f4f3 with the task of tidying away my cold, limp, form*

Hey, while we're at it, the former Governor of Alaska can take all that, make it barely tolerable English, throw in some folksy chow-chow, and look hot while saying it. She'll even bring a tea party.

Perhaps you could hire her away?