Brian Eno has launched a campaign today to create a 'real opposition': Lib Dem This Time. The site springs out of consistent polling which has shown the difference between how many people say they will vote for the Lib Dems (c. 20%) and those who say they would if they thought they might win (nearer 40%). By getting thousands of people to sign up saying that is the way they are voting, Eno hopes to create a movement that will lead to the Lib Dems becoming the real opposition. Or, as he more eloquently puts it:
"This election could be a tipping point: with the Tories weak, and Blair widely distrusted, the chance is within reach, but if people who can't face voting for either the Tories or the Labour party just stay home, nothing will change: we'll be back to 5 more years of sterile, self serving 'parliamentary debate', of playing cowboys with George Bush, of deceit and evasion and the erosion of democracy in this country.
A good result for the Liberal Democrats won't change the world overnight - it's the start of a process. But it will be an important sign - that people are disillusioned with the conduct of government, and are ready to support a politics of vision and principle rather than fear and focus groups. That message alone will dramatically improve politics in this country."
Interesting stuff, and more ambitious than previous web-based attempts to engender political change (say, Billy Bragg's Tactical voting experiment. Obviously, what is needed is critical mass, and people to tell people who tell people. The most likely area for it to spread is amongst the web-literate 20-30 age group I would guess, who are amongst the most disillusioned sectors of society. Will be intriguing to follow its progress.
The Strange death of Liberal England recounts how the Liberals were replaced virtually overnight as the party to oppose the Tories - there is a way of generating critical mass using the internet. Will post the idea who knows it may get listed.
Posted by: John Töns | March 31, 2005 at 12:12 PM