The Liberal Democrats, and how they have blown their chance.

For all my posturing and complaining how no-one votes at elections. I ashamed to admit I didn't vote last time round.

I was going to, but then University of Wolverhampton stole all my money, and I couldn't get home to fill out a ballot paper. I know I could have planned it better. I know I could have postal voted. But I was rubbish. I didn't think and I'm a failure.

But anyway, it didn't matter.

I hadn't decided, but I was going to vote Liberal Democrat or Labour.
Tim Loughton, the Tory who has been our MP since our constituency was created in 1997, recieved 23,458 votes (interestingly, this is proof that there are at least 23,458 old/stupid people in my area).

The next closest was James Doyle, the Liberal Democrat, who recieved 12,353 votes.
Now, had I voted, that would have given him a sum of 12,354 votes.
Unfortunately, that is still less than 23,458.

Fairly worryingly Emily Benn from Labour recieved 8,087 votes. So even if we added up all the votes for Labour and Lib Dem, Tim still won. That's a bit sad really.

But the point I'm going to make is actually a different one.
Because I championed Lib Dems during the lead up the election, and I was rooting for them. I probably would have voted Liberal Democrat if I had been here.

And now, I don't think I can ever vote Lib Dem.
Call it youthful naivety if you like, but I think Liberal Democrats had an opportunity at the 2010 election.
Not an opportunity to get into power (although funnily enough they sort of did), I think they had a chance to win a generation of voters to their cause, and they had the chance to proove themselves as different types of politicians. Not liars and cheats and media-spinners. Real people standing up for what their constituants wanted.

See, if you talk to young people about politics the key word tends to be apathy.

Politicians are all the same. They make promises to get your vote, and then make a u-turn when it comes to the decisions. They abuse their expenses. They never give you a straight answer.

The problem is people don't trust politicians. They are too used to people who just want to be in a position of power. 

So along come the Lib Dems, making their promises, and saying they are going to be a "real alternative" and "fair". Amongst young people the Lib Dems were by far the most popular party, becuase they were offering something different to the politics that we knew and hated.

So here was their chance.
They didn't have to get into power. All they had to do was win the respect of a young generation of voters who believed in them. They just had to keep their promises, and stay true to their manifesto, and reward those people who put their faith in them.

The Liberal Democrats could have emerged from these difficult political times as a party who were willing to stand by their word. And it would have been a slow process, but I think a massive proportion of this generation would have believed in the Lib Dems in a way that the Tory vs. Labour current generation just aren't capable of doing.
So then a couple of elections down the road, the Lib Dems would have proved themselves as a real party with real values, and I suspect that is exactly what people are looking for. I think the Liberal Democrats could have been a genuine contender, in two or three elections time.

But what did they do?

They teamed up with the Tories. The party that, on paper, they disagreed with the most.
They broke their election pledge to stop university fees from dramatically rising.
They proved to all the young voters who put their faith in them that you really cannot trust a single word a politician said, and I can promise you that they have thrown away so many potential voters for the future.

This was their chance, and they have seriously blown it.

Now they are hated even more than the Tories. Because at heart we knew what we were getting from the Tories.

It's like you're being bullied at school, and then you see your best friend, who promised to come to your rescue, join in with the bullies. Sure, you hate the bullies but you're gonna hate your friend even more for abandoning you.

So now everyone who likes the current government will vote Conservative, because it's basically their policies. And everyone who doesn't has no choice but to vote Labour.

Lib Dems had a chance to be recognised as a different kind of political party, and had a generation of voters just waiting to get behind them.
Instead I fear they have now lost their support, and cannot be trusted.