Gavin Webb: Libertarian councillor for Stoke & Trent Vale

Hello everyone.  Apologies for not posting for a while, but today, I post a message from the Leader of the Libertarian Party, Chris Mounsey:

My friends

We are broke.  Our country — whatever it may once have been — is now laden with debt. And this isn’t “the government’s debt”: it is our debt.

The government has no money but what it takes — what it extorts — from us.

We have gone beyond consensus politics: if a man were to come to your door, with a gun, and demand half of everything that you earned — on pain of severe punishment, on pain of the total ruination of your life — would you not protest?

For a moment, lay aside those dutiful thoughts of those starving millions beyond your gate, and think, instead, of those within your own household — within your own family: would you not rather protect them first?

Of course you would: they are your kith and kin and you would expect — would you not? — that everyone, like you, would defend theirs against you were you the one holding the gun.

The government has now utterly removed from you the means of protecting yourself and your family against the man with the gun: indeed, you dare not defend yourself because you fear that it is you, not the mugger, who would end up in the dock.

For the government is the man with the gun, demanding tithes from you: the government is here, at your door.  But not randomly.

No.

The government has gone out and bought itself nice things — plasma TVs, second homes, duckhouses, moats.   And jobs, and votes.   All of those things that you could not afford — because it has been here before: at your door, with a gun.

Five years ago, it was here — threatening you with prison if you did not pay up — for the sake of all of those children who were not yours.  You paid, because you had no option.

Four years ago, it was here — threatening you with prison if you did not pay up—for the sake of all of those unhealthy who were not yours.  You paid, because you had no option.

Three years ago, it was here — threatening you with prison if you did not pay up—for the sake of all of those uneducated who were not yours.  You paid, because you had no option.

Two years ago, it was here — threatening you with prison if you did not pay up — for the sake of all of those feckless bankers who were not yours.  You paid, because you had no option.

One year ago, it was here — threatening you with prison if you did not pay up — for the sake of all of those MPs who had no duck-houses or second homes or moats.  You paid, because you had no option.

And now the government has spent everything that you had to give, and more, on its pet projects — on buying its second homes, on buying its duckhouses, on buying its votes — and none of it benefited you and yours.  Not even by one iota.

The government didn’t care that you couldn’t afford to give any more: it didn’t care that you had no money.

The government didn’t care that you had lost your job: the government didn’t care that all of those thousands of pounds it took in National Insurance payments translated into a few hundred when you were in need.

And now, when you are getting back on your feet — back in a job that is not as good as the one the government destroyed, back struggling to look after your family on the pittance you are paid, back paying off your debts — the government, too, is back: it’s back with the gun.

The government is back — demanding half of what you broke your back to earn — because it has more grand schemes, more votes to buy, more trinkets to deliver to its favoured ones.

Will you so willingly hand over the sweat of your brow?  Will you so willingly condemn you and yours to penury?  Will you capitulate again?

Or will you fight?

Join us — and help us to stop the extortion.

Join us — and understand that providing for you and yours is not a sin.

Join us — and realise that a society that pulls together is a society that stays together.

Join us — and help us fight for a future in which people help each other voluntarily, because it is right and fitting to do so.

Join us — and help to build a future in which men, women and children take back their work, their birthrights, their dignity and their compassion from a government that cares nothing for you.

Join us.

Because — whether the government is Tory, Labour or Lib Dem — soon you will have nothing left to lose.

Chris Mounsey
Leader, Libertarian Party

You might like to read Chris’ own blog, The Devil’s Kitchen.  It’s a little sweary so don’t click the link if you are of a sensitive disposition.

Gavin Webb, who was selected as the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for Burton in 2008 and elected as a Lib Dem councillor on Stoke-on-Trent City Council in 2007, has today announced that he has resigned from the Liberal Democrats.

He says: “I have made a good many friends in my fourteen years of activism in the Liberal Democrats and I hope that those friendships will continue, but regretfully I have decided to resign from the Liberal Democrats.

“The party, like the Conservative and Labour parties, has become a party of the establishment. It has unfortunately firmly wedded itself to the belief that there are primarily government solutions to the problems facing our country, and in the process, they are adopting policies that undermine our rights and freedoms as individuals.

“As far as I can see, most political parties in the UK appear to trust individuals when it comes to voting for councillors, MPs and MEPs, but once comfortably in power they are reluctant to trust individuals when it comes to them making choices about their own lives.

“There is however one political party – the Libertarian Party – that believes in giving responsibility back to individuals over their own lives and their own finances; and it is this party that I have now decided to join.

“We are on the road of authoritarianism, where government is our ruler rather than us being the ruler of our government. It is time for each and every single one of us to make a stand against government and those who feed off it, and demand the reduction of its size and scope.

“From what I’ve seen from many Lib Dem parliamentarians and councillors I don’t believe the Liberal Democrat Party has the inclination to argue for smaller government in defence of our individual rights.

“Though there are some good classical liberal and libertarian types in the party, with whom I hope to continue to have a good relationship, their voices are crowded out by people who believe it perfectly okay to dictate to people how they should live their lives. I don’t wish any longer to be a part of that.

“As an active member of the Libertarian Party, I will campaign to inform people that there are more voluntary, rather than coercive ways in which to influence positive outcomes for themselves, their families and the wider community. I hope to impress upon people that though there may be a need for government of some sort, it doesn’t have to be government of the size and expense we see today.”

Libertarian Party Leader Ian Parker-Joseph said:

“It has been a pleasure over the past months to speak with Gavin on numerous occasions, and following a meeting with him last month can attest to his personal commitment to the libertarian values on which he was elected, a man of honour, integrity and a passion for doing the right thing for his constituents.

“I am therefore very pleased on behalf of The Libertarian Party to welcome Gavin Webb into the only party that wholly and uniquely stands for libertarian ideals in the UK.

“I know that there is a great sadness from Gavin that the Liberal Democrat leadership were unable to rise to the challenge of veering away from the belief that the State has the answers to all our ills. It is a sadness shared by many.

“In that light I hope that there are many more who now see the time as right to make the same changes that Gavin Webb has undertaken, not just from the Lib Dems but also those in the Conservative Libertarian wing who are unsuccessfully looking for reforms that will never come, and instead to look to a party that believes in libertarianism as a way of life, rather than one which merely gives lip service to it.

“The Libertarian Party is here to stay, and new members such as Gavin Webb can only enhance the message that his constituents so clearly wanted to hear, and that Gavin Webb is living on their behalf.”

Libertarian Party Chairman Andrew Withers said:

“Whilst we have a number of Parish and Town Councillors, Gavin is the first City Councillor that has crossed the floor to a truly Radical Party, one that wants to change the relationship between State and the Individual to the point where the State is subordinate to the will of the people, not the people subordinate to the will of the State.

“Furthermore, the Libertarian Party argues that State should be small and accountable.

“We welcome Gavin, and hope that his decision will galvanise other libertarians in other parties to join with us on the long march back to individual liberty.”