When was liberalism anything other than left wing?

[matgb]

Really pleased that the radical shift to the left in taxation policy was passed at today's Lib Dem conference--couldn't make it into the hall to hear the debate unfortunately, but a genuinely redistributive policy that will genuinely help those earning the least in society has to be a bloody good thing.

Shift to the right?

For some reason there are a bunch of people convinced that it's some sort of shift to the right, and I haven't yet seen a decent explanation as to what definition of 'right' they're using. Admittedly, I've been utterly swamped on the registration desk and attending fringe events, so I've not had time to read through the debate, and as it's 3am and I'm back on the desk at 8.30am I'm not going to now.

Can someone please explain what the 'rightwards shift' is supposed to mean, as having finally read a copy of the Make It Happen paper I can see something that's both genuinely Liberal and nicely left wing in a genuinely radical way.

I'm not too keen on the tone of some of the marketing language they've used, and the over use of 'families' combined with 'no child left behind' did piss me off a bit, but having read the underlying ideas behind the rhetoric and knowing that it's aimed not at a BA politics type like me but at journalists and actual real, sane, normal people, I can get over that.

Decent left wing tax & reform agenda

So now we have a decent left wing tax policy reducing taxes for those earning the least combined with the traditional radically left wing political reform agenda. Now all we need is a commitment to level the playing field for those wanting to set up or convert to co-operatives, and this l'il liberal socialist will be very happy.

For the majority of non politics geeks that hang around this place, I'm at party conference in Bournemouth, I'm exhausted, and now I need to sleep. That's assuming Jennie's snoring doesn't keep me awake all night. Wish me luck...

Comments

Re: Also, in response to your headline:

[caramel-betty.livejournal.com]

On the (rather poor) Political Compass type things, I usually end up pretty much central on the economic scale, and most of the way out towards liberal on the other scale. The last time I did one, they had Simon Hughes plotted on it in about the same place I was.

I believe in things like trying to give everyone opportunities (like helping the poor go to the university of their choice), progressive taxation and the like. I also tend to favour small amounts of Law but a relatively large State - where, in my mind, Law is the regulation of everything to hell and back and invading people's private lives, but the State should be providing public services and safety nets for people.

But at heart I try to be pragmatic. Sure, a small law approach might embrace completely free markets, but I want some regulation. And while I have a lot of sympathy for socialism (in the "helping out other people who aren't me" sense, rather than necessarily nationalized industries and such), I find it hard to endorse for Britain on a grand scale, because there are situations where it doesn't work out well, and other things can be better.

I don't know what that makes me. Confused?