Thursday 18 March 2010

Inspectors All Round Whoever We Vote For

Simon Heffer, writing in the Telegraph, has been talking of freedom and autonomy of the individual.

In the long years of Tory rule, those who reminded the electorate that with a Labour government you also got socialist control were dismissed as scaremongers. However, it is true, and we now see it is true.
Too right it is. The Tories have been mentioning this since the 50s, when a vote for them was a vote to be able to 'call your soul your own'.


It's only the existence of a prolonged Labour administration which has conclusively proven that the Tories were correct. Their doom-laden warnings were justified.

We live in a country where harmless people taking pictures of cathedrals are warned off by police invoking anti-terrorism laws; where the same legislation is used to regulate the positioning of wheelie bins; where smoking is banned even in public places whose owners wish to allow it; where the hunting of vermin is banned even on the land of those who wish to have it hunted. All these invasions of individual autonomy have taken place since 1997.
And then some, Simon. And then some.

It could have been worse. We could have had identity cards, forcing a citizen to prove his or her right to be here, or to admit who he or she is, despite having committed no offence. We could have had a national DNA database. We could have had a law that prevented comedians telling jokes about religion. We could have had the restriction of jury trials. We could have had people locked up without trial for 90 days because the police are incapable of finding any evidence upon which to convict them of something. We could have criminalised people for being nutters, for that is one of the best words to describe those poisonous idiots who claim Auschwitz was just a film set and the genocide of the Jews didn't happen. All these things have been discussed or proposed by Labour in varying degrees of seriousness, but – so far – have not been inflicted on our people. However, they show a certain, and unpleasant, cast of mind.
They do indeed.

But then, considering the Tories have been warning us about the perils of socialist control for decades, isn't it quite astounding that their current crop display exactly the same mindset?

On alcohol, James Brokenshire.

"Conservatives would strengthen controls on licensing, ban below-cost sales of alcohol and use targeted taxes on high strength products"
Chris Grayling agrees.

"Irresponsible" promotions such "all you can drink" or the "dentist's chair" will be subject to a blanket ban as part of a new mandatory code for licencees.

Chris Grayling, the shadow Home Secretary, said: "This is the third time the Government has announced this initiative, what we need to do now is get on with tackling the problem."
Hurry up with the bansturbatory legislation, already!

And, of course, David Cameron has made his views on personal responsibility and property rights abundantly clear.

"I’m just not a banner. But you know, I think the country has moved on, and people have accepted the smoking ban.”
Of course we have. That's why this man is still languishing in jail. Err ... isn't he?

We'll leave Tory dictatorial plans on green issues, the public's food preferences, and intrusive surveillance for now. Needless to say that that their policies thus far aren't overly appealing, but what can one expect when Cameron himself has boasted publicly that he abhors libertarianism.

We're still being led to the polling booths on a vague 'nudge nudge, wink wink' basis by Tory supporters with regard to personal freedoms. While their party's public pronouncements signal the exact opposite.

Oh yeah, we'll not mention the Conservatives' reticence to stand up to the EU either. Which, as Ranting Stan points out, is a significant source of authoritarian interference.

That soul the Tories were talking about earlier ... you didn't really need it, did you?


11 comments:

Tim Almond said...

Their health green paper reads just like nannying New Labour:

http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2010/01/A_Healthier_Nation.aspx

Beware of Geeks bearing GIFs said...

This "bansturbatory" legislation is just a cowardly distraction so they don't have to tackle the real issues facing this country:

Uncontrolled and unsustainable immigration

Unaffordable and out of control Welfare State

A massive unaffordable public sector

An unaffordable NHS system that caters for the entire third world as well as life-threatening cosmetic surgery conditions

Unaffordable public sector pensions

Crippling business taxes and bureaucracy

In other words, not one politician from any political colour has the cojones to admit to us that we are bankrupt, both financially and morally, and will not tackle any of the above issues.

Smoke and mirrors, smoke and mirrors.

Pat Nurse MA said...

No point voting Tory - they are just Labour in disguise. The party has lost it's soul. It deserves to lose. Only then will Camoron take the smoking issue seriously. Currently, it doesn't matter who wins the election from the three main parties and who dishes out more nannying. UKIP for me as the only one that really wants to save individual souls from the nanny/bully state.

JuliaM said...

Oh, just great.

Meanwhile, Guido reports that iDave is contemplating his choice for his own Mouth of Sauron.

We aren't even going to notice the difference at all, are we?

Anonymous said...

Lib/Lab/Con

Same meat different gravy.

paulo said...

Please drop the "already"s.

This annoying little Americanism is so anti British and is unfortunately moving through the Libertarian blogosphere like a dose of swine-flu.

Please desist as it is starting to ruin some otherwise entertaining blogs.

paulo

Dick Puddlecote said...

Fair enough Paulo, but it kinda illustrates the point better than 'immediately'. :-)

banned said...

This was my first read in todays on-line Telegraph. Great article, best bit was the Might Have Been Worse paragraph.
As others suggest, if Dave loses this election it will be, in part, because of his 'done deal' attitude to the smoking ban and our Refendum.

And yet they are still confused about why they might yet lose?

Antisthenes said...

You may be perfectly correct about what David Cameron is. However the electorate see a totally different David Cameron due to Labour propaganda, they have been encouraged and are believing that he is a true blue. David Cameron is attempting to counter this because the inference is that the Tories will reintroduce self reliance, dismantle the nanny state, reverse draconian
rules and legislation and bring economic stability. The public are alarmed at this prospect as it means sacrifices and curtailing of them getting on with their greedy selfish little lives that the left have so cleverly engineered them to want over the last 60 years.

So hopefully Dave's stance and pronouncements are just a front and only that and he has learned the same nasty devious tricks that the left employ.

CiaranG said...

Since the 50s you say? That poster is from 1929, I believe. Truly prophetic too, sadly.

Dick Puddlecote said...

Thanks Ciaran, it said 50s at the site I nicked it from. Still very prophetic, as you say.