A Liberal in Limbo

Well, a General Election for 12 December 2019 has just been announced. Normally, this would enthral me and ensure "lively" pub conversation for the next six weeks. This is because I've always been a political geek, as have most of my friends.

But recently I've found this more of a curse than a blessing.

Every political view in the UK, and Scotland, tends towards extremes these days. Any attempt to take a balanced view, or to at least attempt to understand an opponent's viewpoint, is met with scorn and derision. This is exemplified in social media platforms such as Twitter, which I once thought would be the ideal method to debate with like-minded political geeks. In reality, Twitter generates more heat than light, as the short snappy messages allow only for generalised, polarised views on most topics, with no room to identify exceptions or counterarguments. Any reasonable attempts to debate quickly descend into insults, with people entrenched in their own position. This becomes exhausting and mentally draining. Many don't even bother to debate and only read and interact with those posts offering similar views to their own.

As people's views are shaped by such platforms, they become more and more extreme on both sides, on and offline. This is not good for a healthy political landscape.

I became so frustrated by this that I decided to start this blog. I'm not advertising it on any social media, and to be honest I don't even care if nobody reads it - as I said above, I find online political debate to be more trouble than it's worth. It's merely a method to let off steam on some of my opinions - getting them out there, even if it's to an audience of zero, feels better than bottling them up!

So what, very broadly, do I think? Well, I'm aware that the UK is not perfect, and neither is the EU. However, by any reasonable comparison, and certainly by any historical one, life in Scotland within the UK within the EU is actually pretty good. Leaving either (or both) is a knee-jerk reaction will cause an unpredictable social and economic disaster that isn't worth it. What problems there are with the status quo can be more constructively resolved, and in a manner that benefits a far greater number of people, by working with our friends and neighbours at all levels of government.

Yet this looks to be a very unlikely way forwards. I really do feel like a Liberal in Limbo.