We need to break the cosy socially conservative consensus in which ideas like banning smoking in films take root
Jump to full article: The Guardian (uk), 2009-09-23
Author: Charlotte Gore | Comment is free
Intro: Unsuspecting journalists attending the anti-prohibition conference fringe event would be forgiven for thinking the Liberal Democrats were a hotbed of anti-state libertarian action.
The panel included Colin Eldridge from Liverpool City Council, who had been invited to defend the controversial idea of rating films 18 certificate if they happen to feature "unnecessary" smoking. The audience – and the rest of the panel – were not impressed. Questions were invited, then the audience began pouring scorn and ridicule on this heinous idea.
I asked Eldridge if his opinions were his own. Was he parroting a line he thought might be electorally advantageous? "If I were doing it to win votes," he said, "I'd be against the policy."
. . .
As an advocate of free trade, free speech and individualism, I'm used to being in the minority whenever Liberal Democrats are gathered, so to find myself sharing knowing nods and looks of incredulity with an angry mob as Eldridge spoke was a strangely refreshing experience. Being popular is fun! Who knew?
But here's the problem. While libertarians, classical liberals and free thinkers were all in the bars and fringes of Bournemouth complaining about policy, the nanny state Liberal Democrats were all in the conference hall pouring reinforced concrete on our reputation as yet another mildly authoritarian social democratic party, just like the other two.
The biggest failure was the infamous "airbrushing ban" – a policy that demands that images aimed at under-16s are not digitally manipulated, and images aimed at adults have to carry a warning. . . .
If the Liberal Democrats want to be distinctive, we need to break the cosy socially conservative consensus, where politicians believe their role in life is to make the people fitter, happier and more productive and justify every illiberal idea with an appeal to the Argumentum Ad Maternitate or "I'm a mother with three children and I reckon you should definitely ban smoking in films. Think of the children!"
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