This article gets the cart before the horse. The reason the Lib Dems are the way they are - the reason the party lacks a coherent national narrative (and more often than not has) is because of the electoral system. Electoral reform isn't a cute after thought for a third party in a majoritarian system - it is the only way out of the polit…
This article gets the cart before the horse. The reason the Lib Dems are the way they are - the reason the party lacks a coherent national narrative (and more often than not has) is because of the electoral system. Electoral reform isn't a cute after thought for a third party in a majoritarian system - it is the only way out of the political trap they find themselves in. FPTP forces third parties to engage in whatever is necessary to scrape together the votes to win and hold enough seats to get the attention to win a few more seats. They are Duverger's Monster - the pure creation of being a third party for 100 years in a majoritarian system.
If you want them to behave like a "proper Liberal party" in a purer, ideological sense (beyond the party's existing liberal 'vibe') then you need to fix the electoral system first. That then uncorks the possibilities of deeper shifts in the party system that might make it profitable for them to go and build a voter coalition that does what you desire.
This article gets the cart before the horse. The reason the Lib Dems are the way they are - the reason the party lacks a coherent national narrative (and more often than not has) is because of the electoral system. Electoral reform isn't a cute after thought for a third party in a majoritarian system - it is the only way out of the political trap they find themselves in. FPTP forces third parties to engage in whatever is necessary to scrape together the votes to win and hold enough seats to get the attention to win a few more seats. They are Duverger's Monster - the pure creation of being a third party for 100 years in a majoritarian system.
If you want them to behave like a "proper Liberal party" in a purer, ideological sense (beyond the party's existing liberal 'vibe') then you need to fix the electoral system first. That then uncorks the possibilities of deeper shifts in the party system that might make it profitable for them to go and build a voter coalition that does what you desire.