I joined the Liberal Democrats last year, just after the election, out of frustration that the candidate they chose to field was based in Bath—not only not Cardiff, but not even Wales. I had a slightly romanticised notion that one day I might fill that spot as someone who actually lives in the constituency and could represent it well.
The membership fee was something like 15 quid, and I just let that sit in my back pocket—I didn’t really do much more with it.
Since then, what I perceive as a substantial threat to the well-being of the country and its people has grown to the point where I feel I need to take action.
I’m talking about the Reform Party—a populist, borderline fascist political party that has ensnared a considerable number of voters with lies, false promises, and the fabrication of a political elite they claim to be taking down. (After a quick Google: Nigel Farage has an estimated net worth of around £3 million and went to a private school. That sounds like part of the elite he’s so desperate to dismantle—but I digress.)
This rise in populism has filled me with a sense of dread for a while. I felt like I couldn’t do anything to change the outcome—that all I could do was vote for who I believed in and complain when they didn’t win. The political system seemed so impregnable, it felt pointless to try.
That was until I went to a talk by Alastair Campbell at the Hay Festival. The cliff notes? The political gene pool is getting smaller and smaller, and if we do nothing, the situation will only get worse. I’ve been guilty—like many of us—of assuming someone else will step up to fill the gap. But now more than ever, that gap is being filled with populists who spout enticing lies while voting in their own self-interest.
So I’m going to step up and try to get involved. I’ll do what I can to resist the spread of populism and play whatever small part I can in restoring sanity and rationality to politics.