Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Britons Must Vote Tactically Against the Conservatives
Thursday's election is going to be the most important one in a generation. Brexit is on the line, and this will be the last chance for the Remainers to stop it. Failing that, it is their best chance to soften the inevitable blow to the economy that will follow the British departure from the European Union. The Conservative government of Boris Johnson has negotiated a worse deal for the UK than did Theresa May, including a border in the Irish Sea that will increase tensions in Ulster. The alternative for the Tories is still a crash-out with no deal at all. Neither of these is acceptable, and it is vital that Briton's deny the Conservatives a majority. A tactical vote in every constituency against the Tories is the only sensible move.
The Labour Party should be mopping the floor with the Conservatives but two related matters have prevented Labour from even taking a lead in the polls. The first problem is the leader, Jeremy Corbyn, a man stuck in 1968. He wants to nationalize, regulate and otherwise bring on the socialist paradise. He is alleged to be anti-Semitic, or at least alleged to tolerate that bigotry. In truth, he is anti-Israel, while turning a blind eye to the evils in the Muslim world.
The second problem with Labour, fostered by Mr. Corbyn, is that it has not taken a side in the Brexit debate. The Labour voters were and are evenly split (give or take a few percentage points) over Leave and Remain. Mr. Corbyn, rather than simply pick a side, has tried to find a middle ground where everyone is happy. In doing so, he has destroyed his own credibility. Labour's current plan is to negotiate its own deal (presuming the EU will sit down yet again to chat about the issues), submit it to a referendum, but Mr. Corbyn has committed himself to neutrality during that campaign. In other words, he will negotiate a deal but won't work to pass it. So much wooly thinking he could knit a sweater.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats are still trying to detoxify their brand for having been in coalition with the Tories, and for picking Jo Swinson (who was part of that government) as their leader. They have made a wise move in being the most pro-EU national party (pace Greens), but many Labourites still think of them as the Tories' second eleven. For this reason, there is no national electoral pact, and Labour will come up several seats worse off as a result.
The SNP is about to have its moment in the sun. If there is a hung parliament, their demand for a second referendum on independence is almost guaranteed to be accepted as the price for the keys to Number 10. And the justice of their case is clear. Scotland voted 2 to 1 to remain, and it is being forced out of the EU by English voters.
However, one must keep one's eyes on the prize. Brexit will wreck the British economy, and it will take years to sort out the details even if there is an agreement with Brussels. A weaker, poorer, less influential Britain will be the result of Brexit. Stopping Brexit requires stopping Mr. Johnson.
No one wants to hold his or her nose and vote for someone simply because the candidate is question is the lesser of the evils on offer. However, this election is about stopping something bad, Brexit. The NHS, defense, the trains, the schools, all of that will be conditioned by whether the UK leaves the EU and under what conditions if it does. Stopping a Conservative majority is paramount. And if that means a Liberal Democrat voting for the "communist" Mr. Corbyn or a Red-Flag Singing Labourite backing the "Tory-ism" of Ms. Swinson, or a unionist voting for the SNP, then so be it.
Friday morning, Britain will either be past the last off-ramp in the road to disaster, or it will have saved itself from the worst of it all. Voting tactically against the Tories is the only sensible move.
© Copyright 2019 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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