Taking a position

[andrewducker]

Over the weekend I finally got around to joining the Liberal Democrats.

I'd been meaning to do it for a few weeks. Partially because I'd felt somewhat guilty watching some members of my friends list out there actually doing stuff during the election - hopefully making an actual difference to the way people voted. And partially because of the discussions between them of the way they were involved in the party's decision-making process, and the realisation that I wanted to be a part of that, even in a small way. Oh, and also because I wanted to support the party financially - it's one thing to vote for them, but if they can't afford to run a campaign then they're not going to get anywhere.

[Poll #1568824]

Comments

[likeneontubing.livejournal.com]

it seems you can join for as little as £10 - not bad!

[matgb]

Yup. But it costs about £15 per year per member to run the membership dept. So freeloaders like me on the minimum end up volunteering to do loads of stuff on top.

I think it's costing me more in replacement shoes after all the walking during the campaign...

[matgb]

AFAIK, US parties aren't membership organisations in the same way UK parties are, so data might be skewed a bit, you register as a support of a party or something, never have quite understood it.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

I am not a member of a political party, but suspect that ias will be on the receiving end of some efforts to make us join one.

We delivered leaflets for the local LibDem MP, on the grounds that we'd rather she were re-elected than the Tory candidate. She didn't get in, alas, but the local LibDems have clearly scented blood potential future commitment.

As for which party I'd prefer to support, that's a little more tricky. I consider myself socialist at heart, so my natural affinity is with Labour, just not New Labour. If Labour move back towards the left and drop their more authoritarian stances, I'd consider joining them.

You could argue that, by not joining them, I'm not helping to move them back to the left, but my time and effort are limited and my financial support alone won't make them move. I suspect that a period in opposition and a reassessment of their core principles will help them.

[andrewducker]

I really hope they do. We could do with a decent left-wing party in the UK. My personal hope is that bringing in PR will cause there to be more parties, including a decent left wing one.

And I entirely sympathise with not going out and doing lots of work to change the direction of a political party - huge amounts of effort, not much chance of success, and as you say, we only have so many hours in the day.

[innerbrat]

I joined for much the same reasons, and waited to see if I approved of the coalition agreement first.

though now I feel terrible that Mat says I'm causing them a £5 deficit.

[randomchris.livejournal.com]

I'm not a member exactly, but the only charitable donation I have set up is £3 a month to the Green party.

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

a decent left wing one

Not in the Euston Manifesto sense of the word, I hope! :)

[andrewducker]

Yeah, if I'd realised that I'd have paid more. I'll keep it in mind for when my next pay comes in.

[andrewducker]

Very good of you - would that be enough to qualify you for membership? And would you want it to?

[andrewducker]

Hadn't heard of that before. Having now done so, it seems to have very little to say about socialism, and seems to be more of a liberal document than a left-wing one.

[randomchris.livejournal.com]

I don't think it qualifies me for membership, and I haven't got enough energy or time at the moment to get actively involved - so I'm quite happy with the status quo.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

Given my current campaning aims I'll be unlikely to align myself officially with any party until I see satisfactory electoral reform happen - right now I'm trying my damnedest to be nonpartisan, not least because I want to be able to harass everyone on equal terms. Once we have some form of PR, I'll reassess.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

I wonder how much of the £15 is marginal cost, though.

[andrewducker]

I'm sure somone posted about the electoral reform group or something similar earlier, but they seem to have deleted their comment.

[luckylove.livejournal.com]

I have given up on politics and political debate because I'm always wrong and on posting anything that might be remotely funny to someone because it may be an advert but I'm currently too stupid to tell the difference so I just won't bother any more.

[lpetrazickis.livejournal.com]

I used to be a member of one party, but my political views have changed. I have since donated to another party but not become a member.

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

While the Euston manifesto itself is soft-left, most of the signatories are actually neo-cons who want to continue thinking of themselves as radical leftists...

[pete stevens (from livejournal.com)]

I'm not a member of a political party but I have nominated candidates for local elections. As it happens they were Conservative candidates, they didn't have a hope of winning and finding ten nominations in the ward was a bit tricky.

So far I have been on the receiving end of legal threats from the Labour and English Democrat parties due to customers publishing websites they didn't like very much. The Green Party and a Conservative MP are customers of ours.

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

legal threats from the [...] English Democrat parties

TBH I wouldn't worry unduly if Mr Uncles has set his finest cartooney onto you.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

No political membership for me, or for any in my immediate family or circle of friends either. My brother's father-in-law was a Tory MPP in our province (I think... though I know he also ran federally in a Liberal "safe seat" riding the election before last) and so my brother helped out of familial obligation rather than conviction.

I'll freely admit in my case that it's laziness combined with a lack of real identification with any party; the Liberals are the closest I can get to a good fit but I'm not particularly enamoured with their leadership at any level of the party, and I just don't want to spend much time door-knocking and fundraising in any case.

-- Steve has some more distant relatives politically active in Quebec, and their experiences in that particular toxic bog don't incline him much to becoming a joiner either.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I don't have to be a member to contribute, and if I'm not a member I don't get spammed.

I hate spam.

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

Don't think a comment is really required to explain why I'm not so simple. *rueful grin*

[andrewducker]

I her that you're practically defined by your complexity :->

[andrewducker]

I'll let you know if I get any/much.

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

So ... you'd prefer it if no-one joined so soon after the expense of running a campaign? In fact, it'd help the bank balance if people left? ;-)

Why doesn't the membership fee reflect the cost? That's madness ...

[matgb]

Well, y'see, £10 is the minimum, the requested is £50. Labour have an offer on currently, you can join for £1, apparently.

However.

Costs averaged over every member make it about £15 per member. However, once you get above a certain number of members, costs begin to scale rapidly. It takes minimum two staff, a printer, a database suite and a phone line. They can handle numbers from 10K to about 30K. After that you need more staff, but extra other costs don't rack up.

So membership, overall, makes a profit, including from cheapskates from me, because I'm a marginal extra cost. As long as others keep paying a lot higher, we're good.

Membership rates are actually set as a business motion at conference, and the desire to keep minimum membership costs low is significant; they don't want to make people like me unable to afford to be members (and it's marginal for me, next renewal is likely to be a donation from a friend).

But to an extent, yes, madness. Joys of a properly democratic party y'see ;-)

[matgb]

Except Paulie (paulevans) who's a top bloke, but with a tendency to fall into bad company.

Euston was meant as a 'reunite the left/LAbour party'. It became a joke before launch, but...

[matgb]

You're not, honest. It's marginal cost, they make a big profit out of membership fees (obviously), and at some point in the future whe you're rich and succesful you can pay more.

[matgb]

Oh, the way they tried to go for chrislightfoot was comedy gold. They've tried it on with me as well, also comedy.

I decided not to sue for defamation, on balance, just not worth it. Plus, not funny.

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

You'll get a bit at the moment because of post-election fallout. Normally you get one or two emails a month - and can. of course, opt out of thsoe.

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I hope not!!!!

[draconid.livejournal.com]

I've been debating joining the Lib Dems myself, but being a Civil Servant muddies the water a little. I'm fairly sure I have to ask permission to join a political party, and certainly have to if I want to be active around election times. I really need to properly read our policy on political activity.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

I never used to be a member of a political party because they're all crap. Er, I mean, I take a principled anarchist approach to political action, that's it. So when Mandelson did something shockingly illiberal (can't remember precisely which thing) and I saw a few hours later that the Pirate Party UK was forming, I signed up, mainly in the hope that it might slightly irritate people who supported what he did.

My plan was to resign shortly afterwards on principle as soon as they did something I found outrageous but I haven't found the moment yet.

[matgb]

By monthly direct debit (min £2.60)

If you're paying £3, you can be a member, and all that means is you can get involved in their policy process and similar, if you want to. Most party members, for all parties, are largely inactive; but you do get a vote on selections and similar, and can get involved if you do get time.

And I'm not sure I believe I'm touting for a different party's membership team. I'll just shut up now.

[pete stevens (from livejournal.com)]

Chris Lightfoot was one of the joint founders of my company and a very close personal friend. As the director every time he did something to piss someone off I took the legal flack. It's an unglamerous role but that's how life as a supporting actor works.

[matgb]

If it looks in any way as if I was mocking Chris there, sorry, definitely not the intent. Couldn't stand the EDs before I read his stuff on them, that pretty much confirmed my opinion, and some of the stuff since has made me pretty much loath them.

One of their councillors just stood down in the ward neighbouring mine, gone now. Uncles in particular has no understanding whatsoever of how the law works.

He also tried to call a friend for being an anti-English racist, while at the same time saying said friends wife was unfit to be a London Cllr because she was born in Scotland. Self awareness not his thing.

[matgb]

One of the good things about the LDs (being run by a bunch of people who are privacy freaks) is that you can opt in/out of pretty much anything. I recently realised I wasn't getting news from them I wanted because I'd opted out of something.

It's useful at the moment getting news updates and similar from key figures before they go to press, but then I've always been a policy obsessive.

[matgb]

Obviously don't know what dept, but the husband of the party president works for HMRC, and makes no secret of his involvement. Depends on how restrictive your rules are, but you can be a member, get updates, and vote on stuff while not being actually active and campaigning; one of my local members is very restricted politically for his job, but gives us money and asks me to send him ballot papers &c.

[pete stevens (from livejournal.com)]

Absolutely no offence taken. It's always a pleasure to discover that people remember and appreciate the things he wrote.

[aliiis.livejournal.com]

I live in the UK, am an ex-member of a political party, and am closely aligned with/seriously considering joining a direct action, agitational and propaganda organisation (not a political party, but for similar reasons that someone might join one.) In fact, I am also a current member of a radical democratic union, which sets itself apart from trade unions precisely by definitely not being affiliated with any political party; but again, I think, for similar reasons.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, I felt unhappy about Unite being affiliated with Labour when I was a member of it.