My Coalition Squee Moment

It is not often in the past fourteen years that I've actually gone "SQUEE!" when I've seen a news article. Okay, maybe very occasionally, but generally when the Labour Party were in power I'd feel generally angry, betrayed and devastated whenever they acted with a ridiculous, knee-jerk, instinctively statist and dictatorial motivation.

I remember last year particularly, I felt as if I was in some sort of parallel universe, where a Government was using the safety and health of our children as a means of appearing tough politically. I remember blogging (here, here here and here about it, and setting up a Facebook group and attempting to gather like-minded people together.

As Campaigns Officer of IR Cymru, I also wrote a motion which passed unanimously at the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference. This called on the Welsh Liberal Democrats to fight the formation of the ISA at every stage. In my mind, I was glad that our political party would form a barrier at Offa's Dyke, to keep the dictatorship Leviathan out of Wales.






























So imagine my joy today (yes, a literal SQUEE) when I saw this news. I am happy for many reasons. First, that the new coalition, which stands for a freedom so opposed to anything Labout ever proposed, has decided to cancel this vile plan. I am also happy that it was IR Cymru, the youth wing of the Welsh Party, that led the charge against it. I am ecstatic that it was so enthusiastically supported by our Party.

It is why I love both the Liberal Democrats and the youth movement. Our instincts, generally, are spot on. We seek to protect the individual, we seek to safeguard liberty and freedom. We refuse any attempt to increase the intolerable hold of the state over our lives.

So I want to say:

Thank you to those who felt the same as I did, and who tried to fight.

Thank you to those in IR Cymru who fully supported my motion.

Thank you to those in the Welsh Lib Dems who voted for my motion.

Thank you to the coalition Government.

But above all?

Thank you to the millions and millions of people who said no to Labour's autocracy.

It means children might be able to start trusting again. It means we are not branded as criminals for just wanting to work with children. It means our lives are not probed and examined by the Government. It means our charities can survive and do their wonderful, wonderful work.

What makes this news better, is that I know there is more coming. Slowly, slowly but surely, the great Leviathan of Labour's state is being driven back. It will take time, but the tide is turning.

And it feels bloody amazing.