Leaving The Left

Leaving The Left
Post Date July 02, 2020
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Why I left the modern Scottish left (and don’t worry, I’m not a right-winger nor a Tory nor a Unionist nor a member of the far right)

As Dave Rubin once said directly to camera in an 8-minute-long clip from his show The Rubin Report on 25th January 2017, “The Left is no longer Liberal.”

This is what I sadly see happening with the modern day political left in Scotland today. I was once proud to be a part of it throughout my childhood and  young adult …

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100 Years on: Remembering the Millions who suffered under Socialism

100 Years on: Remembering the Millions who suffered under Socialism
Post Date October 25, 2017
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Category Articles, meeting, Party News, Press

 

There are two places only where socialism will work: in heaven, where it is not needed, and in hell where they already have it. – Winston Churchill

 

It is a recurring theme amongst socialists to argue that, if we only adopt the right system, a wonderful utopia awaits us. Indeed, the word “Utopia” owes its origin to Thomas More’s book of the same name about a mythical island where there is no private property and everyone takes what he needs. It is therefore an extremely appropriate …

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The Death of Castro

The Death of Castro
Post Date November 27, 2016
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The death of Castro requires special comment as social media has been awash, over the last couple of days, with celebrations of the man who has presided over a country where doctors are paid $25 a month, teacher $15, and the best paid professions are taxi driver and prostitute. A nation where people need vouchers to buy food.

But what can you say to someone who loves Big Brother?

Some of his champions naively blame the U.S. embargo on Cuba for these conditions but, while the embargo …

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Venezuela’s Killing Fields

Venezuela’s Killing Fields
Post Date August 03, 2016
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The Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia in 1975.(1) Their goal was one of turning the nation into one of an agrarian socialist society. As well as resetting the official date to “Year Zero”, they embarked upon a program of forced labour, evacuating the cities and sending the inhabitants to work in the fields. The demands – as in China’s great leap forward – were impossible to meet and the result was not an increase in production but a decrease. The shortage of food combined …

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The Collapse of Venezuela

The Collapse of Venezuela
Post Date May 21, 2016
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The collapse of socialism in Venezuela is significant although I doubt it will change the hearts and minds of the left here at home as we are subjected to the usual litany of excuses: “western imperialism,” “oil prices,” “trade sanctions,” and most predictably: “That wasn’t real socialism…”

Whenever and wherever socialism invariably collapses, bad governments are blamed, bad politicians, or nasty dictators…

Hugo Chavez was different. He was not a savage dictator. He really believed in socialism and tried to do everything within his power for his people.

He still …

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Capitalism Yes! Conservatism NO!

Capitalism Yes! Conservatism NO!
Post Date November 30, 2015
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Category Articles

Free Markets have taken on a bad rap in Scotland where capitalism is about as popular as a beef burger at vegan potluck, but that is only because our public perception of capitalism has largely been handed to us by the Tories – a corporatist party who have never in our lifetimes made the moral or utilitarian case for capitalism.

The fact is The Conservatives have never really been for free markets. Even The Thatcher Administration massively increased the size of the state, particularly when it …

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David Cameron is a Socialist

David Cameron is a Socialist
Post Date September 18, 2012
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Category Articles, Politicians

David Cameron is a Socialist? Now there is a provocative title.  It’s the kind of statement that is sure to evoke incredulity, mockery, and make the Scottish Libertarians seems like tinfoil-hatted conspiracy theorists or Cold War paranoids seeing red under every bed. Nonetheless, that is our message and it demands an explanation.

When libertarians use the word socialist we are not referring to Marxism per se, but rather to a social, political, and economic philosophy that has been dominant in Western culture since 1929. It’s more of …

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