Stephen Tall pointed out yesterday that David Davis has been an enthusiastic supporter of the death penalty. Jo Anglezarke reminds us that he opposed the Human Rights Act. I also note that his solution to the Burma-cyclone crisis was:
Invade the country, shoot the generals, feed the people
Today, Ben Bradshaw points out Davis' far from libertarian approach to equal rights:
The notion that David Davis is a libertarian will provoke hollow laughter from Britain's gays and lesbians. Davis has opposed every freedom extended to gay and lesbian people, from the freedom to register one's partnership to the freedom to serve one's country. He has one of the worst voting records in the Commons on such matters. Like most Conservatives, Davis is very selective about whose liberties are worthy of support. He supports greater rights for suspected terrorists but not extending basic freedoms to peaceful and law-abiding gay and lesbian people.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Davis: "Libertarianism" that is extremely narrow
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6 comments:
That also doesn't tell much good about Ben Bradshaw "He supports greater rights for suspected terrorists..." - What Bradshaw is implying here is that people who are just suspected of doing something wrong, but not proved to have done such, should be kept in detention for as long as it takes to the police officers doing the investigation to actually get teir work done. That means that according to Bradshaw police should be able to lock down even innocent people for an undefined time (as we know, after 42 days the suspects can be released and then be arrested again).
I agree
The death penalty splits libertarians. Personally I think it is wrong and the state should never have power of life or death over anyone.
Remember, Gladstone's government once u-turned on the death penalty to support it once in power and I doubt many of the non-conformists would have supported gay rights...
Invading Burma would gain support from certain sections of the liberal groups over the years too...
Yes I disagree with him on these issues and I will attack him on them, I do think they make him less liberal, just as I think the socialism and Toryism in the LibDems makes the LibDems less liberal.
David Davis is part of the broader liberal tradition, he may be an outlier and something of a relic, but he is I think part of the tradition, just not part which intersects with the Liberal Democrat part.
"...and I doubt many of the non-conformists would have supported gay rights..."
And some of them still don't.
He got the Dobwalls by-pass sorted out though ;-)
Is there any socialism and toryism in the LibDems?
From what I've seen there is plenty of communitarianism, libertarianism, humanitarianism and a bit of authoritarianism, but that only goes to prove we are properly democratic.
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