Think back to 2003. Something big happened. Take a second…

… yep. That’s it. A sort of collective madness overtook Britain, and a majority of people felt that, yes, you know what? It would be a fantastic idea to invade Iraq, because it’s the only way to prevent Saddam using Weapons of Mass Destruction against us. It became a reinforcing positive feedback loop for Tony Blair – the public wanted it, so he was going to give it to them, so the public wanted it. Then… then the reality hit us, and we didn’t want it anymore, and Tony’s career was finished. The mob’s fickle. 

So that was the last time I ever gave the Government the benefit of the doubt, and the last time I assumed that they had access to confidential, specialist information that meant their opinion on this subject should be trusted above all others. Sure, there was no evidence of WMD, but they wouldn’t lie to us about something that serious, would they? 

Oh yes. Yes they would. 

I learnt the lesson the hard way. I didn’t like the idea of invading Iraq, but I trusted the Government and I accepted that something probably had to be done about Saddam Hussain. 

Fast forward to 2009, and once again there’s that same sense of national emergency, of a growing collective madness. I have a strong feeling of deja vu these days. I’ve been here before. The Government, responding to an emergency is doing the economic equivilant of ‘invading Iraq’. We have to do it because we have to! Printing Money? It’s invading Iraq. Nationalising the Banks? Invading Iraq. Something extreme that we would only ever do if there was absolutely no other choice: Invading Iraq.

This time I’m not going to just play along with the national mood. This time I’m holding my ground. Since when did Labour have a valid, correct, working solution to any problem? Why does anyone trust them at all? Because, ultimately, this is question of trust and they do not have mine. Yet, as Lib Dems, we’re begrudgingly accepting that the actions they’re taking now are the correct ones for this country. 

Even the Tories are doing it. They supported Invading Iraq, too, remember – they’ve never been a party willing to throw away the chance to pander to a frenzied mob, after all. 

So why are the Lib Dems not, as we did with Iraq, acting as the force in British politics that points out when the other politicians have metaphorically sticking pencils up their noses, putting underpants on their heads and chanting, “wibble” over and over?

There are other choices, other ways and other things we can be doing. Advocating economic liberalism, for example, might be a nice change for Britain’s Liberal party, don’t you think? Just an idea.