Dear Vince Cable, and the Liberal Democrats.
This morning, I encountered this video from you on social media:
I have a few things to say about it, and hope someone from the party might pay them heed.
I am a swing Labour/Lib Dem voter. And I've also written for two of the publications that unequivocally helped Corbyn garner support in the UK against considerable odds - those supposedly odious and untrustworthy publications The Canary, and Evolve Politics. I eventually parted company with them for a number of reasons, but partially because of my inclination for the centre ground, the Lib Dems, and my preference for more moderate centre-ground politics. (Not to mention I follow policies, not a cult of celebrity.)
I've written pieces that defended the Lib Dems, and Nick Clegg specifically, that have often literally alienated me from Labour supporters, and one even got me blocked by Momentum members.
So please believe me when I say, as someone who supports you, this sort of social media campaigning is remarkably lack-lustre, and simply won't cut it in modern day political discourse. Not in Britain in 2018. You need to be fighting a battle for the soul of this country. There is a war for hearts and minds occurring, in case you hadn't noticed! A cutesy little piano 'Maple Leaf Rag' and a demeaning pic of the opposition leader, with a list of supposedly awful things he did, is really quite a shocking effort.
In short... ditch the smear, and know your enemy??
For God's sake, please focus on what the Tories have done wrong, the countless ways they've ravaged our country, and the things you'd do to save our necks. You need to realise that Corbyn now, bizarrely, really is like Obi-Wan Kenobi... the more you try to strike him down, the more powerful he will become.
I think you also may need some 'big-guns' willing to help you properly engage in this social media war. Someone not afraid to cut to the nub of issues in fairly frank fashion, to tug on heart-strings. (Someone like me, and I'm available by the way.) People may want gentler, more humanist politics in the UK, but they're getting increasingly angry about their absence, and sometimes you need to fight for decency. Scoring points that are small-fry, the politics of inter-party bickering:...the British people are bored of it, it's not what they want to hear. The Tories too were snooty about independent online/grass-roots journalism and its effects, and it nearly cost them the election in 2017. Now they've wised up, and are getting in on the act too. The Lib Dems need to as well, if they are to have any hope to survive.
I've been a Lib Dem voter all of my life; only in recent times have I swung and supported Labour. I support most of Corbyn's policies in truth, other than his position on Europe and defence, but more than anything, I recognise he is a good man. That is why your smear tactics will inevitably fail. (As did Murdoch's and Dacre's.) I also recognise Labour are in an impossible situation: if they come out clearly against Brexit, we WILL have a Tory Brexit, of that there is no doubt. Corbyn walks a precarious path. While there is ambiguity, both remainers and leavers have a reason to vote for Corbyn: opposition to the Tories. They are forced to judge on factors other than Brexit. Take that away, and sit back and watch support for the Tories spike beyond recognition, and maybe even the return of UKIP.
You guys really need to stop scoring points, and start making allies of one another. Along with the Greens, the SNP, and Plaid Cymru... anyone and anything to stop this Tory coup of Britain. SO many people are praying for it to happen; I wish the Lib Dems and Labour would see it.
Yours faithfully,
Alex McNamara
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