Essay collection: Why are we liberals?
Here's an interesting email which I received from Cllr Chris Lenton (one of the three Liberal councillors in Liverpool), and which I'm reposting here with his permission: Dear Liberals As the local elections are now out of the way I hope some of you might find the time to assist with this little effort. At the last meeting of the NEC I was tasked with making efforts to edit and publish a collection of essays on the theme of “Why are we liberals?” It has often been asked what do we stand for and what is our philosophy? Each generation of liberals has to make its case and often has answered with short and to the point works of accessible political philosophy. The Liberal Party has not set out its broad political stall in print for some time and what we are looking for is short essays of no more than a thousand words or so on why you are a liberal. These works are meant to be personal and they should reflect broad themes and approaches rather than going into too much policy detail. This is not to say that they might not deal with salient policy issues dear to some liberals’ hearts. So such an essay might explain why the author is a liberal with particular reference to the importance of property in the maintenance of freedom and in the creation of a liberal society. Another could equally deal with why poverty or conformity is the greatest danger to the maintenance or establishment of liberty. I would request than any member who thinks they might be able to write one of these essays does so without delay and sends them to me either electronically or by post as indicated below. It would be helpful if these could be sent by the end of May, as this will give me time to look over them and have something ready to show the June NEC. I would also suggest that if anyone thinks an individual outside the Party might offer us such an essay they ask them to send them to me. I have been requested to contact some prominent liberals out of party politics and will do so if it becomes clear that there is sufficient enthusiasm within the Party to make sure this is going to happen. Finally if this can be pulled together it is our intention to have it as a Pdf for download from the website as part of our Liberal Library. Thanks, Cllr Chris Lenton. 18 Kerman Close, Liverpool, L12 5NH. cjlenton AT gmail.com