A message to Colin Firth

Colin Firth was one of many high profile supporters that came out to back the Lib Dems prior to the election earlier this year.

He has now confirmed that his no longer supports the party, saying:

I think it is profoundly disillusioning if you are a student who registered to vote simply because of what the Liberal Democrat were promising, and many, many did and simply because of what the Liberal Democrats had to say about tuition fees and things. It is one of the reasons I went in that direction.

As well as saying that the Liberal Democrats and their kowtowing to the Tories and the cuts agenda “made it difficult for us who thought progressive politics would be the way forward.”

And he’s right – it has been very difficult for people who invested all their hopes and dreams into a political party posing as progressive.

What we can learn from the recent behaviour of the Lib Dems (as well as the SNP in the Scottish Parliament, and Obama in the USA) is that politicians with progressive promises have never, and will never, make real change. They are too invested in our political system and the capitalist regime it props up, and is propped up by.

If we want things like free education, free healthcare, progressive taxation, free school meals, an end to nuclear weapons and all the other things we’ve been promised by politicians who promptly changed their minds after election over the years, we need to stop investing our hopes in our votes, and start taking action to make real change. System change.

We have the power.