Democracy: rule by the people is good in theory, but as Churchill said “a dreadful system, but all the others are worse”. Democracy is in now under threat and the “worse” others are gaining power.

We can and must push back against this. Democracy needs to be defined, supported, strengthened and argued for. Lib Dems are engaged in this task.

Lib Dems do not believe in low taxes, a small state and reliance on market forces, nor do they believe in state control and ownership. Our philosophy is simple and obvious. It is the Social Market Economy, which has been the foundation of the success of Germany from Adenauer to Merkel. The market should do what it does best, manufacturing, retailing, farming and so much more, while the state protects against market exploitation and corruption and provides the social welfare which cannot be be provided by market forces namely health, education, justice, police etc.

Our challenge is twofold: to promote the Social Market Economy and make sure that government manages and delivers the social welfare which the market will not deliver.

Even more important is to ensure that we offer everyone the opportunity to become part of the body politic; to be politically active, to understand and argue for policy issues, to leaflet and canvass, but also to have policy debates, to attend conferences and enjoy being a Liberal Democrat.

These are the challenges we need to face in order to restore and strengthen Democracy.

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