Open to ideas from all quarters as long as they benefit Wales

ONE of the elements that  has confounded many people since the emergence of GWLAD as a new national party for Wales, is the announcement that it will be a hybrid party, open to ideas from all quarters as long as those ideas will benefit Wales and her people.

But, But….. how can you even think of that, splutter the politically right-on brigade here indignantly- you’ve got to choose your side- you’re either on the left or you’re on the right! Don’t fudge the issue! Although, as it happens many of these have decided to make that choice themselves, declaring the new party as “alt right”, “nativists”, “Welsh supremacists“ – mainly on the basis of the Twitter echo chamber of today. And that’s just some of the nice descriptions that have been flung around by the Twitterati over the past few months!

Well, in a couple of weeks time, GWLAD’s manifesto for the Welsh Election of 2021 will be published, a document which has been created following on-line discussions with members and supporters over the past few months. This manifesto will be ratified at a special conference to be held at Newtown at the start of next month.

Manifesto for 2021 Welsh Election about to be published

In the meantime, while we wait for the manifesto to appear,  it might be a good idea to sketch out some of the general principles that underpin the party’s thinking, and how we believe these can completely change the way that people think about politics here in Wales.

At present, all the devolution parties (Labour, Plaid, Conservatives and UKIP) are umbilically attached to the traditional left to right political spectrum imposed on Wales from Westminster. Although this actually has its roots back in pre-revolutionary France to describe who were seated on the left or right to the King in the royal court of the time.

Labour place themselves on the left of that spectrum, closely followed by Plaid, who are unlikely to change much from this position even though they have just chosen a new leader. After all, when the new leader, Adam Price, was asked to describe himself in one word before the election contest, he chose “Socialist”. The Conservatives would place themselves right of centre of this spectrum, with UKIP slightly further along.

All this ideological positioning seems to be a self-evident truth for all  these parties and their members. Almost like gravity indeed. But, what if there was another way to look at this political spectrum? Not from left to right, but from bottom to top.  Not the constant toing and froing along a defunct ideological plane, with the parties parroting a “we’re right and you’re wrong”  partisan and self-serving narrative all the time. But rather an upwards progression from control to freedom. An evolving politics instead of party politics which is so off-putting for so many people.

From control and coercion to co-operation and liberty

The image  above is a good way of articulating this new way of envisioning politics, a move from control and coercion in all its various forms on the lower slopes of the mountain  up towards liberty and co-operation once you scale the mountain and take in the views up above. Although this is a general model, the end result is an undeniably Welsh way of looking at the world.

The dark bottom of this mountain model sees Totalitarianism, with the very worse of both the left (communism) and the right (Nazism) as a mirror image of each other in essence in their wish to control and dominate people in every way. Other forms of coercion,  include Islamo-Fascism, Theocracy and Progressivism can be seen on the slopes as well. And let’s be honest here, even nationalism in some cases. Just think of Westminster’s wish to control Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

In moving up gradually from the black pit of coercion, the liberating light of persuasion starts to appear. Among the lighter forms of politics in the more sunny uplands are direct democracy, classical liberalism (miles away from today’s il-liberal liberalism), and libertarianism, which can all work together to reach towards the ultimate end goal of liberty and co-operation.

This new political concept is similar to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which outlines how human beings need to progressively move up from the bottom of a pyramid – the basic requirements of food, water and shelter – right up to the top of the pyramid of human needs, which is self-actualisation in life.

A Welsh polity designed in Wales to reflect Wales

GWLAD’s eventual finishing point is  also still evolving, but one can imagine it would include elements of the political forms mentioned above to reach a point of  national self-actualisation for Wales. But, what will be created above all else is a Welsh polity, designed here in Wales and grounded in our history, culture, traditions and values. It will be an uniquely Welsh formula arising from the lived experiences of our members and supporters from all parts of this nation.

A polity which is non-ideological and is open to ideas from different directions to achieve our objectives. An Independent Wales where liberty and co-operation between people is at the very top of the agenda.