I just got out of DC and am over to the west coast for a week. I wish I were there Thursday though, because I'd attend the "war chest fundraising dinner in downtown Washington on April 21" (that's the news on it, here's the link to attend) that the Liberal Democrats are holding. Sure, I resonate with the Liberal Democrats being the only party in the UK that said no to invading Iraq, but it extends further than that position-- that position is an extension of a worldview which prospers such political resonation. Among what we here in the US call the cultural creatives or the secular warriors (which makes up the new netroots-based backbone of the Democratic Party), it's the transactional practice of politics by Democrats that enabled conservatives, which we revolted against within the Democatic Party. As such, I find myself with the same reaction toward Tony Blair that I hold for Joe Lieberman, and I tend to believe (as the post Iraq-invasion elections in the UK have borne out) that there are those in the UK who feel the same. Backing the invasion of Iraq was more than just a political issue-- it stems from a worldview.

I'm not predicting an electoral shift toward the LD's (the cards are stacked against that sort of thing), but it's plain to see that in terms of holding a worldview that believes in things global, inclusive, fair, and yet libertarian in principle, the Liberal Democrats of the UK share our transformational worldview.

Now, some of the more astute might say that whole statement above is too simplistic, and it is-- worldviews are very simplistic. And yet, in their simplicity, they hold the power to sway the masses-- ask Ronald Reagan (btw, I'm reading "Reagan's Revolution", about his '76 challenge to the Ford. It's good stuff for the race junkies, if from a believer's pov). What John Kerry and Al Gore lacked in '04 and '00 wasn't just a narrative. True, they could have just went with an attack-narrative, as the Republicans practice, and Begala advocated, and that might have worked. Deeper than the lack of a narrative though, the problem stems from the lack of a coherent worldview, and I firmly believe that the basis for the next political worldview is global in vision-- yes, there is a 'global test', and in the UK, the Liberal Democrats pass that test. So yea, I'd gladly chip in to send a few dollars to help elect the democratic wing in the UK.