I am increasingly more doubtful that I am in a progressive party. Let’s just review the last couple of months:

• £1000 increase in the personal allowance, for people like me (who earn too much anyway).
• A referendum on PR AV. Woop dee doo: another non-proportional electoral system.
• Anonymity for guys who, half the time*, raped someone. Yea, very feminist…

These were not Tory policies. We won these changes by negotiation. These are the ones I am supposed to be happy about. Bleergh!
Every time I meet lib dem activists, I am struck by how awesome they are (generally relative to my own non-awesomeness.) How can such a sensible, egalitarian, evidence demanding group of people consent to be led by such libertarian surrender-monkeys?! I am starting to be disappointed by this coalition already, Zaphod knows how I’ll feel in 2015.
So, I have compiled a coalition wish list. These are genuine Lib Dem policies that I knew about, argued for and believe(d) in.

• National insurance numbers instead of names on job applications- let’s see if we can’t make Britain’s boardrooms a little less male and pale.
• Serious investment in green jobs- I want to see new companies founded in droves on the day of the announcement- and a government contract for the building of a Severn Tidal Barrier (as approved by conference.)
• VAT back down to 17.5% or lower- Let’s not hit the poorest for ever.
• An end to detention without charge beyond a day.
• The selection of a cheaper, smaller nuclear deterrent- let’s not be defined by our radiative penis size.
• The reinstatement of David Laws to the cabinet.
• Fixed term parliaments- a real mark on our democracy for generations to come.

I know I won’t get everything on my list, but I want to judge this government on results, not newspaper headlines. We are better at this politics thing than Labour, and while we can’t have it all our own way in government, we can at least try.
We need to prove the skeptics wrong: we do stick to our principals and we are good enough for government. Right?

* literally; false accusations are no more common in rape cases, and the rate overall is about 50%.