No shortage of ink has been spilled on the obstacles facing the current UK coalition government, so I thought I’d venture an alternative perspective and a suggestion.

A growing number of articles – from across the political spectrum – are loudly lamenting the lot of the Liberal Democrats in government. Support within the party is dwindling, goes the argument, and the Tory majority is marginalizing Lib Dem Cabinet members or forcing them to support (or at least not oppose) measures that run counter to their beliefs. Indeed a number of columnists in the British press have only barely stopped short of suggesting that the Lib Dem’s may have been better off not joining the coalition government at all.

But here’s an alternative view: what’s the point of fervent support within your political party if nobody takes your party seriously? This time last year, the Liberal  Democrat party was at best an irrelevance, at worst a joke. Today they’ve got a seat at the top table. In fact, they’ve got five. Regardless of what the naysayers naysay, for every day that this coalition survives, the credibility of the Liberal Democrats in the eyes of the public grows.

And that’s no bad thing. After all, the more credible political alternatives that voters have, the better. Moreover, the Liberal Democrats now have an opportunity to build a closer parallel to the US’s Democratic party; that is to say, a more centrist liberal party. For many in my generation, Labour has long represented factory strikes and the hardcore left-wing, while the Tories represented the ideological equivalent of the Republicans. It would be nice to have an alternative to those two extremes.

So, to the suggestion. Wouldn’t it be nice if our fearless Commentariat gave the coalition a chance instead of incessantly knocking its prospects of success. Who knows, the taste of power might just push Lib Dems away from some of their more unrealistic policies and towards a more permanent seat at the top table.  Just a thought.