A Choose Your Own Adventure style of political activism

I found the opening scenario in Mark Pack and Jim Williams's new pamphlet Reinventing the Liberal Democrats: how to build a party for tomorrow almost uncanny. It is 2020, they imagine, and the 200,000th new member joins the party knowing exactly what its aims are, and is immediately invited to pick how she'd like to get involved, with all the necessary resources at her fingertips - a Choose Your Own Adventure approach to political activism. How did they know that this was exactly what I'd been wishing for when I joined just over a year ago, keen to 'do something' but unclear how to help? Sadly, it wasn't quite my experience - for me, faced with the competing demands of work and family, joining the party was easy. Getting involved was not.

I'm not alone - with record numbers of new members joining the party, tens of thousands of us are facing exactly the same challenges. This pamphlet's response to those challenges is a breath of fresh air. The recognition that most of us fit politics into our lives, rather than the other way round, and determination that we should nonetheless be able to contribute to the party, in whatever way best suits our time and talents, to me seem the epitome of what the Lib Dems are about.

The vision outlined in this pamphlet is of a leaner, nimbler party, with a clearly articulated, inspiring vision, using the best digital tools to connect with, enthuse and empower its members, to harness their ideas, energy and expertise. It's a confident, humorous party - engaging those outside the membership too - to build a diverse, inventive campaigning and policy-making organisation. The vision is of a party that's not only doing better than it did in the last two elections, but a party that's exceeding the Lib Dems' best ever election results. It's exciting, and it sounds like a huge challenge.

Fortunately, the pamphlet doesn't stop there. It cites great examples of what's already being done, with online campaigning and grassroots initiatives like the Lib Dem Pint, to show that the party of tomorrow is starting to take shape today. But while it applauds that work, at heart this pamphlet is a call to action - as Mark and Jim say "no one else is going to do this for us" - and they end with an email address for anyone with ideas to get in touch with them. I suspect, if the other 100,000+ members find their vision for the party as exciting as I do, their inbox may soon be overwhelmed.

Laura Sheeter is a newer party member and presenter of the new Liberal Democrat focused podcast, Liberated. Here's her take on the pamphlet I wrote with Jim Williams: