The partisan Conservatives, and there are a disapointing number of those at the otherwise great paper the National Post, continue to be out in force attacking the messenger. Face it Mr. Harper, people do want their government to be held accountable and Facebook may be one of the ways to do that.
I sent this in reply to a rather silly note from Matt Gurney in today editorial page.
..........
Given their success on the weekend Matt Gurney once again randomly shoots at the messenger, which is the Facebook group he earlier dismissed as only a group "overrun by internet cretins". 20,000 people on facebook are initially irrelevant as Facebook will never translate to action; now that it's 218,000 and 20,000 took to the streets it was a low percentage turnout. Well I'd ask how often in Canada do 20,000 people spontaneously take to the street on a point of political order?
A more rational look would be to observe that even at the election polls only about half show up and government costs people tens of thousands times more each than the $1 he proposes as a test. Putting the same standard on Mr. Gurney I wonder if he was out in the 'real world' and talking to real people if he would use such terms and be so dismissive of his fellow citizens? I wonder when he last found the time to march down a street holding a sign.
Yes I'm a member of this group since early January and I do accuse him of more than just "cynicism". It's blind partisanship and I really think the space should be used for NEWS not partisanship.
January 26, 2010
January 9, 2010
Alberta Must Go Conservative ????
Yet more conservatives are in denial, I had to say it to the National Post this morning.
............
The opinion piece "Alberta Must Go Conservative" implies a core value of conservatives is 'small government', and so Conservatives in Alberta are not conservative. Observation though shows conservatives have voted overwhelmingly for the bigger government in Alberta for decades, this did not start with Stelmach. Conservatives like Mr. Harper and Mr. Mulroney did the same on the national stage and internationally many, but not all, conservatives have been leading the charge to larger governments. It seems clear there is no conservative core value of small government even if some conservatives do hold that core value.
Historically the conservative movement was begun to support the existing governments in Europe in their fight against the liberal trends that was waging revolution against 'big governments' in the United States and then France. The liberal core value of "the government that governs least governs best" was abhorrent to the conservatives. In the middle of the previous century, when many liberals switched to became the champions of big government, conservatives changed their public position to talk about a return to small government. Their actions when in power show it was not a change to core value, it was a tactical move. Conservatives hold restraint of change as a core value, and in leading the charge to big government today they are simply returning to their traditional roots.
In this context, of returning to core values, a quote from 2003 and Mr. Harper is telling:
"The truth of the matter is that the real agenda and defining issues have shifted from economic issues to social values, so conservatives must do the same".
With this understanding, that small government is a nice to have as opposed to a core value, there is no need to assume some mass conspiracy duping of the conservative vote as the partisans claim. Indeed as a conservative core value is to resist change and as the existing structure is now massive government thier expansion of government can be seen as conservatives staying true to their core value of preserving existing institutions.
In Alberta the Conservatives are being challenged by a party lead by a libertarian, check her facebook page if in doubt what word she uses to describe herself politically. Libertarians hold only one core value and that is limiting the role government to a small set of specific tasks. That makes them a huge threat to conservatism as Mr. Harper noted in his speech at the Manning Forum last year. As there are many people who now think they are conservatives but who hold a core value of 'limited government' yes this is a huge threat to Conservative Parties. I wish her good luck, because it is only the libertarian idea that will bring change, conservatism has been tried and it failed.
............
The opinion piece "Alberta Must Go Conservative" implies a core value of conservatives is 'small government', and so Conservatives in Alberta are not conservative. Observation though shows conservatives have voted overwhelmingly for the bigger government in Alberta for decades, this did not start with Stelmach. Conservatives like Mr. Harper and Mr. Mulroney did the same on the national stage and internationally many, but not all, conservatives have been leading the charge to larger governments. It seems clear there is no conservative core value of small government even if some conservatives do hold that core value.
Historically the conservative movement was begun to support the existing governments in Europe in their fight against the liberal trends that was waging revolution against 'big governments' in the United States and then France. The liberal core value of "the government that governs least governs best" was abhorrent to the conservatives. In the middle of the previous century, when many liberals switched to became the champions of big government, conservatives changed their public position to talk about a return to small government. Their actions when in power show it was not a change to core value, it was a tactical move. Conservatives hold restraint of change as a core value, and in leading the charge to big government today they are simply returning to their traditional roots.
In this context, of returning to core values, a quote from 2003 and Mr. Harper is telling:
"The truth of the matter is that the real agenda and defining issues have shifted from economic issues to social values, so conservatives must do the same".
With this understanding, that small government is a nice to have as opposed to a core value, there is no need to assume some mass conspiracy duping of the conservative vote as the partisans claim. Indeed as a conservative core value is to resist change and as the existing structure is now massive government thier expansion of government can be seen as conservatives staying true to their core value of preserving existing institutions.
In Alberta the Conservatives are being challenged by a party lead by a libertarian, check her facebook page if in doubt what word she uses to describe herself politically. Libertarians hold only one core value and that is limiting the role government to a small set of specific tasks. That makes them a huge threat to conservatism as Mr. Harper noted in his speech at the Manning Forum last year. As there are many people who now think they are conservatives but who hold a core value of 'limited government' yes this is a huge threat to Conservative Parties. I wish her good luck, because it is only the libertarian idea that will bring change, conservatism has been tried and it failed.
January 5, 2010
Leaving Alberta Tories behind a smart move for MLAsRead
As sent to the National Post this morning........
I'm a lover of small government and so was delighted to see on the front page the pro-big government juggernaut of the Alberta Conservatives taking a solid drubbing in the polls and 2 MLAs jumping ship. This is encouraging NEWS, but I urge Danielle Smith to be cautious. 2 days ago these same people were part of a government that for over a decade set records for excess in government. I suspect the recovery rates for Xauthoritarians is less than the single digit chances for other addicts so hopefully they will be limited to very junior roles till they have been thoroughly deprogrammed.
This is a brave and complicated experiment Alberta looks eager to try, to move to a Libertarian leaning government. Don't let impatience to gain power derail that noble goal.
I'm a lover of small government and so was delighted to see on the front page the pro-big government juggernaut of the Alberta Conservatives taking a solid drubbing in the polls and 2 MLAs jumping ship. This is encouraging NEWS, but I urge Danielle Smith to be cautious. 2 days ago these same people were part of a government that for over a decade set records for excess in government. I suspect the recovery rates for Xauthoritarians is less than the single digit chances for other addicts so hopefully they will be limited to very junior roles till they have been thoroughly deprogrammed.
This is a brave and complicated experiment Alberta looks eager to try, to move to a Libertarian leaning government. Don't let impatience to gain power derail that noble goal.
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