Apolitical Staples

getting sick and tired of big and inefficient government

If voters are so sick of government, why are all the parties, including and especially the CPC, giving them more? I think you are projecting your own feeling onto voters at large. Not always wise, as we NDPers well know.

Sorry, my bad. I misread your last paragraph. Still celebrating last night. ;p

If voters are so sick of government, why are all the parties, including and especially the CPC, giving them more?

Because generations of relentlessly statist “free” education have convinced voters that the government is their Daddy and money grows on trees. For example, out of this weeks news, the "history" of WWI that insists that killing tens of thousands of young Canadian men in a stupid and pointless foreign war, far from being an unprecedented disaster for our country, was actually a very good thing because it "established Canada as a nation". While of course allowing the government to make a quantum leap in size. Every government war has exactly the same cause and effect, whether its against Heinies, drugs, poverty, energy, trans fats - you name it. Demonize something, scare the stupid into giving it their blind support, and use the wave of hysteria to drown out the voices of reason. Left and Right politicians are cut from exactly the same cloth in this regard. Deciding which particular demon should be used to grow government at any particular time is nothing but an exercise in branding.

The existence and current mild trendiness of a couple of milquetoast “conservatives” such as the supercilious fat cats running the CPC and ADQ doesn`t demonstrate very much, except possibly that deep in their heart of hearts a minority of people have a little bit of apprehension that just maybe, paying a few tens of thousands of government employees a small fortune every year in order for them to “manage” a few million Canadians into marginal, unproductive, irresponsible and pointless occupations - quite possibly, this is Not a Good Thing.

I see that one of the Gregs around here is starting to get it. There`s still some hope for the other one.

And speaking of branding - did you ever wonder what kind of guy or gal, hanging around with nothing particular to do and nothing much on their mind, has the time and interest in participating in a lengthy political poll or god forbid, in a focus group? No wonder we`re being peddled so many ridiculous policies like government-approved sports credits and windmills. Our policies are determined by daydreaming dopes.

“…if they adopt fiscal conservatism, they will win.” There’s so many obstacles in the way to that, it’s hard to know where to begin. Even after they dump Dion, they will be forced again into a delegated convention. Where one third of the delegates are students, every special interest group is over-represented, and blocks of ethnic voters will again be up for “sale”. I suppose a leadership candidate could lie through his teeth, campaign on the left, then introduce right-wing policies. It might work for an annointed, leader-in-waiting like Martin, who has no serious competition, but there’s no such person in the LPC now that I can see. Anyway, it looks good on the Liberals to be trapped within a clunky, expensive leadership selection method that they will have a hell of a time changing. Those youth delegates I’m sure wouldn’t want to give up their five days of partying, boozing, and getting laid !

Blame the voters.

I disagree with Nichols on this one. Up to this point, Dion clearly hasn’t defined his party, the tories have. So to attempt to redefine yourself as a fiscal conservative would only play into the tories hand once again. (not that that’s a bad thing) What he needs to do is make “culture” an issue. By championing old policies like the Charter and Multiculturalism, he [Dion] will then define what was once good about the Liberal party, not what was bad.

However, it seems as though the Tories have learned this lesson much better than the Liberals. Take the 2006 election as an example, instead of being defined by others, Harper decided that it was in his party’s best interest to define itself through specific and clear platform proposals which would ultimately invigorate a larger and more loyal middle class voting base. [i.e. tax cuts (GST cut), reduce wait times, Choice on childcare and anti-crime measures]

And with Harper pumping out a policy every week [on friday] coupled with the liberals having no idea where they are going or who they represent, it is clear to see why one party is rising in the polls and the other is dropping drastically. You have to be able to define yourself in this game.

I agree that Harper is creating lots of room on the right to be out-flanked. Problem is, the Liberals aren’t going to do it, in part because it ruins all of Dion’s efforts so far to paint Harper as the one who’s trying to be a Bush wannabee.

Harper is a backroom tactician at heart. And his tactics have been perfect. He’s occupied the centre as much as he can in order to negate any fear tactics from the left. The Liberals have cornered themselves as the champions of progressivism in Canada. They can’t move right without being hypocritical or abandoning their ideological base.

It’s funny, Mistah Staples. I used to be 169% for a great many well-intentioned “big government” programs. I haven’t abandoned any idealism, but I have grown very frustrated with and weary of the bureaucracy and ineffectiveness of the institutions I would like very much to champion. Today, I find I’m all in favour of cutting government back significantly. It doesn’t work, it wastes time and money and effort, and exists to perpetuate itself further.

Where one third of the delegates are students, every special interest group is over-represented, and blocks of ethnic voters will again be up for “sale”. I suppose a leadership candidate could lie through his teeth, campaign on the left, then introduce right-wing policies.

It’s the norm in Lib leadership conventions and it’s the same thing in Canadian general elections. Except instead of 1/3 of the voters being students, you have maybe 2/3 voters from earn-not provinces. No wonder there is barely a hair’s breadth difference between the Lib and Conservative policies.

It’s not gonna change anytime soon. The people who tend not to suck the government teat also tend not to get all lathered up about political parties and voting. Too busy earning an honest living to get down in the gutter and try their luck selling common sense and morality to the people wallowing there.