Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Looking for a home (updated)

In today's National Post Andrew Coyne: Manning Conference makes one wonder how long conservative movement can keep from tearing itself apart

Mr. Coyne talks about all the different kinds of conservatism and how the current Harper Conservatives are not any of them. And this is what Mr. Coyne says about us:
"Social conservatives? Pretty much their only demand — more of a request, really — is for some sort of restriction, however mild, on the availability of abortion, in the only country in the democratic world that has none. For their troubles, they have been rewarded with a ban on even discussing it."

How true is that?

Mr. Coyne ends with this:
"I’ve never been quite clear on what progressive conservatives believe, but whatever it is, it’s not Harperism. And while I agree that free-market environmentalism ought to be part of any modern conservative coalition, it is difficult to find it in a government that boasts of taking the most top-down, regulatory-heavy approach possible to climate change — precisely because it does not take it seriously. Democratic conservatives? Don’t make me laugh. Even decentralization, the obsession of constitutional conservatives, has been fitful at best.

And yet the base remains, on the whole, quiescent. One has to wonder how long this can last."

Indeed. So where do we go from here? Can we depend on the Conservative party anymore? If not, where do we find a home? Are we even trying to find a home?

UPDATE:
Mike Schouten over at WeNeedaLaw.ca writes more on this  "Cognitive dissonance" today.

Here is part of what Mr. Schouten wrote:
"...The campaign I am directing had an exhibit at the Manning Networking Conference and in all my conversations on the floor of the Ottawa Convention Centre there was no one who affirmed the status quo; all expressed a level of discomfort with Canada standing alone among Western nations with no protection for pre-born human rights. There is common ground among conservatives, yet, as Coyne aptly notes, “They have been rewarded with a ban on even discussing [abortion].”

The release of “The Big Shift” by John Ibbitson and Darrell Bricker surely has Mr. Harper and those close to him feeling emboldened to continue making incremental changes to shift Canada to the right. That the so-called ‘Laurentian elites’ no longer run the country may be of some comfort to grassroots conservatives, but the growing disconnect between so-called ‘Harperism’ and conservatism is of great concern and the quiet can only last so long.

While the cognitive dissonance still exists for some voters who cling to an ideology that ignores what science and philosophy have to say about the humanity of children in the womb, there is a huge shift underway in Canada in how we regard pre-born human rights. The numbers of those opposed to the status quo, especially among Canada’s youth, are growing. We are witnessing a youth movement unwilling to blindly accept the dogma of the previous generation and who are making decisions informed by science and reason. They are displaying a passion for responding to injustices, manifested by the sheer numbers of young Canadian women and men involved in the battle for the protection of all human beings, no matter their location..."

1 comment:

  1. We never could count on any of the mainline parties. It's the people who have to have their consciences awakened. So far, most of them are content sitting on the sidelines watching Christ being tortured and killed while they flick to another station.
    Pass the popcorn Stephen.

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