Is This It Then?
I feel like I am being dragged kicking and screaming to a conclusion it is no longer possible to avoid: the Liberal Big Tent is collapsing. The elements that Chretien held together are separating off - the keep Quebec happy at all costs group, the hawks, the anti-gays, the law and orders, the right of center but don't want to be Conservatives, the decentralists - they are all getting ansy, muttering, trying to get their way, trying to get Ignatieff to help them get their way, nattering to the press, shoving people out, it's a mess.
Dion's problem is not that he doesn't represent what Canadians want, it's that he doesn't represent what certain elements in the Liberal party want. When everyone spoke of renewal, I guess they didn't realize how hard core some of the old guard are and how they would put getting their way ahead of keeping the party strong. It's very foolish, they should have just left the party and gone over to Harper, because that's where they would be happier.
Then new people would join the Liberals and keep alive what the Liberals have always stood for: a strong united Canada, a strong central government that respects the provinces and works with them as a group, social justice, the Charter, peacekeeping not war making, genuine respect for women and minorities, medicare for all, daycare for all, government subsidized research and innovation, support for the arts, respect for culture, strong ties with Europe, caution in dealings with the US, and a deft hand at economic stability and innovation - among many other values and approaches.
Dion can still pull it off. I guess that's why Layton is attacking him with such ferocity - he doesn't want to lose turf, but then like the defecting Liberals, he should realize that what he is doing is contributing to the destruction of what he says he stands for.
Dion needs more new people, strong-minded people who can look ahead and who can communicate to Canadians over the head of the media the way Chretien used to and the way Rae did yesterday. There's hope but it's going to be tough.
Dion's problem is not that he doesn't represent what Canadians want, it's that he doesn't represent what certain elements in the Liberal party want. When everyone spoke of renewal, I guess they didn't realize how hard core some of the old guard are and how they would put getting their way ahead of keeping the party strong. It's very foolish, they should have just left the party and gone over to Harper, because that's where they would be happier.
Then new people would join the Liberals and keep alive what the Liberals have always stood for: a strong united Canada, a strong central government that respects the provinces and works with them as a group, social justice, the Charter, peacekeeping not war making, genuine respect for women and minorities, medicare for all, daycare for all, government subsidized research and innovation, support for the arts, respect for culture, strong ties with Europe, caution in dealings with the US, and a deft hand at economic stability and innovation - among many other values and approaches.
Dion can still pull it off. I guess that's why Layton is attacking him with such ferocity - he doesn't want to lose turf, but then like the defecting Liberals, he should realize that what he is doing is contributing to the destruction of what he says he stands for.
Dion needs more new people, strong-minded people who can look ahead and who can communicate to Canadians over the head of the media the way Chretien used to and the way Rae did yesterday. There's hope but it's going to be tough.
posted by Susan at 1:33 PM
7 Comments:
I'm sorry but you know nothing about political strategy if you think Jack Layton is going after Dion because he's scrambling to keep what he has.
He's doing it because Dion is such a disaster he is so easy to exploit.
The Liberal party is driving quickly into a brick wall and it's painful, yet comical to watch.
That said, politics is politics. Dion was chosen to lead your party because you guys were too afraid to pick Iggy or Rae. This backfired and now there is nothing left to do but cry.
Layton will form official opposition after the next election. Stephane Dion will go down as the biggest disaster in mondern day Liberal politics.
you know when you write out all that is supposed to be Liberal, it looks nice it really does, It makes me think hey? Im a Liberal, but sadly the Liberal Party is none of the above, Maybe back before my time it was, but nothing short of a husk of that great notion exists any longer within the Liberal Party, except for perhaps the volunteers who put their time and effort behind their MP's thinking they can make a difference...
"the Liberal Big Tent is collapsing. The elements that Chretien held together are separating off - the keep Quebec happy at all costs group, the hawks, the anti-gays, the law and orders, the right of center but don't want to be Conservatives, the decentralists - "
Exactly - without power these ideological, self-interested groups no longer have their trough filled; no longer have there narrow agendas promoted; no longer get their way funded by a self-serving Liberal party from taxpayers pockets. The Liberal party hasn't been anything but a cluster of special interest groups fighting for the best pail of swill. Let them go; gather around those who actually care about the country more than their own agenda and rebuild. Personally, I couldn't care any less if the Liberals every get their grubby hands on our tax dollars again BUT a true democracy MUST have two viable parties to keep an eye on things and keep the other in check. We saw how corrupt the Liberals became when the Conservatives were not able to provide that second party. Like I said, let those ties disolve and forge new ones based on the ideals Liberals say they hold dear - it has been a long while since any Liberal government acted on any of those ideals; a long time since they acted on any moral or ethical basis. Rebuild and come back to ensure democracy continues.
"Dion's problem is not that he doesn't represent what Canadians want, it's that he doesn't represent what certain elements in the Liberal party want."
Wrong, Canadians don't want him, even Liberals don't want him.
"Then new people would join the Liberals and keep alive what the Liberals have always stood for .... peacekeeping not war making"
Seriously, the Afgan mission was decided in cabinet.
"Dion can still pull it off. I guess that's why Layton is attacking him with such ferocity - he doesn't want to lose turf"
Wrong, the Libs have benefited from NDP swing voters for years, now those voters are coming back home.
"he should realize that what he is doing is contributing to the destruction of what he says he stands for."
Layton doesn't consider the Liberal agenda to be what he stands for, especially considering they usually campaign to the left and govern to the right.
"Dion needs more new people, strong-minded people who can look ahead and who can communicate to Canadians over the head of the media the way Chretien used to and the way Rae did yesterday."
Chritien was a winner, Dion is a loser.
I think everyone is being a bit melodramatic on this.
I'm not about to say that work and new direction and new dedication to ideals is not needed. It is essential. But all this talk about empty shells, only self-directed interests, venomous divisions, grubby hands only after taxpayers money, etc, is really an insult to a party that developed and implemented an enviable record of accomplishments over the past decade, one that would be enviable for ANY nation. I don't think all of that has evaporated overnight.
Believe me, I'm not always a glass-half-full kinda guy. But this "can it get any worse" angst grows old after oh, I don't know . . . a few minutes.
Get up, dust yourself off, and keep moving.
Methinks it's easy to feel this way after a nation has had a good run of progress (circa US in 2000). I still recall the "it doesn't really matter who wins between Gore and Bush since the two parties are pretty much the same" spiel that was common in the US at time.
Ponder the consequences of that belief for a few minutes to answer your "Is this all there is?" crisis of faith.
Then start working for what you believe within the party that can best deliver upon it - and has proven time and again that it can.
Great post, and I also feel Joseph's point is increasingly valid. We are at the stage where the belly-button gazers and chicken littles are now the perceived voices of our party. Somehow we have let them hijack what is a great mission and record -- not letting the lying CONs and lazy and self-serving MsM off the hook here -- to turn us inwards.
Dion has yet to really speak to Canadians. Its been incredibly difficult over the din of 'Not a Leader' et al. I believe he has tremendous potential and represents a bold new potential within the halls of parliament. However, playing as tho evil is their middle name, Harper and his henchpigs remain almost solely focused on decimating their rival than governing well. And Layton sees not what his support of such an act means for Canada, but that he'll move up in the billing from fourth to maybe third.
I've posted something slightly related over at www.canadianrosebud.blogspot.com
Susan wrote... Then new people would join the Liberals and keep alive what the Liberals have always stood for: a strong united Canada, a strong central government that respects the provinces and works with them as a group, etc...
Quebec has never truly wanted a strong central government in Ottawa. They've always favoured a more decentralized approach as that gives them a greater degree of autonomy.
There are a lot of soft federalists in Quebec that want Quebec to remain in Canada due to the many privaleges that come from Canada, and perhaps even due to some degree of pride in being Canadian. However, these same soft federalists also recognize that Quebec is a distinct soceity, and as such, they want a more decentralized government.
These folks voted either BQ, or Liberal, during the 90s, while holding their nose - both parties represented a viewpoint on Quebec's role relative to Canada that they didn't like (either complete seperation, or part of a strong centralized government), but since those were the only two viable alternatives during the 90s, they voted for one or the other.
Now the Conservatives offer a genuine decentralization option and not suprisingly, Quebece soft federalists are going for it.
The question I would ask you, and Liberals who share your viewpoint here, is why do you fear decentralization so much. Canada is a geographically huge country with a relatively sparse population. The differences between the issues facing Ontario and the issues facing Newfoundland, or the differences between the issues facing Quebec and the issues facing British Columbia, can often be quite large. With that in mind, stronger provinces makes perfectly good sense, particularly if it serves to erode BQ support in Quebec by costing them the votes of decentralists who don't mind having Quebec remain in Canada.
... social justice, the Charter, peacekeeping not war making, etc...
The previous Liberal government is the government that put us in Afghanistan. The current Liberal opposition does not want us leaving before 2009. Former Liberal Deputy Prime Minister John Manley is the new chair of an Afghan Advisory Committee.
The Liberals are, and were, no less 'war-making' than the Conservatives are.
...genuine respect for women and minorities,
I don't see that lacking in either of the federal parties.
medicare for all, daycare for all,
I live in rural Canada, and as such, I know that "daycare for all" is a preposterous notion. Many rural families do not live anywhere close enough to a day care center to make use of day care services. Beyond that, many parents are quite happy to make arrangements to raise their children themselves, either through finding complimentary work schedules or one parent or the other choosing to stay at home.
Now, the $1,200 child care allowance is no more of a catch-all solution than the Liberal daycare plan - both plans have their flaws, and both plans leave certain people out in the cold.
What I would like to see is the best of both worlds - a $1,200 child care allowance for each child under six with out a parent making $75 000 per year or more. The money saved by shaving the most well-to-do Canadians off of this list would then go to additional day care funding.
Day care for all is a slogan that would mean next to nothing to most people who live in the area that I live in - why should rural Canadians get left out in the cold?
Furthermore... do you honestly believe that day care is preferable to a child spending time with his or her actual parents? Do you really think that a society with "day care for all", with parents who spend no meaningful time whatsoever with their children, would make for a good society?
I have to be frank - "day care for all" is a ghastly idea to me. I'm glad that I had two wonderful parents who worked complimentary work schedules which allowed me to spend significant amounts of time with them. As such, I've developed a close bond with both of my parents, and I feel like I'm part of a strong, united family.
This insistence on an one size fits all day care model that would make parents even more laissez faire than what they already are is not my idea of a good society.
...government subsidized research and innovation,
Why is this superior to purely privatized research and innovation?
support for the arts, respect for culture, strong ties with Europe, caution in dealings with the US, and a deft hand at economic stability and innovation - among many other values and approaches.
What you are proposing is a strict left-leaning ideological party - you merely use catchy, vague sloganeering terms to get there.
It seems to me that you yourself want to destroy the Liberal big tent party - the Liberals were never the pacifists that you paint them as, and due to regional differences they accomidated some center-right members and politician.
If you want to govern in Canada, that will almost always mean making some concessions to people with different political views than your own in order to hold a big tent together.
Post a Comment
<< Home