Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Wilderness Years?

A Canadian conservative writes:

For most of my life, back to the mid-sixties and probably before, conservatives in Canada have spent most of their time fighting with each other and little time fighting elections.  They could rarely bother to agree on anything long enough to wage a decent campaign and as a result the Liberal party has ruled pretty much nonstop for decades.  The Liberals on the other hand understood that winning elections and that being in power was the most important goal.  Why conservatives could not figure this out was and is beyond me but due to political infighting they have had power, either majority or minority, less than 25% of the time since the sixties.
 
What happened in the meantime was that liberals had the power and opportunity to pretty much remake political thought and society as a whole in their own image.  It is to the point that for many urban Canadians – judging from the last federal election - the mention of any conservative notion sends them running through the streets like they had seen a three headed fire breathing gargoyle.  The fact that after the corruption and blatant lies of the Chrétien government Stephen Harper could barely eke out a minority government is ridiculous.  But for decades the Liberal Party was given the opportunity to make themselves and their ideology pretty much the only option for a great many Canadians. And so here we are in Canada.
 
This is why I also have fears for what is happening with conservatives in the U.S.  If the Democrats get into the White House they will also have large majorities in Congress and can do pretty much what they want.  They will have the opportunity to stack the courts and SCOTUS with judges that make Ginsberg look decidedly right wing. They will buy voters with universal health care and the notion of wealth transfers and with the help of a generally friendly media may very well be able to transform the last bastion of free enterprise and can-do spirit in the Western world into another Nanny State much like Canada and Western Europe.  To some extent it has been happening already.  If that accelerates even in a relatively minor way, Democrats could very well be in the White House and Congress for not just four or eight years but more likely the better part of the rest of our lives.  Not a pleasant thought.
 
I do hope that conservative commentators come to understand what the real battle is and put some serious effort into keeping the White House in Republican hands.  At this point, however, it doesn’t look good.  The only bright spot may very well be that John McCain is electable enough to get there on his own to get there without much help.  We will see.

02/20 03:32 PM