The Fatal Flaw
I know!… The Liberal devil made them do it.
I am coming to understand the brutal logic of governing this country. Not the least of which is the fact that there are two liberals to every conservative. Some display orange colours, others green, some red, but the colour of their stripes does not alter the reality that you cannot govern without appealing to them. You cannot govern from the opposition benches. And to govern with a minority in a five party system requires some Italian tactical compromise.
So I am still in support of what Harper’s Conservatives are doing. I understand the need for it. I know that the chameleon-like conversion to so many strangely Liberal initiatives in the federal budget, are a way of getting our foot in the voter’s door. The Conservative policies at the root of our core beliefs, will never be of any use to anyone if we cannot gain the trust of those 66% liberals.
I have made these very arguments myself, to irate supporters, friends, or family. I have reminded them, - as I do to myself, this very moment - that there is so much more to Conservative policy. The rightness of our core beliefs will eventually make Canada a more prosperous country, if only…
There is but one fatal flaw in this thinking. The Liberals did not become the unprincipled opportunists that they have been for the last score of years, because there is honour and glory in it. They did not become liars and thieves because these are noble traits. They did it because it worked. Because it was the path of least resistance and the most gain, under the nose of an indifferent electorate. They learned that there is less effort and more return to promising with fanfare and the illusion of action - to become political actors - than to try to actually satisfy everyone with some achievement. They learned that they could easily convince Canadians that their tax sacrifice was for good causes, and then be seen spending variously toward those causes.
And what is to stop us now that we are on this same road, from eventually shedding our skin and actually becoming a party of functioning Liberals? Absolutely nothing. With every Liberal-like manouvre we will be closer to having donned their stripes, until we realize that the task of gaining power has become so much more easy than the challenge of teaching 66% of Canadians the enormous benefit of Conservative principles.
And I understand that this can happen and why it may. I also understand, as I did all along, that the years of effort spent trying to sway voters toward the Conservative party, in the most socialist riding in the country, will have all been in vain. And I know that if that happens, I will turn on my party with all the venom I spewed throughout the Liberal dark ages.
