Uniting the Right

Uniting the Right

White Rock B.C. - Monday, April 8, 2002 - by: Brian Marlett

message
Deep in the entrails of the eviscerated Left there is a message for anyone seeking to unite the Right, or contemplating parliamentary and electoral co-operation based on ideology. It is simple and does not require a Delphic Oracle to read it, only vision and the desire to see what is there to be seen.

left /
right
It's simply this: the politics of ideology are the past, a Cold War artifact without relevance to the present world or the contemporary voter. Voter participation in elections is declining in inverse proportion to the wasteful focus of political parties on the politics of ideology. Whether Left or Right hardly matters.

irrelevant
To the voter, the ideological Left, the New Democratic Party, and ideological Right, the Canadian Alliance, are irrelevant or even repugnant. Until Joe Clark returned to the Commons, the Tories were simply dismissed. So those not wanting to vote Liberal had to choose between parking their vote or not voting at all.

coalition
That is the lesson of '93 to 2000. It is why the Tories should not submit to "uniting the Right". The Canadian Alliance is an electoral irrelevance. It is why the parliamentary coalition of Tories and Canadian Alliance independents should not lead to electoral coalition.

dignity
Dignity and a sense of national purpose needs to be returned to the nation's politics if democracy is to work in Canada.

no appeal
As to the arguments of those who would "unite the Right" it needs only to be said that libertarian, ideological neo-con politics resonates only with extremes. They have no appeal to Canadian voters or Canadian conservatives in any majority. The Canadian Alliance is the Liberal Party's best lock on government.

Brian Marlett

Reference:



Uniting the Right

White Rock B.C. - Monday, April 8, 2002 - by: Brian Marlett

message	Deep in the entrails of the eviscerated Left there is a message for anyone seeking to unite the Right, or contemplating parliamentary and electoral co-operation based on ideology. It is simple and does not require a Delphic Oracle to read it, only vision and the desire to see what is there to be seen.

left / right	It's simply this: the politics of ideology are the past, a Cold War artifact without relevance to the present world or the contemporary voter. Voter participation in elections is declining in inverse proportion to the wasteful focus of political parties on the politics of ideology. Whether Left or Right hardly matters.

irrelevant	To the voter, the ideological Left, the New Democratic Party, and ideological Right, the Canadian Alliance, are irrelevant or even repugnant. Until Joe Clark returned to the Commons, the Tories were simply dismissed. So those not wanting to vote Liberal had to choose between parking their vote or not voting at all.

coalition	That is the lesson of '93 to 2000. It is why the Tories should not submit to "uniting the Right". The Canadian Alliance is an electoral irrelevance. It is why the parliamentary coalition of Tories and Canadian Alliance independents should not lead to electoral coalition.

dignity	Dignity and a sense of national purpose needs to be returned to the nation's politics if democracy is to work in Canada.

no appeal	As to the arguments of those who would "unite the Right" it needs only to be said that libertarian, ideological neo-con politics resonates only with extremes. They have no appeal to Canadian voters or Canadian conservatives in any majority. The Canadian Alliance is the Liberal Party's best lock on government.

	Brian Marlett

Reference: