Election Thoughts
I saw an article today about the similarities between the Conservatives in Canada and the Democrats in the US. Two parties that seem forever doomed to be looking at government from the wrong side of the aisle.
(Warning: The above analogy may not be 100% accurate but you catch my drift.)
There is a large difference between the Democrats and Conservatives that the article completely missed. The Conservatives have a vision, the Democrats do not. The Democrats run on the “We’re not Bush platform.” Unfortunately for the Conservatives, their vision is flawed. It is a vision that is unelectable in Canada. The campaign is only eight days old and they’ve thrown away any chance they had at a minority government. These mistakes include:
1) The “Time to toughen up on drugs. This includes pot.” platform. While everyone agrees that we need to shut down meth labs and other manufacturers of illegal drugs, I haven’t heard/read any support for this from a single police chief, newspaper, police spokesman, or person on television. Even the National Post has remained silent on this and I have the benefit on being able to read it every day since it’s free on campus. The War on Drugs has been a complete failure in the United States and it’s a completely insane political stance to try and import into Canada.
2) Gay marriage. While the move by Harper was definitely done to settle his base voters, it’s done him no favours when trying to get Eastern voters on board. The problem here is twofold:
a) In order to repeal the gay marriage law, he will be forced to use the Notwithstanding Clause. The Supreme Court has found the language of the Marriage Act to be unconstitutional and forced the government to make the changes that were needed. No government would ever use the Notwithstanding Clause to try and get a piece of legislation passed. It would be political suicide. Assuming he never actually planned to do this and wanted just to speak to the base, well, that’s problem number two.
b) Gay marriage is a done deal. Ceremonies are being performed across the country as we speak and society around us is not crumbling. Things are working fine so far and to the socially liberal voter, they’ve got no reason to want to go back. By even bringing up the issue, you’ve made it clear to these voters that you want to take away a right that has had no ill-effects in the time since its passage into law.
It’s happened, deal with it, it’s time to move on.
3) They’ve hammering the wrong points to Canadians if they want to get elected; they need to gear their speeches towards these five points:
1) Economic conservatism.
2) Nationalism and restoring funds to military. Peacekeeping, not Iraq.
3) Like I said, don’t mention gay marriage.
4) A minority government is what we’re going to have to deal with; we’re going to have to compromise and work with other parties and we’re willing to do that.
5) Corruption as an issue isn’t working. Move on. A poll today said in today’s National Post said that corruption was the top priority in this election for 8% of the population. Number One? Health Care. Stop beating a dead horse.
(Warning: The above analogy may not be 100% accurate but you catch my drift.)
There is a large difference between the Democrats and Conservatives that the article completely missed. The Conservatives have a vision, the Democrats do not. The Democrats run on the “We’re not Bush platform.” Unfortunately for the Conservatives, their vision is flawed. It is a vision that is unelectable in Canada. The campaign is only eight days old and they’ve thrown away any chance they had at a minority government. These mistakes include:
1) The “Time to toughen up on drugs. This includes pot.” platform. While everyone agrees that we need to shut down meth labs and other manufacturers of illegal drugs, I haven’t heard/read any support for this from a single police chief, newspaper, police spokesman, or person on television. Even the National Post has remained silent on this and I have the benefit on being able to read it every day since it’s free on campus. The War on Drugs has been a complete failure in the United States and it’s a completely insane political stance to try and import into Canada.
2) Gay marriage. While the move by Harper was definitely done to settle his base voters, it’s done him no favours when trying to get Eastern voters on board. The problem here is twofold:
a) In order to repeal the gay marriage law, he will be forced to use the Notwithstanding Clause. The Supreme Court has found the language of the Marriage Act to be unconstitutional and forced the government to make the changes that were needed. No government would ever use the Notwithstanding Clause to try and get a piece of legislation passed. It would be political suicide. Assuming he never actually planned to do this and wanted just to speak to the base, well, that’s problem number two.
b) Gay marriage is a done deal. Ceremonies are being performed across the country as we speak and society around us is not crumbling. Things are working fine so far and to the socially liberal voter, they’ve got no reason to want to go back. By even bringing up the issue, you’ve made it clear to these voters that you want to take away a right that has had no ill-effects in the time since its passage into law.
It’s happened, deal with it, it’s time to move on.
3) They’ve hammering the wrong points to Canadians if they want to get elected; they need to gear their speeches towards these five points:
1) Economic conservatism.
2) Nationalism and restoring funds to military. Peacekeeping, not Iraq.
3) Like I said, don’t mention gay marriage.
4) A minority government is what we’re going to have to deal with; we’re going to have to compromise and work with other parties and we’re willing to do that.
5) Corruption as an issue isn’t working. Move on. A poll today said in today’s National Post said that corruption was the top priority in this election for 8% of the population. Number One? Health Care. Stop beating a dead horse.
Still, I don't see any good that Harper could bring us if he did come to power.
Posted by
Two Degrees |
1:58 PM