A friend sent me this interesting article, in which an objectivist tries to define conservatism.
It's useful reading for those of us trying to define the Canadian brand of conservatism.
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- Gerry Nicholls
- Gerry Nicholls is a communications consultant and writer who has been called a “political warrior” a “brilliant strategist” and one of the “canniest political observers in Canada.” He has worked as a consultant in both the United States and Canada and was formerly a senior officer in the National Citizens Coalition. A regular columnist with the Ottawa Hill Times, his work has also appeared in the Globe and Mail, the National Post and in the Sun Media chain; and he has appeared on countless TV and radio public affairs programs. He is the author of the book, Loyal to the Core, Harper, Me and the NCC.
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6 comments:
... An excelent article... thanks!
... However, it is pointless to attempt to define a specifically Canadian conservatism (a form of tribalism).
... Economically, there is conservatism, and there is communism. Conservatism respects and defends the right of private property- the foundation of individual liberty. Whereas, communism considers individual's incomes as collective property- to be "fairly" redistributed by the state.
... Be ever vigilant against the wiles of dishonest politicians who claim themselves followers of the mysterious, meaningless Middle Way.
“social conservatives,” “traditional conservatives,” “economic conservatives,” “religious conservatives,” “neoconservatives,” “paleoconservatives,” “compassionate conservatives,” and, more recently, “South Park conservatives,” “crunchy conservatives” (see the book review in this issue), even “big-government conservatives”
.................
Ok, so now we can add "objectivist conservatives" to the above list of identifiable collectives who consider their vision of Conservatism (which must also "work" to the advancement of their "right" collective morality in this instance??) to be UP from Conservatism.
Useful? Collective claims to moral superiority continue to corrupt politics and "capture" Conservatism for the advancement of political opportunism. Zzzz...
Andrew Coyne just defined the Canadian brand of conservatism this morning.
How sweet to be a Tory today. Untethered at last from any principled mooring, they are as light as feathers.
"untethered" or just "unprincipled"
The jury is still out.
Next conservative party, please!
To anonymous:
I believe what you are saying is:
"So, let's just be Liberals???"
Please correct me if I am wrong.
This article is an interesting one although conservatism in Canada, at least historically had a very different meaning than in the United States. Up until the 60s, it was liberalism that stood for less government while conservatism was about preserving institutions and maintaining social order. In the 60s the Liberals took a sharp turn to the left and focused more on expanding the welfare state while conservatism was more about expanding the welfare state at a slower pace, however there was pretty much a unanimous consensus that bigger government was the way to go. This changed in the 80s when the idea of smaller government began to take root in Canada, but it wasn't until the deficit reached out of control levels in the early 90s that the idea of smaller government became a popular and mainstream idea. Once the deficit was eliminated, selling the idea of smaller government became more difficult. After all, when things are going poorly, people will vote for radical change, but when things are going well, people stay with the status quo.
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