It began with Mr. Dion and it's come to fruition with Mr. Ignatieff. My four decade-long affair with Liberalism is over. I wish I could boast that I'd found something better but I haven't. The NDP's not better, the Conservatives (whatever that means) much less so. I guess I've come to the point where it simply doesn't matter. As Riley B. King put it, The Thrill is Gone:
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What was the straw that broke the camel's back?
There wasn't really a straw, Fish. It was a gradual realization that I had lost all interest in the LPC.
Spending the last few years as a Liberal blogger made me see the party as I hadn't seen it before and, to me, it's an empty vessel. It has become much too focused on squeaking back into power at the expense of really helping Canada, standing up for the country and traditional Liberal values. Those running this clown car don't realize those things are not mutually exclusive, they're fundamentally integral.
Dion was merely inept but Ignatieff is worse. He has no idea how to lead this country and instead falls back on platitudes at every turn - until he finds it necessary to reverse himself, again and again and again. Even his trajectory, that would drive the LPC to the right, hard alongside the ultra-right Harper CPC, is flat out wrong.
There's a reason why Ignatieff falls well behind Harper in opinion polls. There's a reason why the LPC and the CPC are deadlocked with only the CPC seen as capable of breaking out. There's a reason why the LPC hasn't been able to capitalize on the genuinely awful mess Harper has made of Canada. There's a common thread that runs through all this and that's the reason I've lost all interest in the Liberal Party - because it's no longer liberal.
This party needs someone of the stature of Louise Arbour or Lloyd Axworthy to breathe life back into it, to lift it back up. Canada really doesn't need two conservative parties. Neither do I.
I truly hope you will continue blogging as a progressive blogger. This country needs more not fewer individuals such as yourself with the courage, knowledge and insight to speak out on environmental issues and against climate change.
Leaders come and go, and political parties evolve. Please continue the fight for change and a better way.
I suppose my leave-taking doesn't really change all that much. I'm still as liberal as ever, as progressive as ever, just without any political affiliation. A non-partisan progressive - seems perfectly suited to a self-proclaimed curmudgeon.
Politics in reality bears little resemblance to the board games popular with some college students but there are too many who haven't grasped that. A lot of them are bloggers. They're the joiners, the team players but so absorbed are they in their sycophancy that they appear to believe their party can flourish without a heartbeat.
As I've written so many times there are enormously serious problems facing the world, including Canada (particularly today's youth and the children they will have) and yet Harper, Ignatieff and even Latyon remain mute on them lest taking a stand on behalf of Canada and our people should cost them support within their parties. It is telling that this moral disappearing act has sparked no outrage among big L libs.
So I am going to continue writing, just not so much as before, although I'm not sure I'll be welcome on Liberal aggregators.
You are absolutely correct. This morning I heard the end of a report on CBC, that the PC Gov says we can no longer use "child soldier" and one other which I did not hear..I will catch it later. We can no longer say "Merry Christmas".....what is Canada coming down as? You know MOS, the garbage..and it can only be called that..that is taking place is an attempt to further make ordinary Canadians complacent and not want to perticipate in political matters. First of all, ordinary Canadians are wondering if they will have their job next week and second they are scared. It is a way to keep those people who are connected and within the circle to put people in power they wish to be in power and making it easy for unqualified people to run for the PM's office. It's all about power and nothing else. A. Morris
I wish AM that I didn't find myself agreeing with some of your points.
You can add the Greens too!
My solution is just support the local candidate who resonates with you.
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