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4 comments posted · 0 followers · following 0

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - The left’s strange h... · 1 reply · -1 points

I am going to have to strongly disagree with you that modern conservatism is reducible to classical liberalism. Or, that modern liberalism and/or socialism-communism (distinguished by ideological fervour) are the only routes to statism.

Classical liberal ideals of individual property rights were undermined at two fronts in the 19th C: socialists whose cause was class war, and imperialists who wanted to manage the political economy more efficiently in order to compete against other nations. (the third later development being fundamentalist social conservatism ala prohibition and the early nanny state). Modern liberalism came about as a negotiation between these forces, but with the explicit goal of preserving the fundamentals of Enlightenment liberalism. The result being, as we all know, a mixed affair.

You don't have to look too hard to see what I mean. Take John A. MacDonald's National Policy: the development of western Canada was thoroughly planned through public/private corporations such as the CPR, as opposed to the more democratic and violent expansion of the USA. And western protest politics in the prairies emerged to respond to this statism and its Eastern architects.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - The left’s strange h... · 4 replies · +2 points

Snide, I'll concede that much. But not a case of semantics.

Your argument is that Ms. Hirsi Ali can be called a conservative because she is a proponent of the values of secularism in the public sphere, freedom of speech, and equality between men and women that are understood as emerging in Europe (and America) during the late 18th C Enlightenment period. These are discernibly liberal principles that are based on the fundamental recognition of pluralism in society, and an understanding that a role of politics is to mediate difference through this common understanding.

The way that you used the term conservative to describe Ms. Hirsi Ali's politics is misleading insofar as it neglects the important anti-totalitarian strands in liberalism. So you use this vague term 'leftist'. And I suppose I was somewhat volatile in my response, because there is no reason at face to think that someone from the left is against what I discussed above! The opposite is often the case. For instance, the argument that redistribution and the prevention of undue (extreme) inequality is less likely in a fragmented society where we are increasingly unable to recognize our own.

So. Apologies for being snide, it was late when I wrote that. But I think you should reevaluate your consideration that embracing the good in the Enlightenment is antithetical to being leftist in your politics.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - The left’s strange h... · 6 replies · -2 points

Couldn't help but notice you parsing your words there and replacing liberal with 'leftist'...

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - There must be some mis... · 0 replies · 0 points

Indeed, why not NDP at this point of the whole sorry affair. Personally, I would like to see Mr. Layton take a gracious step down from leadership and have a proven Prairie-reared NDP leader such as Roy Romanow or our current ambassador to the USA Gary Doer step up. Sideline Ignatieff. And form a coalition with an NDP Prime Minister.

I've never even voted for the NDP... but as you say, and at this rate..