Centre Defined: Between Prentice & Comartin
What is this mythical Centre that Coyne, Manley, CTV, & Canwest (start to see a pattern?) want us to "regain"? A simple test is to take the right-most MP of the left, say, Joe Comartin, & the left-most MP of the right, say, Jim Prentice, & imagine those as the outer limits of the Centre. Seems to me if anything the LPC remains a centre-right party. We offered by far the largest tax cuts of all parties in the last election, $50 Billionish! How much further right would we have to go to occupy this mythical Centre? Privatise health care? Adopt an "Empire Lite"-supporting foreign policy? Cut services, devolve all possible powers to the provinces, decentralise all responsiblities, etc. - only then will we reach this mythical Centre? Do they take us for fools? That's the Right, not the Centre.
Every public opinion survey always shows a large majority of the population adhere to supposedly "leftish" or commonsensical views: investments far preferred to tax cuts, public services (eg. health care), multilateralism, an end to foreign military adventures, civil liberties protected but balanced with collective identity & self-protection(anti-hatemongering laws, Canadian nationhood). Even if we just take the last election, an anomalous Con win in historical context which should point to a more right-wing country, 62% of people voted for then NDP, Greens, Bloc & a supposedly red-Liberal platform & leader,although how a platform that advocated the biggest tax cuts of all is left-wing is beyond me.
The NDP & Bloc, & Greens too, at least in popular perception, are all to the left of us. So if we try to find the median voter at 50%, we can start at let's say, Jim Prentice, the last .01 in the 37.65% the Cons received. From there it's 12.35% to reach 50%. That's slightly less than half of our 26.26% support. So the Centre leans ever so slightly left, to the palest of pale pink Liberals. If say, at least in perception, Dryden & Dosanjh are two poles on the left & Brison & Ignatieff are two poles on the right, which Liberal, policy-wise, best represents Mr. & Mrs. Median Voter? Policy-wise, it's someone like Stéphane Dion. I realise that's not the perception but I'm assuming readers have followed policy debates over the years. One of the forgotten reasons Dion won in 2006 is most Liberals were comfortable with his policy positions. It helps to have been in the caucus since 1996 of course.
I hope all Liberals act according to their convictions. But if we were to consider how we should position ourselves, a couple of questions arise: who best represents the median voter? What policies does that entail? Given the Cons fantastic party machinery and rock solid base (particularly in rural Saskatchewan, Alberta & BC), amounting to at least 33% support, how is it easiest to take support, from the less wealthy, less organised Greens & NDP, both who achieved historic highs in the last election (ie. can only go down?) or from the Cons?
Others may have different answers but to me, "poser la question, c'est y répondre": to ask the question is to answer it.
Every public opinion survey always shows a large majority of the population adhere to supposedly "leftish" or commonsensical views: investments far preferred to tax cuts, public services (eg. health care), multilateralism, an end to foreign military adventures, civil liberties protected but balanced with collective identity & self-protection(anti-hatemongering laws, Canadian nationhood). Even if we just take the last election, an anomalous Con win in historical context which should point to a more right-wing country, 62% of people voted for then NDP, Greens, Bloc & a supposedly red-Liberal platform & leader,although how a platform that advocated the biggest tax cuts of all is left-wing is beyond me.
The NDP & Bloc, & Greens too, at least in popular perception, are all to the left of us. So if we try to find the median voter at 50%, we can start at let's say, Jim Prentice, the last .01 in the 37.65% the Cons received. From there it's 12.35% to reach 50%. That's slightly less than half of our 26.26% support. So the Centre leans ever so slightly left, to the palest of pale pink Liberals. If say, at least in perception, Dryden & Dosanjh are two poles on the left & Brison & Ignatieff are two poles on the right, which Liberal, policy-wise, best represents Mr. & Mrs. Median Voter? Policy-wise, it's someone like Stéphane Dion. I realise that's not the perception but I'm assuming readers have followed policy debates over the years. One of the forgotten reasons Dion won in 2006 is most Liberals were comfortable with his policy positions. It helps to have been in the caucus since 1996 of course.
I hope all Liberals act according to their convictions. But if we were to consider how we should position ourselves, a couple of questions arise: who best represents the median voter? What policies does that entail? Given the Cons fantastic party machinery and rock solid base (particularly in rural Saskatchewan, Alberta & BC), amounting to at least 33% support, how is it easiest to take support, from the less wealthy, less organised Greens & NDP, both who achieved historic highs in the last election (ie. can only go down?) or from the Cons?
Others may have different answers but to me, "poser la question, c'est y répondre": to ask the question is to answer it.
posted by Eugene Forsey Liberal @ 12:01 PM
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