Tea
Partiers and other constitutionally minded Americans for whom "Anyone
but Obama" rings hollow, and who still harbor hopes of a third-party
challenge to the GOP establishment, may find food for thought in a living
example of such a conservative challenge -- namely, that which arose in
Canada a quarter-century ago. Americans would benefit from a careful
evaluation of their neighbors' success.
For decades, Canadian conservatives fought the same uphill battle as their U.S. counterparts, though lacking the constitutional armor with which to defend themselves. The nation moved continually to the left, and at the federal level, electoral politics was dominated by the increasingly socialistic Liberal Party. The cultural and ideological domination was so complete that the supposedly right-leaning party, the apologetically named Progressive Conservative Party (PC), fell largely under the sway of its "moderate" wing, epitomized by its long-serving leader, Joe Clark, who, for the sake of clarity, might be described as three steps to the left of Olympia Snowe.
In 1984, frustrated by the economic fallout of two decades of almost continuous Liberal policy, and envious of the burgeoning success of the Reagan Revolution, Canadians elected the PCs, led by Brian Mulroney, to a majority government. Mulroney, though more conservative than Clark, was very much an establishment man. He played well in the big cities of the east and in Quebec, traditional Liberal strongholds. He was, however, strictly a light-touch fiscal conservative, and he was not at all prepared to address Canada's suffocating entitlement programs, its economically and morally disastrous "universal" health care system, and the rest of the leftist load that had tipped Canada's scales decisively to the side of incipient socialism.
For decades, Canadian conservatives fought the same uphill battle as their U.S. counterparts, though lacking the constitutional armor with which to defend themselves. The nation moved continually to the left, and at the federal level, electoral politics was dominated by the increasingly socialistic Liberal Party. The cultural and ideological domination was so complete that the supposedly right-leaning party, the apologetically named Progressive Conservative Party (PC), fell largely under the sway of its "moderate" wing, epitomized by its long-serving leader, Joe Clark, who, for the sake of clarity, might be described as three steps to the left of Olympia Snowe.
In 1984, frustrated by the economic fallout of two decades of almost continuous Liberal policy, and envious of the burgeoning success of the Reagan Revolution, Canadians elected the PCs, led by Brian Mulroney, to a majority government. Mulroney, though more conservative than Clark, was very much an establishment man. He played well in the big cities of the east and in Quebec, traditional Liberal strongholds. He was, however, strictly a light-touch fiscal conservative, and he was not at all prepared to address Canada's suffocating entitlement programs, its economically and morally disastrous "universal" health care system, and the rest of the leftist load that had tipped Canada's scales decisively to the side of incipient socialism.
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