Well, we now have a minority Conservative government in Canada. What will that mean to Canadians?
Not much, likely. Mostly, nothing will change. The Conservatives don't have enough seats (124) in the House of Commons to get anything done. The Liberals (103) the NDP (29) and the Bloc Québécois (51) will be fighting them every step of the way.
Had we elected a Conservative majority yesterday, we might have had a chance of having the reviled federal gun registry dismantled. We might have had a chance at having at least some government programs curtailed or canceled. Of course, if you believe some Canadians, we would have taken a step backwards into the 1950s. Now we will never know what might have been.
I don't know about you, but there were a lot of things I liked about the 1950s. Less government. Lower taxes. Fewer regulations and red tape. More personal responsibility. These are typically things associated with a Conservative political platform.
There were also some things I didn't like during the 1950s. Governments were sometimes too concerned with what citizens read or watched or who they slept with. Getting government out of our living rooms and bedrooms is mostly a Liberal preoccupation.
Why can't we have governments that stay out of our financial and business affairs and out of our living rooms and bedrooms too? That would be the Libertarian way.
I'm afraid that a Libertarian solution is far too logical for it ever to come to be, at least not before a total and cataclysmic economic and social collapse first.
Too bad.
The real difference between Libertarian and Conservative is that Libertarians want the Welfare State dismantled, while Conservatives only want that part of it that doesn't cater to their weaknesses dismantled.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the rhetoric of elections tends to be forgotten as the new politicians take office and set about doing a better job...screwing the electorate than did their predecessors!
They're old-money filthy-rich, and don't give half a busted damn about anything that doesn't aid them in maintaining that status.
"The real difference between Libertarian and Conservative is that Libertarians want the Welfare State dismantled, while Conservatives only want that part of it that doesn't cater to their weaknesses dismantled."
ReplyDeleteI love this quote of yours, Ted. It should be used in marketing libertarian ideas to conservatives.