The federal New Democrats are still trying to hide their socialist roots. They will debate the question of deleting any reference to their socialist origins from their history again at their meeting this year. Thinking of this lead us to a re-examination of what Liberal.ca had to say about the principles of Liberals. It is a pleasure to report that we have some.
In a section of the Liberal web site, entitled What we stand for, there is a list of stands that reads like something written by committee. It seems that we not only stand for opportunity but for equality of opportunity. That is as close as the current crop of Liberals get to admitting they are a party that once cared about individual rights.
This list features a stand in favour of fiscal responsibility. The Tories must have accused us of irresponsibility again. This must also be why we only stand for affordable access to post-secondary education. If we really worried about individual rights, we would ensure access to post-secondary education for all.
It must also be why we add the word ‘sustainable’ to universal public health care. God forbid that Liberals should look like spendthrifts over healthcare.
Maybe some people do not understand the difference between principles and promises. That is like the Tories being tough on crime, while Liberals say they stand for an ‘evidence-based crime policy.’ Does that mean we are not soft on crime but want more evidence in court?
We were particularly pleased to see, in this otherwise insipid list, that Liberals stand for “open, fair, and strong democratic representation. We must have been out for a beer though when Liberals decided they were ‘committed to exploring parliamentary and electoral reform.’ You would think that if this was the case, there would be more than a groundswell of support for British Columbia MP Joyce Murray’s efforts for voting reform and cooperation with other progressive parties.
Besides needing a more knowledgeable editor to fix the grammar and punctuation in this pathetic manifesto, the creators of Liberal.ca will need to check with the new leader to see if he (or she) wants to be connected with such tripe.
And there is also the possibility that the new leader will want to check with the party rank and file and find out where they want to go and how they want to identify their efforts.
Frankly, we are willing to bet that Liberals and most Canadians would very much like to return to the pride they once felt for their country. Mr. Harper has damaged it enough.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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