Category: Conservatism | Page 10

548 – Inconvenient truths about Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party

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Mar 222018

Driven a Ford lately? Most Fords are capable of being driven in any direction, but the Ford being driven by the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party (PC) is only capable of steering Left.

Doug Ford is a likable character to many on the right, but the party driving him has a clear and consistent history of making Left turns only. The very crisis that conservatives blame on Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne’s ruling Liberal Party was in fact created and continues to be fueled by Ontario’s PC party. Under the PC banner, Doug Ford can now be counted upon to continue this Progressive tradition.

For example, within the span of but a single day following his election as PC leader, on the issue of the upcoming legalization of cannabis in Ontario, Ford switched from saying ‘Let markets dictate’ to ‘Let’s dictate the market.’

Making it clear that he himself does not support the legalization of cannabis, Ford later attempted to reconcile all of his contradictory statements with his pledge to “Start off in our controlled market, eventually I believe in the free market.” Continue reading »

547 – Conservatism’s big tent of conflict

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Mar 152018

As the new leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative (PC) Party, Doug Ford is symbolic of conservatism’s progressive disintegration.

It’s one thing to woo the vote of differing and competing groups during an election, but it’s quite another to invite them into your own party in a manner which allows others to determine your party’s direction. Such has been the ‘big tent’ strategy of the PCs in the past, and it is the primary cause of all of the internal corruption and conflict that has become a public spectacle over recent months.

For decades, the PC Party has been a conflicted association of ‘fiscal conservatives,’ ‘social conservatives,’ ‘libertarians,’ ‘red Tories,’ ‘blue Tories,’ ‘Christian conservatives,’ plus the usual association of ‘hammer-head’ voters and those who simply seek power for its own sake.

To this Doug Ford has already announced intentions to expand his ‘big tent’ party to include even more disparate groups, including the NDP, Liberals, and Greens, in whose interests he has promised to speak. Progressive, yes. Conservative, no. Continue reading »

545 – Conservatism: Conserving the statist quo

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Mar 012018

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party leaders debate once again demonstrates how so many who call themselves ‘conservative’ will support a party that is ‘conservative’ in name only and which has no history or evidence of ever having been in favor of freedom or capitalism. This phenomenon is not unique to Ontario, but has become equally applicable to conservatism everywhere in North America.

This attests to the power of words and language, and to the Left’s successful manipulation of concepts – usually to mean their opposite.

Therefore, far from being offered a true electoral choice – an alternative to the current political movement Leftward – voters are faced with what George Orwell might have called a “double plus good one party system.”

Conservatism’s ‘obituary’ was already written – by Ayn Rand – over a half century ago, based on the general assumption that conservatives were representatives of the Right (freedom and capitalism). But if this has ever been the case, there is no evidence for it, as our listeners will discover upon hearing her scathing analysis of conservatism as it existed in her time. Continue reading »

544 – Identifying the alternatives in Ontario’s election

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Feb 222018

Ontario residents have increasingly been suffering under the burdens imposed by the province’s current Leftist Liberal government led by Kathleen Wynne.

Whether consciously aware of it or not, those seeking an alternative in the upcoming June election are faced with the reality that the other two parties sitting in the legislature are also on the Left. This means that their continued electoral success will only ensure that Ontario continues on its current destructive path, while the burdens experienced by Ontario’s residents will increase unabated.

Unfortunately, one of the parties in the legislature – the Progressive Conservative Party (PC)– has for years been falsely identified as a party on the Right, even though the PCs fully share the philosophy, ideology, planks and platforms that are advocated and implemented by their Leftist opponents. In an age of so-called ‘identity politics’ it is a tragedy that so few understand the true identity of the political parties for which they vote. Continue reading »

542 – Conservatism’s progressive disintegration

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Feb 082018

In the wake of Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Patrick Brown’s resignation due to anonymous allegations of sexual misconduct, the term “identity politics” has taken on a new – and valid – meaning. In this case, the “identity” in question concerns that of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party itself.

Falsely viewed by many as a party on the Right, it is no such thing. The confusion is somewhat understandable, given that the PC Party sits in ‘opposition’ to the ruling Liberal Party, a party most definitely on the Left, as is the New Democratic Party (NDP).

Unfortunately, opposition in the legislature does not mean opposition to the ideas, principles, philosophies, or political direction of the other parties. In every essential way, the philosophy and leadership of the Progressive Conservatives point to the Left.

There is, however, one significant difference between Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives and the other parties of the Left. Continue reading »

513 – Repulsion—Left meets Right

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Jul 132017

To fully comprehend that the political Left and Right are polar opposites is also to understand that the two completely opposite ideologies cannot co-exist.

This represents a great frustration to supporters of both the “liberal left” and of the “conservative right.”

Those on the “left” find themselves forced to compromise with the idea that at least “some capitalism” (on the Right) is necessary, for without it, there is little to no wealth for socialists to “re-distribute.” Those on the “right” find themselves forced to compromise with the notion that at least “some socialism” (on the Left) is necessary, for without it, the elderly, sick, and poor would be unable to survive.

Both camps share a common error. To the extent that each is sincere in its desire to address its concerns as stated (which is another matter entirely), the road to both ends (prosperity, security) has been clearly demonstrated to be Right: the environment of freedom and capitalism. Continue reading »

463 – Fear and Loathing in America / Trump acceptance / Feedback – some polite some not so polite

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Jul 282016

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:42 — 68.5MB) | Embed

TRUMP ACCEPTANCE: As with the five stages experienced by many facing grief and loss, Republicans opposed to Trump have now similarly passed through the familiar stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, with Trump’s victory at the GOP: Acceptance.

For the first time, we take a look a Donald Trump, not as a phenomenon of populism and anti-establishment sentiment, but as the next president of the United States. Is Trump’s promise to “make America great again” merely empty rhetoric, or will he be able to deliver on that promise? What, in critical and concrete terms, will “making America great again” mean in practice?

As Trump now turns his attention to win the hearts and minds of the American voters rather than to defeat his Republican opponents, we can finally see the real choices faced going into this November’s U.S. elections.

On today’s Just Right, join us as we review, not the phenomenon that is Trump, but the promises and policies that he has put forth as the key themes of the Republican campaign. For the first time since he stepped into the political arena, Donald Trump has now set the standards and objectives against which he must be objectively judged. Continue reading »