Opinion

Harper Rolls over Soft Foes

Ignatieff's Liberals and Layton's NDP cede ground by seeming to be wishy-washy.

By Murray Dobbin, 3 Dec 2009, TheTyee.ca

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As I watch with alarm Stephen Harper's lead over the Liberals solidify, even as he displays contempt for climate change efforts, and disdain for parliament, I am reminded of Ronald Reagan. What I remember is this: on almost every major issue on which he took a strong public stand, he was opposed by a majority of Americans. But that did not stop them from supporting him, giving him high ratings as president -- and re-electing him.

What explains the contradiction? Americans saw in Reagan a man who, specific policies aside, believed strongly in what he was doing. And conversely, they saw in the Democrats a party of shameless opportunists who would claim to believe in anything if it got them a few extra votes. They were tired of trying to decipher the complexities of the issues, tired of the spin, distrustful of government and the media. Their default position was to go with the guy who seemed to say what he meant and mean what he said. They were looking for someone with principles -- and apparently any principles would do.

If Stephen Harper is Ronald Reagan then Michael Ignatieff seems destined to play the role of Hubert Humphrey or Bill Clinton or Al Gore -- Democrats with infinitely flexible principles and an ethical relativism that has degraded democratic politics in the U.S. The Liberal Party of Canada is the classic party of opportunism whose century of success as the natural governing party was predicated on running from the left with progressive policies, and then governing from the right with policies designed to favour Bay Street. It worked so long as it was well-executed, and the party maintained internal unity and self-discipline.

But now the Liberals are neither united nor disciplined. Paul Martin's ruthless ten year assault on his own party in aid of becoming its leader is still playing out in new incarnations of backstabbing and public disputes. So divided by the trench warfare between the two camps that no one within the ranks of the party could lead it without being immediately assassinated, they went to the U.S. to recruit an outsider with no battle-baggage.

When Iggy wasn't Iffy

But what they got was a post-modern academic with no convictions that couldn't be trumped by particular circumstance. A human rights advocate who flip-flops on torture; a leader whose philosophy dictates that he can't feel strongly about anything -- for whom right and wrong are so intertwined he just can't be sure which is which.

Such a leader may well be incapable of fighting the pit-bull ruthlessness of Stephen Harper whose passion for dismantling Canada knows no bounds. Ignatieff's persona is that of the effete snob personally offended by a man who refuses to play by the rules. But he can't adjust and recognize that it is Harper who is now making the rules and thus defining the landscape on which the battle takes place.

To his credit, Ignatieff has had some promising moments in the past few months, as when he mused aloud about the  necessity of (ultimately) raising taxes to deal with the structural deficit. But he didn't have the courage to stick to it and the media and his own party smacked him so hard he almost forgot he'd ever said it.

His messaging on Harper was dead on. He attacked him on the tax issue: "We pay taxes, Mr. Harper, because we're all in this together. It costs us something, but it makes Canada the place it is: a place where we look out for each other." And he revealed the theme on which he should fight the next election: "Stephen Harper... believes that the only good government is no government at all." He topped it off, at about the time he was going to force an election, with, "We can do better," which sounds a bit like "A better world is possible," the theme of the World Social Forums. 

Combine these themes -- and all the sub-themes they harbour -- with a campaign using Liberal veterans to tag Harper with all the frightening, anti-Canada statements he has made in the past, and Ignatieff would begin to claw back the ground he has lost in the past two months. And most importantly, he could claw it back from the Radical Libertarians now running the show, and not the NDP. But these gems come in fits and starts and there is no momentum.

New Democrats' blurry vision

As for the NDP, it, too, is operating well below its potential. The longer Jack Layton is in Ottawa the more trapped he seems to become in the daily obsession with tactics. The NDP will never form the government (Quebec ensures this), and its strength therefore is squandered in this endless search for the perfect tactical maneuver. That game makes sense for the two contending parties, but the NDP's strength is its vision (it's got to be there, probably locked up in a back room so it won't provoke anyone).

The NDP has no coherent vision that it is willing to boast about, just a series of disconnected policies, some of them admittedly very good but all of them harnessed to the singular strategy of replacing the Liberals. This is the critical weakness of the NDP -- it has decided that it will present itself as the real government-in-waiting with Jack Layton as prime minister. This strategy all but destroys any possibility of appealing to Canadians on the basis of a hopeful vision of what the country could be. Inadvertently, the NDP hobbles itself in the contest for hearts and minds.

Instead of boldly contrasting itself with Harper's dystopic vision of the country and the ruination of Canada's international reputation, the NDP attacks the Liberals, acquiesces to policies such as Harper's draconian crime bills, and allows free votes on the long gun registry. Then there is Layton's personal musing about eliminating income taxes for small business (lost revenue: $5 billion a year).

The NDP seems so caught in the minutiae of tactical maneuvering that it cannot see the forest for the trees. The constant opportunist calculations are reducing the NDP to the ethical equivalent of the U.S. Democratic Party (one party fundraiser even referred to the party as the Democratic Party even though the suggested name change was never debated at the party's convention). Their strategy of slowly replacing the Liberals is like slow suicide -- at the end of the process they will of necessity become the Liberals.

Think big, take risks

Does being bold entail risks? Of course. Could the NDP lose seats in the next election? Yes, but they might anyway -- as they certainly would have done had there been a fall election. Wouldn't it be better to risk seats by being bold and visionary, inspiring Canadians to think big, rather than risk them racing to the bottom with the Liberals, assuming Canadians are too dull and unimaginative to reclaim their country?

If neither the Liberals nor the NDP find the courage to present a vision to the country and redefine the political discourse, it is virtually certain that Stephen Harper will be prime minister after the next election. But if even one of them manages, they could save the country. [Tyee]

Murray Dobbin's State of the Nation column appears every other Thursday in The Tyee and rabble.ca and he now publishes a blog.

23 Comments:

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  • ReeferMadness

    2 years ago

    Well said, Murray

    If you stick to your principles and lose seats, at least you've stuck to your principles. If you abandon your principles and lose seats, you're nowhere.

    I'm tired of the endless posturing and maneuvering we've seen from both the NDP and the Liberals. In particular, the NDP were once the voice of principle. Now, they've almost become a second Liberal party.

  • alive

    2 years ago

    Stupid voters

    Some good points here!
    People are looking for a strong leader, and willing to concede most anything if it gets them to feel that things are happening that may make them proud to be "on the winning side"!
    History has shown us plenty of examples: like Hitler.
    It takes a long time and a lot of mistakes before such people will switch sides again.
    It is simply too much to ask that ordinary citizens should bother to investigate what their leader really has in mind and how it will affect them in the end.
    It is a sad fact that we are stuck with a blend of voters who are more interested in their temporary comfort, than in working towards a better future.

  • rangergord

    2 years ago

    Radical Libertarian?

    Harper is not radical libertarian. The cons are fundamentalist, social conservative, fiscal liberals running a deficit and raising taxes through Harmonization. Libertarians are fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I consider myself more of a libertarian but I would never consider voting for the Con's. In fact I probably won't vote at all the next time around. First time ever. Lets just say there are no appealing alternatives and time is running out.

  • Cynic

    2 years ago

    Think big, take risks. Well,

    Think big, take risks. Well, some people have, but without plenty of money and media attention it's futile. For example, Paul Hellyer started the Canadian Action Party that espoused money reform, agrogate nafta, and a love for Canada and Canadians without being anti-american. They were anti-elite. A shoe-in at the polls if Canadians knew, but they were marginalised relentlessly and very few knew.

    The three parties mentioned in this article will never change the status quo, they are the status quo. Discussing them, comparing them, is becoming pointless. Rather, let's discuss how we can get rid of them.

  • Jeffrey J.

    2 years ago

    Democratic Socialism

    Democratic socialism: a governing economic principle that has made northern Europe great, that brought medicare to Canada, that underpins the concept behind our police forces, fire fighters, public services, the list goes on. This was the driving force behind the CCF/NDP. But after years of savage attack by neoconservative corporations and press, democratic socialism has been driven from public discussion.

    Tommy Douglas brilliant biography by Walter Stewart reminds us of why Tommy Douglas was such a committed socialist.

    The NDP MUST understand the conceptual framework of democratic socialism. It is somewhat complicated. But only a little.

    Mainstream media has dumbed down any discussion of proper political and economic debate. The NDP will need to recreate that debate by understanding and explaining concepts like the greatest good for the greatest number.

    Great coverage by Mr. Dobbin as always.

  • puppyg

    2 years ago

    doomed to repeat

    Perhaps this is our time to be stupid. It would explain Harper's endurance.

    When opposition leaders engage Harper in the usual political sniping, they eventually lose steam. This, I believe, is because they are up against someone who is nasty by nature, someone who actually gains energy by being mean-spirited.

    Harper's arena is ugly. Iggy and Jack should stay out of it. I say, lure Harper out into a nicer place, the world of international diplomacy, for example, and then step back. Harper will flounder. Canadians might be blind, but the rest of the world is not. Harper will try to screw everybody because it is all he knows. The comeuppance? So what! Canadians deserve to pay a price for their folly.

    If Canadians stick with Harper, they will have demonstrated an inability to learn from history. War, economic ruination, intolerance and repression... all there for the reaping... our time to be stupid.

  • Jerry Munro

    2 years ago

    The Capitalist Party of Canada...

    There is really only one political party in the country, the Capitalist Party of Canada, having but four different factions within it,

    Well, actually only a rough/crude three factions in actuality, given the the way the NDP has developed, post its emergence from the old CCF-, becoming more accurately a 2nd Liberal faction of the Capitalist Party. Likewise given the historical development of the Greens out of the old Progressive Conservatives, who still, I understand, play a significant role in its leadership, to become a rough kind of "official" bastardized Green faction, drawing in some elements from all the other faction parts of the same Capitalist Party of Canada to which they all belong.

    Time to end our illusions about this bullshit democracy model of capitalism. On the defining central issue of the "private authoritarian" ownership of the means of production to the economy, they are all currently fundamentally agreed. There is no real, substantive difference to any of these factions within the overarching Capitalist Party, save what policy minutia may serve its best interests... specifically that of "the system's" ruling class.

    A rose by any other name remains a rose just the same.

  • puppyg

    2 years ago

    Good piece. I take comfort

    Good piece. I take comfort in the comments also. Alive - I feel it. Coyoteman - I hear you.

  • make_up_another...

    2 years ago

    The Ineffective Opposition

    What illustrates the complete refusal of the opposition to challenge the Conservatives as they sell Canada off by the piece, is the fact that they don't have a majority.

    The Conservatives can be brought down any day, yet the opposition lets them live? Canadians don't want another election, they say. I'll take one, just to see Harper gone. Alas, what are we left with? The Liberals?

    We'd be better off with baboons in parliament than these clowns.

    I used to like the fact that they were in power, simply because they were at least not as mean as the Conservatives, but once in a while it would be nice to have a Government who does something useful for the people and not the moneyed interests.

    I guess what makes them so ineffective everyone seems to want to join the good graces of the business class now, even the NDP for crying out loud.

  • Jerry Munro

    2 years ago

    Cynic & Puppyg and Real Democracy...

    Cynic wrote, "The three parties mentioned in this article will never change the status quo, they are the status quo. Discussing them, comparing them, is becoming pointless. Rather, let's discuss how we can get rid of them."

    And I hear YOU, brother.... as well as puppyg. :-)

    A new kind of concencus IS, slowly to be sure, evolving... and needs to.

    "I guess what makes them so ineffective is, everyone seems to want to join the good graces of the business class now, even the NDP for crying out loud." puppyg says.

    Which is it in a nut shell about all the factions to the Capitalist Party of Canada, right now.

    Hang in there, brothers and sisters. We kind of need to keep the faith together, that real democracy IS possible... one day.

  • Jerry Munro

    2 years ago

    make_up_another

    Sorry, make_up_another.

    I was to quick to hit that SEND button again. :-)

    The concencus really is growing.

  • dorothy

    2 years ago

    I think that these people are coming up short

    because the situation we are in now cannot be addressed with any of the 'good old thinking'. It is genuinely new, demographics and economy have hit some walls that will not move or bend, and everyone is afraid to blink first in case they come out as boobies. This is true for every ilk of politician except those who don't care how much damage they do, and are sure the gift of gab will fix everything for them in case it blows up.

    I don't have any ideas for how we put some guts into the people now on the scene. The part of Europe you all seem to admire would, in a situation like this, create a real coalition government, with ministers from all parties that have people elected, or even what is known as a 'businees government', where everyone co-operates and simply lay cut-throat politics aside, seeing the seriousness of the situation. This I suppose is a real test of whether the democracy we lay claim to is worth the paper it's written on. I think we live in 'interesting times'.

  • ME2

    2 years ago

    moral crisis ahead for touchie-feelies

    Of course, if they hold true to form, they'll just refuse to deal with it

    http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/12/02/gold-in-them-hills

    What say you, TYEE ?????

  • Skywalker

    2 years ago

    Right on Murray!

    All of it right on!

  • Jeffrey J.

    2 years ago

    Appeasing the Bully Never Works

    Mr. Dobbin's point is well taken. This is a very basic human dynamic. One can NEVER appease a bully. You must either stand up to them, or acquiesce. There is no third option. Many people fail to grasp this, and permit themselves to be slowly painted into a corner by slow appeasement of the bully, at which time they are then summarily dismissed from view.

    For a telling analogy, see the venerable Uri Avnery's comments this week on Obama being painted into the same corner. For the same underlying dynamics. I do hope the NDP (both federally and in BC) heed these warnings.

    "Obama is in need of an achievement. It is being said that he has not achieved a single objective in the international arena. So here is an achievement. Netanyahu is freezing – sorry, restraining – sorry, suspending - settlement activity."

    "My father taught me in my youth that one must never give in to a blackmailer. After giving in once, one is condemned to giving in again and again, while the demands of the blackmailer grow and grow. After giving in to the pro-Israel lobby once, Obama will have to give in again and again."

    "One could almost pity him and his assistants. Such an impressive, such a tough, such an experienced group – and they are returning from Jerusalem like Napoleon’s army from Moscow."

    http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1259462045/

    These themes are being repeated around the world as brute force and political power replace principles, logic, rule of law and democracy. It's happening in every country, province and town near you.

  • Jerry Munro

    2 years ago

    Jeffrey J

    "These themes are being repeated around the world as brute force and political power replace principles, logic, rule of law and democracy. It's happening in every country, province and town near you." wrote JeffreyJ.

    Not too shabby, bro. You nail it pretty damned good very often.

  • lynn

    2 years ago

    "There is no third option."

    Agree with coyoteman....you write to the heart of matter here, Jeffrey J.

    A great insight here as well:

    Quote:

    "Mr. Dobbin's point is well taken. This is a very basic human dynamic. One can NEVER appease a bully. You must either stand up to them, or acquiesce. There is no third option. Many people fail to grasp this, and permit themselves to be slowly painted into a corner by slow appeasement of the bully, at which time they are then summarily dismissed from view."

    There is an unavoidable line being drawn in the sand at present....one that we cannot deny.

    If we choose to ignore it... or blur it with half-measures, compromise, or appeasement, if we refuse to stand up to these brutes, we might as well just raise the white flag now.

  • Jerry Munro

    2 years ago

    Standing Up to the Bully System...

    "If we choose to ignore it... or blur it with half-measures, compromise, or appeasement, if we refuse to stand up to these brutes, we might as well just raise the white flag now."

    And that's the truth, woman. The trade union movement really needs to wake up to this reality... if they can restrain themselves long enough from their two decade long plus, headlong retreat, long enough to see the forest for the trees.

    But we all also need to understand this truth. It's probably the most critical thing we all have to face up to right now; the need for courage in the face of the Bully System of capitalism.

  • RickW

    2 years ago

    Quote:No man is an island,

    Quote:
    No man is an island, entire of itself

    - John Donne

    Yet Ayn Rand and the mutations (like Harper) that emerged from her rantings would have us believe that we all must be "islands" -- at least all we "little people". Another way of saying this might be:
    "Divide and Conquer"

    puppyg says "Perhaps this is our time to be stupid". I think, not so much stupid as scared......

  • ME2

    2 years ago

    Last chance

    The NDP has to stop pinning its hopes upon attracting "fallen away" Liberals and get back to the style of Democratic Socialism that Tommy Douglas promoted.

    With the neocon style of Capitalism in disgrace as it is now, there will NEVER be a better time for doing so.

    Otherwise, we might just as well join the Liberal Party and try to change it from within, as has been suggested many times here.

  • RickW

    2 years ago

    ME2

    Quote:
    get back to the style of Democratic Socialism that Tommy Douglas promoted.

    They seem to be doing it, in one form or another, in S. America................

  • Armistice

    2 years ago

    Life under Harper

    " . . . . it's beginning to look a lot like Hit-ler, eeeverywhere you go . . . . "

  • Armistice

    2 years ago

    Voting for the NDP

    Or the Greens -- I would do it, and I have done in the past -- but I am sticking with the Liberals as the best chance of getting rid of Harper. Once he's gone, and hopefully is cut off at the knees, then we can perhaps have a more balanced political landscape again. But first things first. Vote Liberal - get rid of Harper.

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