— Musings —12.14.2011 07:15 AM
Stapled
Wonderful story about Stephen Harper by my former Carleton journalism classmate. Well worth a read.
Brings to mind a good line I recently heard in a lousy movie: “The Lord judges you for who you are, not who you were.”
I can attest that the man doesn’t have horns and a pointy tail. If the left is serious about gaining power, we are going to have to do more than be negative.
Beyond all the issues of leadership style and nasty politics, there is something in the Harper message that appeals to people. Harper has tapped into a sense of frustration and rage, and has effectively harnessed that to pull his political wagon. Liberals really need to think about why so many people are so pissed off. Stop blaming Harper for creating the rage. Start listening, and thinking about how a liberal message might effectively answer people’s concern.
I blame our dysfunctional electoral system in which a party can get virtually dictatorial powers with 24% of the eligible vote. If that’s tapping into Canadian frustrations I’m a monkey’s uncle. Pretending all Canadians support you doesn’t make it so. That’s called magical thinking. I didn’t get enraged until he got into office and started pulling his nasty tricks.
Anne – the electoral system is the same for everyone and is one of the better ones around the world. Would you rather have the American system or Russian System or Chinese System?
The Liberals knew how to win within this reality better than anyone else for years. You cannot force people to vote, but you could capture their imagination and they will come running. Simple, but not easy….
Agreed. It would be much easier to vote for them if they had a leader anybody liked/trusted and a platform that was attractive.
Cowboys and Aliens wasn’t that bad….