"All assistance short of help"
Babble on.
Ben at Tiger in Winter has a post up that you must read:
Our present state -- a Potemkin ally with a Potemkin military and Potemkin shows of support when we are not stabbing our allies in the back -- is unworthy of a nation with our past and our people.
You'll frequently hear in leftish circles that conservatives - or classical liberals (just for Ben & Shannon) - are constantly tearing down Canada. That we want to be the 51st state, that somehow we're not as patriotic as the average Liberal-voting, Star-reading Joe and Jane Canuck.
That sort of garbage makes me so mad, I could spit.
The truth is that we're more patriotic in many cases. We want Canada to live up to its potential, both domestically and internationally, so bad it hurts. That means making Canada stronger - economically, socially, and yes - militarily. The Canadian left likes to talk about charting an independent foreign policy from the U.S., but how can you remain independent with no assets to devote to your international goals - foreign aid, consulates and embassies, and yes again - military? How do you maintain true sovereignty over Canadian domestic issues without a strong and expanding economy - one that's competitive worldwide without the crutch of a weak dollar?
The strong Canada conservatives are clamouring for is more independent than the wishy-washy, neither-fish-nor-fowl, spectral Canada we have now.
The Liberals seem satisfied with good enough. Conservative Canadians simply demand better. That's not a campaign slogan, it's an ethos.
So Ben is right: Canadian conservatives don't want to be a U.S. lapdog, and truth be told, the U.S. doesn't want that either. Both sides want Canada to be a strong, independent ally. Both sides want Canada to know its own mind. What is it about this philosophy the left is so scared of?
Babble off.
posted by Babbling Brooks @ 10:03 a.m.
3 comments
3 Comments:
"Canadian conservatives don't want to be a U.S. lapdog, and truth be told, the U.S. doesn't want that either." It's a matter of trust. We on the left don't believe that sentence is true. I am not saying you are lying B. I believe, you believe it. I just don't believe that it's a universal sentiment of either the Canadian right or the U.S. government.
The fact that people on the left cannot separate good old fashioned Canadian conservatism from the desire of a fringe element to form a union with the USA is more indicative of the unexamined prejudices of the fashionable left than of any patriotic shortcomings on the right.
Liberals are good talkers when it comes to nationalism, but they refuse to pay for the infrastructure necessary to implement their grand ideas, whether on sovereignty, foreign aid or defence.
"The fact that people on the left cannot separate good old fashioned Canadian conservatism from the desire of a fringe element to form a union with the USA is more indicative of the unexamined prejudices of the fashionable left than of any patriotic shortcomings on the right."
Perfectly phrased, but narrowly focused; it applies to much more of the left than Canada, or even North America.
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