Given that the two main parties are merging into an undifferentiated mass of centrist goo, what are the options for the rational voter? The Expenditure Party is going to be in power in the next Parliament as in the last whatever oh-so-boring configuration of majority, minority or coalition is realized – which means more deficits, more debt and lots ’n lots ’n lots more spending.
For the principled few who do not condone this unstoppable cancerous bloat the choices are as follows: vote Conservative as the lesser evil (plus they’re claiming to cut corporate taxes and they support Israel); stay home; spoil the ballot; or vote fringe.
The first three of these are just too passive; they don’t communicate any specific dissent and their executors – disaffected fiscal conservatives, non-voters and spoilers – just end up being ignored.
Then there is this:
Our bottom line spending cuts average 10% annually, for each of the next four years. Last year $57-billion was transferred to other levels of government, an increase of $16-billion in just five years. We would reduce these transfers by 25% each year with the plan to eliminate most transfers in the second mandate. Taxes would decline proportionately after the deficit is eliminated in the first year. We would replace the current maze of complex tax breaks and special favours with a single flat tax. The people who support endless expansion of government may decry this reduction as too rapid, but it would only roll spending levels back to those of 2004, after four years.
Nobody else is talking about cutting government, just as nobody is talking about slashing our corrupt tax code (and certainly not the Conservatives, who continue to add loopholes and giveaways anywhere they think they can scrounge a vote). The Libertarian Party is putting these issues forward. Obviously, they aren’t a government in waiting - but they are a great vehicle for a protest vote.
And fringe voting is actually effective. 10,000 extra votes for a minor party puts them – and their concerns – on the map. The same number of votes for one of the blob parties is nothing.
Hereinbefore, therewith, moreover, heretofore and forthwith, with all good consideration and due diligence owed the first part of the party of the first part and all their encumbrances, and by the power invested in this website, My Conservative Dreamworld endorses voting for the Libertarian Party of Canada as the least futile strategy at this crucial moment in our great nation’s history.
12 comments:
Bye!
The problem with this is it goes back to the PC/Reform days of splitting the vote. That usually results in at best minority governments and at worst a liberal or NDP government.
Minority governments will always leak wealth an order of magnitude faster than a majority government, even an NDP or Liberal one, because with a minority government the parties holding the balance of power can demand, and usually get, things they'd never dream of asking for or supporting if they actually had to take responsibility for it.
If you want to see this in action now, the best example is any EU country, the UN, and if you really want to cry in your beer, Ontario under Peterson/Rae.
Idiotic idea. Vote conservative to get to libertarian.
Or follow the lead of the TEA Party movement; start joining CPC riding associations and take over the party machinery from the inside.
Lots of notional Republicans got the shock of their lives when they were dumped as incumbents and pro TEA party candidates were nominated in their place. The credible threat of that happening will make people see things in a new light. More libertarian members can also influence policy debates and campaign platforms.
The last time I (and a lot of other people) voted for fringe parties we got Bob Rae as premier of Ontarion in 1990. Given the polls, you may get away with it, but if a lot of people do it, it may come back to bite you.
I know I learned my lesson pretty fast.
Raymond
Not a good idea. Vote Tory and work from the inside.
I can relate to your frustration, but at this moment in Canada you must realise that a Libertarian Party stands no chance of winning, especially since they do not even have a candidate in every riding. This means you end up wasting your vote and in fact aiding any of the big tax and spend parties (Liberal/NDP). I am willing to give the CPC a chance should they get a majority, for as a minority they have been forced to appease the opposition parties which demanded even more spending and even bigger government to implement their policies. Think about it.
We have a ton of work to do, especially east of Toronto to bring people slowly to the concept that they should not look to the state for their personal welfare or to impose their views in law on other people unnecessarily. This will take a generation, as there has been a lot of progressive brainwashing in schools and in the media.
While I am a Libertarian and there is one running in my riding, when I voted today I voted Conservative. Sometimes you have to be realistic instead of idealistic.
Or vote CHP.
Folks, call me paranoid, but I think there's A LOT more to the Coup/Coalition than meets the eye. And it's not good. For those interested in stopping the hijacking of OUR democracy, please give a gander at: "The Real Co-Conspirators Behind the Coup":
http://burpnrun.blogspot.com/2011/04/real-co-conspirators-behind-2011-coup.html
and tell me if I'm wrong. Please.
My CPC candidate has no hope in my downtown Toronto riding.
I voted Libertarian today. Harper may have booted Libertarians under the bus, but he won't be here forever, and Libertarian minded voters need to remind the CPC that the nanny state is a shared enemy.
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