So your prediction for the future is pretty much the status quo.
Re. the love it or leave it argument.
If the Liberal vote were spread relatively evenly across the country, the I would agree that a conservative has two choices: stay and try to change the system from within (man would you need a lot of valium), or apply for a green card. And there would be some perverse satisfaction, I suppose, in leaving the bloodsuckers in Ottawa with only the drained corpses of the dependent. But surely there's a better way?
The six provinces starting in Ontario and going east all seem to love the status quo. The other four sent different messages. There's a geographic link. So, rather than leaving our country to the dogs, why not put up a fence?
This is more than just taxation without representation. There is an issue of philosophy. Self reliance. Honour. Dignity.
Someone on a call-in show yesterday talked about the costs of separation. All true, and not something to be taken lightly. But if the people in the west really think that we have a better approach to life and to government, one that respects dignity, and encourages the spirit to develop to its potential, isn't it reasonable to try to safeguard that, rather than sinking to the lowest Liberal denominator?
The American rebellion wasn't without tremendous cost, but at least for a while the payoff was a shining example to the world. I don't for a second advocate joining the U.S., in part because their noble experiment seems to have run out of steam. Western Canada could pick up the torch and run with new energy.
We've tried working within the system. How long do you do that until you decide it isn't going to work? We tried within the Conservative party -- when has an Albertan ever had the kind of influence that Mazinkowski had? We tried with Reform. We twisted Reform through tremendous contortions to make the Alliance. What part of NO don't we understand? They're different. Period. |
