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The view from NDP-palooza

^ I think that was the beauty of the compliment.

I have no time for Layton's overt desperation and I think the reactionary, anti-capitalist populism he sells is hurting Canada. It as meaningless and damaging to continually scapegoat "the Banks and Big Oil Companies" or the nebulous Big Business as those who do the same with the Americans. I have no time for scapegoating among politicians.Almost everyone on this site is for "progressive" ideas (just like liberty or freedom - it is easy to be for it when it doesnt really mean anything) - but I dont see why we need to be enslaved by the unions to get there.
 
my personal politics are pretty strongly left/libertarian
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So you like a strong, safe sensible and humane foundation to your house, but you want choice about what you do with the upstairs? Sounds good to me.
 
Steven Paige looks a little like Drew Carry, but his glasses are more Mies van der Rohe-ish.
 
While I said I was upset with the NDP in the other thread, its only because i'm upset the Conservatives actually got a minority government.

I really am hoping for a Liberal majority and NDP minority someday soon, might have to keep crossing my fingers. Oh why, Alberta, why!? ;)

I wished an NDP surge didn't come with a Conservative rise. But overall I'm happy the NDP has some power now to keep a lasso on the Cons.

Thanks for the pics, Jason!
 
I think it's time for the NDP to fold, and for a new centre-left party to be created to replace it. It is clear to me that the NDP will never form a government in this country, mainly because of an apparently unshakeable perception problem rather than an inherently unpopular platform.
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I agree with you to a point, but the NDP went through this sort of exercise a few years back and considered many minor to major changes to the party (including a name change, a major shift to the left, a major shift to the centre, more "street-based" action, etc.). What I think came out of that entire exercise was a slightly more centrist NDP (and I think Layton represents that). People's perception of the NDP in central-Canada has been tarnished by the Rae years and that'll take a while yet to change. Still, the party's doing better than it has in a generation so I doubt any major change is happening soon (although what you've suggested is probably always in the back of NDP'ers minds).

I have no time for Layton's overt desperation and I think the reactionary, anti-capitalist populism he sells is hurting Canada. It as meaningless and damaging to continually scapegoat "the Banks and Big Oil Companies" or the nebulous Big Business as those who do the same with the Americans.
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While I think Layton's musings about the "banks and the oil companies" were indeed a bit much, calling the current NDP party "anti-capitalist" is also a bit much. If the NDP is anti-capitalist, than I guess you'd paint most European parties the same way? As far as most of the Western World goes (in other words, save the U.S.), the NDP would be considered quite centrist by most standards, and not "anti-capitalist" (although certainly that faction does exist within the party).

People on the right (like yourself) like to call the NDP "communists" and/or "a party run by union goons" so it's not really all the different. I'm not making excuses for such talk, but I don't think Layton (or the left) are alone in this army of vocal stupidity.
 
Darkstar - you make a valid point about me stereotyping the NDP/union ties, however one would have to admit that while union membership would represent a minority of Canadians, it may not (or is at least close) in the candidates and executives of the NDP party. This is cleary different from the other two parties, where a membership of people from "business" would be more representitive of broader society- if only because a much larger percentage of Canadians would fall into this group to begin with.

Also, for what it is worth, throw in a good part of the BC electorate as a group who still harbour some misgivings on the benefits of NDP governance after having experienced the Glen Clark/Mike Harcourt years.
 
I don't think the NDP is anti-capitalist, its just for a very coherent social safety network. And I think most Canadians (thankfully) get it that a social safety net is what makes a nation a first world industrialized nation.

The US continues to lose its safety net, unfortunately, because the population doesn't support it as much as the past.
 
"We want a market economy but not a market society."
-Ed Broadbent
 
Capitalism is like electricity: on the whole, life is considerably better off with it than without. But how do we deal with electricity? We channel it, we harness it, we insulate it, we control it. We don't let it run amok and do what it pleases - that's called 'lightning'.
 
People on the right (like yourself) like to call the NDP "communists" and/or "a party run by union goons" so it's not really all the different.
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The difference is the NDP is trying to get our votes. As a party that still suffers from an anti-business image, any talk of big banks and oil companies is only going to hurt them. The state of the economy is probably the most important issue to Canadians and the NDP still has to convince us that they wouldn't harm our 10+ year economic boom.
 
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