The Shotgun Blog
« Cheap at half the price? | Main | Happy birthday, Ludwig von Mises! »
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Future of conservatism
One of my favorite topics is the future of conservatism in Canada.
So it was lucky that the Young Conservative Forum has invited me to be part of a panel that will address this important issue in Montreal on October 29.
Also scheduled to be on the panel will be such conservative stars as Adam Daifallah, Joseph Ben Ami and John Robson.
Believe me, this is going to be a fun and informative event, that no conservative would want to miss.
I hope to see you there.
Here are the details of where, when and why.
Posted by Gerry Nicholls on September 29, 2009 | Permalink
Comments
It should be excellent. While I am not familiar with Adam or John I am quiet familiar with the writings and comments of Joseph, who is clear-headed and spot on. He is no Harper groupie nor the opposite, but he calls it as it is. This is refreshing when so many insist that you either blindly love or hate Harper or that you blindly support a particular political party no matter what.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-09-29 2:16:31 PM
A future of conservatism conference in Canada's most leftist province? What, no meeting halls available in Toronto Danforth?
Posted by: Steve Martinovich | 2009-09-29 5:17:44 PM
a) conservatism has no future;
b) because there is no such thing as conservatism;
Posted by: John Collison | 2009-09-29 5:34:32 PM
Wrong, John. True Canadian conservatism continues to exist. Read any of the books or articles by William Gairdner to find out what it looks like. True that it is not represented at the political level, but that does not mean it does not exist.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-09-29 5:41:22 PM
I have both read and interviewed Gairdner.
I like him -- but his world view represents about 4% of Canadians.
But even Gairdner's conservatism contains internal contradictions and the seeds of its own destruction.
There are only two conditions that matter: statism (absence of freedom, no matter how "benign" the state) and freedom (absence of a state).
In Canada, in practise, EVERY politician is a social democrat; some are more liberal in their orientation (usually imperceptibly) and some are more collectivist and authoritarian.
All parties in Canada are social democratic and all have textbook small-f fascist tendencies as well as small-s socialist tendencies.
The most "conservative" of all the parties is the NDP. They are the most orthodox social democrats.
The most fascist -- i.e., corporatist, militarist, most interested in imposing moral control -- are the Conservatives. The Liberals are not surprisingly in the middle of this odious pack of social democrats.
Posted by: John Collison | 2009-09-29 6:35:51 PM
The Western Standard should thank the Gods they've attracted a man of the quality of John Collison. Such wisdom and good judgement is a breath of fresh air.
Posted by: Marc | 2009-09-29 7:05:21 PM
John, that whole post consists of nothing but your opinion. Just admit you're an anarchist poser and save yourself all that typing.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2009-09-29 7:13:13 PM
"future of conservatism"
The last time we've see those two in the same phrase, it resulted in the "Neocons".
Nothing to see here...
Posted by: Marc | 2009-09-29 7:18:14 PM
Shane,
I have yet to detect a single fact in any of your bleatings.
How long til you resort to "I know you are, but what am I?" Your rhetorical gas tank really is running on fumes, Shaner.
Posted by: John Collison | 2009-09-29 7:45:31 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.