The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) grew out of the Progressive Conservative Party. Without making too much of this, the fact remains interesting. What we call left wing or liberal (and perhaps, socialist) politics are also called progressive political ideologies. Voters should have learned in school what’s meant by left or liberal politics as well as the difference between it and conservative ideology.
Conservative impulses exist in all of us; we find
comfort in conserving what is; change is unsettling. A good example is
the CPUs campaign to “Axe the Tax,” a progressive carbon emission tax imposed
to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels and their contribution to climate
change. Progressive ideology recognizes that a changing climate demands new
ways of doing things; conservative ideology looks to what worked yesterday and campaigns
for the status quo. Progressive policies look forward; conservative thinking focuses
on the present as informed by the past.
Tree-hugging environmentalists may be progressives—even
socialists—on Employment Insurance, but adamantly conservative on preserving
forests as they are. Being “right-wing” is not like being right-handed; we’re
all politically ambidextrous depending on the issue. It’s the divisive party
systems that label us either “candy-assed liberals” or “red-necked
hillbillies,” making every election an us-and-them, win-and-lose proposition.
There’s a time and a place for conservative thinking, and it’s
tempting to join the current rush to defying change while the “let’s all hate
Trudeau” theme is threatening to displace our national anthem. It’s easy to get
swept up in the notion that the time and place is now. It most certainly is
not; this is the worst possible time.
The implications in a time of rapidly escalating global
warming are clear: to reject progressive measures and deny the need for decisive
change is to borrow life from future generations. It’s the refusal to make a small
sacrifice now, even if it results in a lifetime of huge sacrifice for our
grandchildren.
In times of frustration—inflation, forest fires, dependence
on foodbanks, intolerance, medical care crises, “wars and rumours of wars,” etc.—the
temptation to kick over the furniture in rage is strong, the blaming of leaders
and the dividing into for-and-against camps is predictable. But like wars,
depressions, pandemics, famines, hurricanes and such, climate change and
economic cycles cannot be gone around, they must be soldiered through. Neither
are they the fault of the government in office: the cycles of human social and
economic fortune have always been. And because each trial is unique, it’s
progressive thinking—innovation—not adamant conservatism and finger-crossing
that will help us through.
George I love reading your thoughts because you illuminate the issue by examining both sides of the “argument” . It is then that The Reader can make a reasoned choice which stance to support on balance, or in fact, to acknowledge the good in both sides.
ReplyDeleteFood for thought, as always.
ReplyDelete