Saturday, October 06, 2007

Liberals Need to Again Become the Party of Generational Change


Part of what made for Trudeaumania was Trudeau's Omnibus Bill. http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-73-538/politics_economy/omnibus/ It proved that he was in tune with the times if not slightly ahead of them, history on horse back as Hegel would say. The bill formed the backbone of Trudeau’s advant guard image. The population wanted change and everything about the bill spoke to Trudeau’s willingness to provide just that.

Now to be sure, Dion is no Trudeau. However, the Liberals badly need to reestablish their bona fides as champions of generational change. They need to propose something akin to Trudeau’s Omnibus Bill.

Indeed, the Liberals are not going to build any kind of grass roots movement unless they are willing to step on some toes the way Trudeau did in 1968. They are not going to attract anyone by trying to be all things to all people. Canadians feel no loyalty to the party anymore and quite frankly the Liberals bore most of them silly. The Liberals must seek out controversy rather than run from it. They must propose readily understandable policies that cut to heart of various hot button issues and they can not wait for an election to do so. They must trot out these policies as soon as possible. They can not afford to slave away in obscurity while the Conservatives dominant the headlines. They can not afford to be merely reactive. They must seize the initiative. They must adopt the motto Trudeau adopted in 1968. “If you are on the Liberal side, you should take risks on the side of progress. If you are going to be beaten, you should be beaten because you have been too progressive. Rather then take risks on not moving and be beaten because you have not moved fast enough.”

7 comments:

decoin said...

We need Justin Trudeau to return the LPC to its days of power and glory - the Natural Governing Party deserves to rule this nation as it has ruled it throughout virtually all of its history.

Anonymous said...

The Libs need to propose regulation and taxation of marijuana as a plank in the next campaign.

With Harper's drug strategy announcement, and his Beatles-linked "culture" comments, it's clear that this issue has moved out of the realm of science (see senatereport.ca) and into the 'moralizing for votes' category.

Is Harper going to ban the Trailer Park Boys next? Maybe Ricky (his cousin) might be able to give them a reprieve.

In five years, anti-drug activists will be seen in the same light as anti-abortion cranks.

Anonymous said...

"The Libs need to propose regulation and taxation of marijuana as a plank in the next campaign."

It might be crazy enough to work.

lance said...

decoin, the LPC doesn't deserve squat, that attitude is what lead to your asses being booted . . . remember?

wilson said...

Something tells me that decoin is 'tounge in cheek'
and Koby's anons sure sound like Koby.

KC said...

Something makes me think that (unfortunately) legalizing pot is not on Dion's radar screen. I was reading the parties press release re: the Conservative drug initiative and it doesnt even make mention of marijuana. Disappointing indeed.

Anonymous said...

If we wanted just generational change, then Gerard Kennedy should have been elected as leader.