Harper's Conservative Agenda: Based on The Noble Lie
Streaker @ Thu Dec 01, 2005 1:45 pm
[web]http://www.thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2005/11/29/HarperBush/[/web]
Some excerpts from the article:
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Strauss, who died in 1973, believed in the inherent inequality of humanity. Most people, he famously taught, are too stupid to make informed decisions about their political affairs. Elite philosophers must decide on affairs of state for us.
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Is regime change possible through the electoral process? It's happening in the U.S., where the neocons are succeeding in transforming the American state from a liberal democracy into a corporatist, theocratic regime. As Canada readies for a federal election, the question must be asked: Are we next?
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Paul Wolfowitz's teacher, Allan Bloom, and another Straussian, Walter Berns, taught at the University of Toronto during the 1970s. They left their teaching posts at Cornell University because they couldn't stomach the student radicalism of the '60s. At Toronto, they influenced an entire generation of political scientists, who fanned out to universities across the country.
Two of their students, Ted Morton and Rainer Knopff, went to the University of Calgary where they specialize in attacking the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They claim the charter is the result of a conspiracy foisted on the Canadian people by "special interests." These nasty people are feminists, gays and lesbians, the poor, prisoners and refugee-rights groups who are advancing their own interests through the courts at the expense of the general public, these Straussians allege.
The problem with their analysis is that the special interest which makes more use of the courts to advance its interests than all these other groups combined -- business -- receives not a mention. Deception by omission is a common Straussian technique. The weak are targeted while the real culprits disappear.
Two of their students, Ted Morton and Rainer Knopff, went to the University of Calgary where they specialize in attacking the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They claim the charter is the result of a conspiracy foisted on the Canadian people by "special interests." These nasty people are feminists, gays and lesbians, the poor, prisoners and refugee-rights groups who are advancing their own interests through the courts at the expense of the general public, these Straussians allege.
The problem with their analysis is that the special interest which makes more use of the courts to advance its interests than all these other groups combined -- business -- receives not a mention. Deception by omission is a common Straussian technique. The weak are targeted while the real culprits disappear.
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Strauss recommended harnessing the simplistic platitudes of populism to galvanize mass support for measures that would, in fact, restrict rights. Does the Calgary School resort to such deceitful tactics? Drury believes so. Such thinking represents "a huge contempt for democracy," she told the Globe and Mail's John Ibbotson. The 2004 federal election campaign run by Flanagan was "the greatest stealth campaign we have ever seen," she said, "run by radical populists hiding behind the cloak of rhetorical moderation."
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The state should take a more activist role in policing social norms and values, Harper told the assembled conservatives. To achieve this goal, social and economic conservatives must reunite as they have in the U.S., where evangelical Christians and business rule in an unholy alliance. Red Tories must be jettisoned from the party, he said, and alliances forged with ethnic and immigrant communities who currently vote Liberal but espouse traditional family values. This was the successful strategy counselled by the neocons under Ronald Reagan to pull conservative Democrats into the Republican tent.
Movement towards the goal must be "incremental," he said, so the public won't be spooked.
Movement towards the goal must be "incremental," he said, so the public won't be spooked.
ridenrain @ Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:03 pm
[web]http://thetyee.ca/Views/2005/11/09/DontWearPoppy/[/web]
Yeah.. You run with that.. 
Streaker @ Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:10 pm
That's the best you can do, ride?
Truly sad. Almost as sad as seeing people duped by guys like Harper. 
You do realise that the radical pinko commie Rafe Mair also writes for the Tyee, eh?
DrCaleb @ Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:11 pm
That's chilling. I knew the ties from Strauss to Harper, but not to th Alberta Tories!
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Ted Morton has turned his attention to provincial politics. He's an elected MLA and a candidate to succeed Premier Ralph Klein. But he did influence the direction of right-wing politics at the federal level as the Canadian Alliance director of research under Stockwell Day.
Yoiks!!!
Scape @ Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:13 pm
ridenrain @ Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:19 pm
Streaker Streaker:
That's the best you can do, ride?
Truly sad. Almost as sad as seeing people duped by guys like Harper.
You do realise that the radical pinko commie Rafe Mair also writes for the Tyee, eh?
Truly sad. Almost as sad as seeing people duped by guys like Harper.
You do realise that the radical pinko commie Rafe Mair also writes for the Tyee, eh?
The Tyee sucks. It's so left that it gives loony leftists a bad reputation.
Rafe Mair lost his marbles before he left CKNW and his whole, remaining brain cell pivoted around the farm salmon debate. It's no wonder a rag like the Tyee was one of the few that would pick him up.
Wait, let me check with the Tyee's star reporter...
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Streaker @ Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:23 pm
ridenrain ridenrain:
Streaker Streaker:
That's the best you can do, ride?
Truly sad. Almost as sad as seeing people duped by guys like Harper.
You do realise that the radical pinko commie Rafe Mair also writes for the Tyee, eh?
Truly sad. Almost as sad as seeing people duped by guys like Harper.
You do realise that the radical pinko commie Rafe Mair also writes for the Tyee, eh?
The Tyee sucks. It's so left that it gives loony leftists a bad reputation.
Rafe Mair lost his marbles before he left CKNW and his whole, remaining brain cell pivoted around the farm salmon debate. It's no wonder a rag like the Tyee was one of the few that would pick him up.
Wait, let me check with the Tyee's star reporter...
[color=#] [/color] Gosh... You're right, ride. The Western Standard is so much more credible and balanced!
