Progressives On A Pin

There were a good number of messages from the last post about a Conservative MP bemoaning the lack of institution building in this country. The preoccupation was on the identity of the MP when it should have been on the cause of his disillusionment. In the broader Canadian political context we actually have four political parties in search of a soul. The Liberal search is obvious, but with the NDP shifting rapidly to the centre and the Bloc in full disarray, people wonder what the labels mean anymore.This is becoming increasingly apparent among the Conservatives as their convention nears. Now with a majority mandate, the progressives within the party realize that it could be eight years or more of Harper rule before they could get a real stab at humanizing the present Conservative policy.Conservative ideology is bent on the mastery of the business class. Yet in seeking to make itself the party of the business person, it has abandoned the primacy of the health of the nation that once used to characterize the Progressive Conservatives when they were in power.It's clearly true that the capitalist class has changed the face of the world. The confidence, intelligence and occasional heartlessness of global business leaders have carved new channels of economic growth. Less clear is whether it has assisted the world in becoming more progressive. The lack of action on climate change, the growing gap between rich and poor in wealthy countries, the plundering of natural resources in the developing world by the economic giants, the massive rise in the number of refugees, the decline of the middle class, and the decreasing standards of education in the West, force us to ask where all this business emphasis has taken us.In effect, the capitalist class has become a plutocracy, not an aristocracy. With some remarkable exceptions, this class has moved freely around the world without assisting in tackling its greatest challenges. Its riches come at the expense of someone else's chance of a better life, or of a healthier planet. This is heretical to say in the present climate of a Conservative majority, but it's likely a valid observation that business managers make poor guarantors of public policy.The progressives in the Conservative party at this moment in time have now morphed from caring for their own survival as the rump of the party to the fate of the country as a whole. This only makes sense because they are progressive, and they are perched on a pin. They comprehend well enough that the corporate community emerged from the benefits of globalization only to turn their fate over to the accountants. They never sought to tackle poverty, to reign in carbon emissions, to make women's pay equity truly a goal worth pursuing. They have opted instead to protect their investments, to struggle against anything that might shake their confidence, or challenge their ascendancy in the political world. We have witnessed it repeatedly as they vigorously opposed policies that would permit the working class to feel they are actually key agents in a modern democracy, for they know very well that the result would be better housing, more effective healthcare, a cleaner environment, a more robust citizen movement.The business classes used to embody some of the greatest traits of the Enlightenment - courage, willingness to risk, to overcome impossible odds. This was the euphoria of capitalism. Today it trembles at the very thought of unions in developing countries, of carbon credits, of corporate social responsibility legislation, of transfer taxes, or of expanded social programs. Progressives in the governing party, aware of Harper's inclination to further the expansion of corporatism, now realize they have to bear some of the blame for what has transpired - they assisted in bringing in the revolution through an alliance of factions.For Liberals there are lessons here too. We hearken back to the glory days of Chretien as though it were the golden era when in reality the root of many of our present challenges occurred during that decade. We economically managed ourselves into a situation where we had to postpone social progress - a dangerous bargain, especially in a political climate where power is fleeting.For the next 4-8 years we know what we are about to face: cuts to public servants, little action on climate change, the continual marginalization of unions, the lack of effective healthcare reform, growing poverty, and the culmination of the citizen into the frenetic consumer. Those within the Liberal movement calling for a return to the economic record of a decade ago must be careful here. Citizens aren't looking so much for economic adroitness as they are jobs for their kids, affordable university costs, reasonable wages for reasonable work, secure retirement, catastrophic drug coverage for seniors, etc. As capitalism recedes from these great challenges, its retreat made easier by the present government, Liberals would do well to take them on with social accountability and economic sustainability. As Theodore Roosevelt put it: "We stand against a government by a plutocracy and government by a mob."