Those of you who know me, and those of you who read my blog regularly, know that when it comes to describing my political stripes the word conservative is not one that would often fit. I would probably describe myself as largely a centrist with pretty liberal social views. Economically I am fine with government intervention and national services that provide more for the nation than can be attributed to a balance sheet; while I think government should be fiscally responsible I don’t think that necessitates a small government approach so loved by the rather loathsome Mr. Harper and Mr. W. Bush.
Despite all this I found myself celebrating last night’s PC victory in Alberta.
I found myself in this rather odd position after weeks of reading about Danielle Smith’s Wildrose Party who, subsequent to an initial humorous step into the political limelight, basically showed themselves to be a bunch of screaming lunatics akin to Santorum supporters or similar. Gays? Burn in a river of fire! Multi-cultural relations? Best handled by whites! All these bat shit crazy people in our party spouting hate? Free Speech!
That’s the most irritating part. No one is saying crazy Allan the Pastor shouldn’t be able to spout his anti-gay conjecture in his own time BUT THE MAN IS RUNNING FOR A NOMINATION IN YOUR PARTY! Pretending it’s just a free speech issue is basically supporting this viewpoint at a party level and this shit is SCARY.
On the other hand I do quite like Alison Redford. Perhaps that’s why Alberta at large is distrustful of her. She a Progressive Conservative a gay NDP voter can get behind and I guess that’s scary to a Ralph Klein – blech – supporter.
All in all, the PCs are looking a lot more progressive than conservative these days and after the Wildrose thoroughly embarrassed themselves I’m glad the people of Alberta had the good sense to get back behind them. Strategic voting might be looked down upon by some but often it’s the best option in our first past the post system. I certainly would have voted PC to avoid the frankly horrifying spectre of a Wildrose government.
Better the devil you know.
