Where do I stand in the Political Spectrum? Good question!

It has been almost 10 years since I last posted anything to this blog! I find it interesting that the more things change the more they stay the same. While I have decided to start posting again, it is not that I haven't tried other venues. So what I am going to do is "set the stage" on where i am coming from with these musing then I will follow with old posts in the order that they were originally written.

So to begin, let's look at politics in general and my view on some aspects.

The US Election process and the final run up to when Americans finally get to cast their ballots has got me thinking of my political leanings and how it relates to politics in Canada, the jurisdiction in which I can vote. In simple terms I have considered, and continue to do so, myself to be a believer in "fiscal responsibility with a social conscience".

By being "fiscally responsible" I mean I believe in living within ones means or, in other words, having a "balanced budget". While I am debt adverse there are times one must have debt but only where you can afford to pay the required debt charges from your income - a balanced budget. An obvious example is the big ticket item of purchasing a home.

Having a "social conscience" to me, means helping others in society who need help to be self-supporting members of that society. You lost your job because of no fault of your own? You deserve help. And that applies to other inequities whether human induced or from nature. That also means that in the case of able bodied people that rather than look for work prefer living on welfare, no help from me.

I value my independence when it comes to choosing who to cast my vote for when election time comes. As a result only once have I ever taken out a membership in a political party and that was to prove the point of how much I valued the platform they promoted at the time and that was for the Reform Party of Canada. To this day I still agree with the belief that the Canadian political system is highly flawed and needs fixing! And no, I do not support eliminating the Senate as it, in theory at least, has a very important purpose in that it should represent geographic differences whereas the legislature only represents population and therefore major population centres.

Recently I did an online survey to determine if I was a "Conservative" or a "Liberal". In the end I was labelled as a "Libertarian", and once I looked up what that meant, I have to agree! A Libertarian believes in maximizing ones autonomy and freedom of choice. Or in other words the primacy of individual judgement. I do my own thinking, thank you very much, and I do not appreciate others trying to force their ideals on me, especially since it is obvious that those ideals are highly flawed!

So where do these core beliefs find their greatest support from the spectrum of existing political parties in Canada?

Environmentalists and environmentalism in general hold such flawed idealism. They are arrogant and unwilling to acknowledge facts! "Debate" to them is calling any opponent names and trying to denigrate why anyone could possibly hold an opposing view. Case in point are calling people "Climate Change Deniers", which I am by the way as there are NO facts that back it up, or saying a person isn't qualified to comment yet take as gospel the words of David Suzuki (a geneticist by the way) or Al Gore, a lawyer and politician with absolutely NO training in the sciences! What a bunch of hypocrites. Obviously the Green Party is for fools and I am no fool.

The NDP at one time stood up for some policies one could relate to such as treating workers fairly. Unfortunately "fiscal responsibility" has not been one of their strong suites as we have seen so many times from provincial NDP governments. While I have voted for NDP candidates in the past it was because the local candidate was the one who would best represent my riding. Now that they have adopted "green" policies that have nothing but negative impacts on workers I won't be thinking of voting for them any time soon.

At one time my personal philosophy and that of the Liberal Party, in general, seemed to  have more similarity than not. Not the case anymore! The provincial and federal Liberal parties have with rare exception adopted green policies to the point that they are the ones who actually are the "Green Party"; Red is now the new Green. So you take on a bunch of foolish polices that supposedly will "save the world" yet at the same time destroy our industrial society by killing current jobs  and preventing the creation of new ones? Then have the gall to say you will "stimulate" the economy you are helping to kill by spending money you don't have and will not have as there are now fewer and fewer tax payers? Again, only a fool would support such a party that the Liberals have devolved into and I am no fool.

So, that leaves the Conservatives. While provincially and federally their policy platforms do not fully align with my beliefs, without question at this point in time they don't look too bad compared to the rest.