Thomas Walkom and the Mound of Sound both note that a leadership race has only signalled how far the federal Libs are from being a progressive party. But with Walkom and Paul Adams also questioning whether Canada’s political system has seen either a convergence in the middle or a drift
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The Disaffected Lib: To All My Progressive Friends, You Dwindling Few
Progressivism is now pretty thoroughly scrubbed out of the Liberal Party and it’s in a state of respiratory distress even in today’s Tony Blairified NDP. Fortunately there are still progressive voices and progressive minds. If you’re one of them I’d like to introduce you to a wonderful offshore newspaper, Island
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Is Canadian Progressivism a Farce?
The topic came up recently in a discussion I had with a prolific and thoroughly progressive blogger who will go unnamed. He lamented that he had become fed up with Canadian prog bloggers who seemed not terribly interested in progressivism at all and, by contrast, far less interesting than their
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Annie Lowrey reports on the evidence showing that the perpetually-increasing inequality pitched by the right as an economic plan actually serves to damage economic development: The yawning gap between the haves and the have-nots — and the political questions that gap has
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Right Will Howl Tonight
Income inequality seems to have sprung up as a hot issue in the American elections. With a consummate rent-seeker, Mitt Romney, carrying the Republican banner, America’s crippling inequality – income, wealth and opportunity – was bound to bubble to the surface. Today’s American Right (no, they’re not conservatives) has reacted
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your weekend. – For those wondering where progressive leaders are going with their policy proposals, the last week offered a couple of noteworthy examples. At home, Tom Mulcair’s Canadian Club speech commented on the importance of real roles for the government and the public in making
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Trish Hennessy reminds us that a system of taxes and social spending is ultimately the most valuable means of pooling our resources for everybody’s benefit. And E.J. Dionne highlights the need for progressives to speak up for the principle of collective public action.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On equivocal labels
I’ll agree with the commentators pointing out that Nanos’ polling on party labels shows far more trouble for the Cons than for the NDP. But let’s point out another part of the story that the media spin seems to be leaving out. Plenty of the terms used in association with
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your Saturday reading. – As much sympathy as I normally have for Linda McQuaig, I’ll argue that her premise in discussing Andrea Horwath’s call for the wealthy to pay a fair share of taxes is entirely off base. Even if it is easier to discuss such ideas
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Guest Post: The Progressive Consensus
Last week, I pointed out Greg Lyle’s polling showing that the NDP’s brand of social democracy enjoys plenty of popular support as a primary value system for a party seeking to form government. But reader Dan Tan looked at the numbers in a bit more detail and with an eye
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