Daveberta is giving us access to some background on how the religous right is getting organized for the Morton PC leadership bid. Dr. Morton's television interview is an hour long so be prepared to invest a bit of time if you follow the Daveberta link. Dr. Morton makes some good points on policy - mostly in a neo-con context. The Miracle Channel interviewer tells us more about how this interest group is thinking, what are their core political issues and he explains clearly why they should become involved in the PC Leadership Campaign.
Will the Church be the State in a Dr. Morton lead Alberta?
More hardcore retail politics in action which I applaud...in context and concept but not in content.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Props to the PC Party of Alberta
I recently posted a harangue at the PC Party Executive as to where the Statement of Principles of the Party was on the new website rework. A new focus on leadership is as it ought to be BUT it threw out some fundamental and vital information about the foundational values of the Party namely the Statement of Principles. They are the best indicia of what it means to be a real Progressive Conservative party member in Alberta today. What we omitted in the website makeover was any indication as to what we believed in and stood for as a Party. The grassroots designed and endorsed Statement of Principles is the best articulation of what being a PROGRESSIVE Conservative is all about in Alberta. Dave Hancock led the process when he was President of the Party.
Happy Day! They are back on the website. Props to the Party people who made amends and made it happen.
PCs in Alberta are offering virtually any Albertan with a 16 year old pulse and a Five-spot to pick our new leader. I think that is great – raw hardcore democracy at its finest. Lots of groups are getting organized to block vote or cull candidates based on their select world view. Great! More raw hardcore democracy in action!
So those of you who will pony up the $5 bucks and who actually research the candidates and show up to vote, welcome to citizenship and to the PC Party of Alberta. I ask you to take a moment to read and reflect on our Statement of Principles. Then please consider staying as a continuing Party member and having a real “stake” in the future of Alberta and not be just partaker of the “sizzle” of the leadership campaign.
Happy Day! They are back on the website. Props to the Party people who made amends and made it happen.
PCs in Alberta are offering virtually any Albertan with a 16 year old pulse and a Five-spot to pick our new leader. I think that is great – raw hardcore democracy at its finest. Lots of groups are getting organized to block vote or cull candidates based on their select world view. Great! More raw hardcore democracy in action!
So those of you who will pony up the $5 bucks and who actually research the candidates and show up to vote, welcome to citizenship and to the PC Party of Alberta. I ask you to take a moment to read and reflect on our Statement of Principles. Then please consider staying as a continuing Party member and having a real “stake” in the future of Alberta and not be just partaker of the “sizzle” of the leadership campaign.
La "Menace Morton" LaPresse Sept 29/06
We do a monthly op- ed for LaPresse in Montreal on Alberta issues and events. They do the translation. Below is the latest piece that ran under the title La"menace Morton." Here is the link for the French version if you are interested.
Ralph Klein’s political sun has finally set. The race for succession reveals the Progressive Conservative Party fissures and divisions that had been held together by Klein’s electoral charisma and personal political prowess. Early traditional opinion polls put Jim Dinning in the lead. He is the former Klein finance minister, and the true architect of the old war on debt and deficit. However, he is not showing any support growth and may have peaked too early. The Alberta PC leadership race is wide open and inclusive and looks like a national election given the range of candidate perspectives, from the centre-left to the far right. Anyone 16 or older, who has lived in Alberta for six month and who has $5 for a party membership is eligible to vote. And they can buy their memberships right on voting day right at the polls.
Traditional polling is not much help in predicting the outcomes. They underestimate the fact this contest is not about opinions or intentions but rather about engaged citizens who pay for a party membership, then shows up and votes. Polls underestimated candidates like Dr. Ted Morton, University of Calgary political scientist whose neo-con values and theo-con visions align comfortably with the Bush White House and the American Republican right. He has a significant, organised, committed, energized, evangelical and old Reform Party voter base. That, with citizen cynicism and political passivity, could be enough for a first-ballot Morton majority in a crowded field of nine candidates.
Morton co-authored, along with now Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a letter to Premier Klein demanding a “firewall” be built around Alberta to “protect” the province from federal demands on sharing resource revenues with Canada. Harper appears to have moved on. Morton hasn’t. He is unapologetic, insisting that Alberta’s wealth is exclusively Albertan and we need “protection” from federal government intrusion, regardless of who is Prime Minister.
The irony is that while resource revenues are surging they aren’t what they should be. Thanks, in part to an outdated oil sands royalty regime designed in the mid1900s to attract oil sands investment when oil was about $13 a barrel. It has worked well. So well, in fact, that it has attracted a potential $100B of private investment.
Premier Klein recently admitted he had no plans to handle this level of growth. The Opposition was right to criticise Alberta’s failure to manage its prosperity and to optimize its growth. The Opposition wasn’t alone. Former Premier Peter Lougheed has said publicly the Klein government has made a “mess” of oil sands development.
Albertans are now questioning if their government is squandering its rightful share of this valuable non-renewable resource revenue. Alberta could and should have done much better in managing and stewarding oil sands development. Many projects have experienced horrific cost over runs absorbed, paid in large part, by the public, via deferred royalties.
The next leader and Premier must be a better manager of this resource, for the future of the province, our country and our planet. It is a major challenge that demands a forward-thinking imaginative leader. We need someone who can integrate the issues with insight and intelligence and who has the political will and power to envision and enact a new and “resourceful” energy policy.
Some, not all, of the candidates are capable of rising to this challenge. But first, they have to entice a cynical citizenry to get better informed, to buy a party membership, to make a conscious progressive choice and to then take the time to show up and vote. For progressive Albertans to pass on this chance to participate they default to Dr. Morton as their next Premier. He is a man whose values and vision for Alberta would be more at home in today’s U.S. Republican Party.
Ralph Klein’s political sun has finally set. The race for succession reveals the Progressive Conservative Party fissures and divisions that had been held together by Klein’s electoral charisma and personal political prowess. Early traditional opinion polls put Jim Dinning in the lead. He is the former Klein finance minister, and the true architect of the old war on debt and deficit. However, he is not showing any support growth and may have peaked too early. The Alberta PC leadership race is wide open and inclusive and looks like a national election given the range of candidate perspectives, from the centre-left to the far right. Anyone 16 or older, who has lived in Alberta for six month and who has $5 for a party membership is eligible to vote. And they can buy their memberships right on voting day right at the polls.
Traditional polling is not much help in predicting the outcomes. They underestimate the fact this contest is not about opinions or intentions but rather about engaged citizens who pay for a party membership, then shows up and votes. Polls underestimated candidates like Dr. Ted Morton, University of Calgary political scientist whose neo-con values and theo-con visions align comfortably with the Bush White House and the American Republican right. He has a significant, organised, committed, energized, evangelical and old Reform Party voter base. That, with citizen cynicism and political passivity, could be enough for a first-ballot Morton majority in a crowded field of nine candidates.
Morton co-authored, along with now Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a letter to Premier Klein demanding a “firewall” be built around Alberta to “protect” the province from federal demands on sharing resource revenues with Canada. Harper appears to have moved on. Morton hasn’t. He is unapologetic, insisting that Alberta’s wealth is exclusively Albertan and we need “protection” from federal government intrusion, regardless of who is Prime Minister.
The irony is that while resource revenues are surging they aren’t what they should be. Thanks, in part to an outdated oil sands royalty regime designed in the mid1900s to attract oil sands investment when oil was about $13 a barrel. It has worked well. So well, in fact, that it has attracted a potential $100B of private investment.
Premier Klein recently admitted he had no plans to handle this level of growth. The Opposition was right to criticise Alberta’s failure to manage its prosperity and to optimize its growth. The Opposition wasn’t alone. Former Premier Peter Lougheed has said publicly the Klein government has made a “mess” of oil sands development.
Albertans are now questioning if their government is squandering its rightful share of this valuable non-renewable resource revenue. Alberta could and should have done much better in managing and stewarding oil sands development. Many projects have experienced horrific cost over runs absorbed, paid in large part, by the public, via deferred royalties.
The next leader and Premier must be a better manager of this resource, for the future of the province, our country and our planet. It is a major challenge that demands a forward-thinking imaginative leader. We need someone who can integrate the issues with insight and intelligence and who has the political will and power to envision and enact a new and “resourceful” energy policy.
Some, not all, of the candidates are capable of rising to this challenge. But first, they have to entice a cynical citizenry to get better informed, to buy a party membership, to make a conscious progressive choice and to then take the time to show up and vote. For progressive Albertans to pass on this chance to participate they default to Dr. Morton as their next Premier. He is a man whose values and vision for Alberta would be more at home in today’s U.S. Republican Party.
Friday, September 29, 2006
To Renew or Not to Renew...How Best to State the Question
I have been asked/invited to "join" the group of bloggers on Renewingtheonepartystate. I am intrigued but have to say I have trouble associating with anonymous bloggers...especially those who have not had much to say recently of any significance . The RTOPS folks have apparently been keen to get back to relevance, as opposed to the current predominant site culture of shallow shots sans substance. Too much of what I have recently read on RTOPS is merely reproducing traditional newspaper stories text with an intro quip at best. What is this lack of content and context, not to mention absence of commentary all about? Laziness? Maybe! Trite and superficial - much too often.
I am not really interested in the actual renewal of the ONE party state. I am keen on relevant, inclusive, diverse, curious, welcoming and engaging authentic political parties - regardless of political ideology. I see most parties today being run by backroom bullies, bullshit artists or wannabe backslappers. The overarching common characteristic of such people is institutional anonymity. They get others to do the overt dirty work while they engineer the action behind the scenes in Oz-like "cover."
That said the more communication and open discourse of informed and engaged opinion that is accessible by real citizens who are keen on contributing significantly to the comon good...I am in. I believe political parties need reforming as much as the old Soviet Bloc did. Walls have to be torn down. They can't continue the way they are and they have to find the means to become relevant and meaningful again. The internet is so citizen accommodating and so capable of serving this purpose. But blogger anonymity suggest they live in fear. Pity them or discount them or join them...that is my question.
RTOPS is has potential to help political parties become people-centred political places again. I just don't understand the need for pseudonyms or the bloggers need to be behind their masks. Blogger bravado that is nothing more than de facto timidity is just a "poulet feces" way to "make a point."'
So - gentle readers, check out RTOPS site. Let me know what you think of this idea. Ought I accept or reject the invite... unconditionally, or conditionally? Is it reasonable to ask the contributors to be obvious and overt about who they are as much as they are obvious and overt about their opinions?
I see a real opportunity here but is it better seen as a "Groucho Marx" opportunity where I ought to decline any "club" that would have me as a member? Let me know your thoughts.
I am not really interested in the actual renewal of the ONE party state. I am keen on relevant, inclusive, diverse, curious, welcoming and engaging authentic political parties - regardless of political ideology. I see most parties today being run by backroom bullies, bullshit artists or wannabe backslappers. The overarching common characteristic of such people is institutional anonymity. They get others to do the overt dirty work while they engineer the action behind the scenes in Oz-like "cover."
That said the more communication and open discourse of informed and engaged opinion that is accessible by real citizens who are keen on contributing significantly to the comon good...I am in. I believe political parties need reforming as much as the old Soviet Bloc did. Walls have to be torn down. They can't continue the way they are and they have to find the means to become relevant and meaningful again. The internet is so citizen accommodating and so capable of serving this purpose. But blogger anonymity suggest they live in fear. Pity them or discount them or join them...that is my question.
RTOPS is has potential to help political parties become people-centred political places again. I just don't understand the need for pseudonyms or the bloggers need to be behind their masks. Blogger bravado that is nothing more than de facto timidity is just a "poulet feces" way to "make a point."'
So - gentle readers, check out RTOPS site. Let me know what you think of this idea. Ought I accept or reject the invite... unconditionally, or conditionally? Is it reasonable to ask the contributors to be obvious and overt about who they are as much as they are obvious and overt about their opinions?
I see a real opportunity here but is it better seen as a "Groucho Marx" opportunity where I ought to decline any "club" that would have me as a member? Let me know your thoughts.
Good for Garry Rohr...and Who is He?
Finally the social extremists like Garry Rohr, are "coming out" and overtly engaging in the political process to influence the PC leadership campaign outcome - and Ted Morton is their man. My sentiments are summed up by Adlai Stevenson (I think) who said, "I disagree with everything you are saying but will defended with my life your right to say it." Just Google Garry Rohr to get a sense of who he is and how he operates. In the Richard Nixon style of "I am not a crook" Rohr is quoted as saying, "We've been painted in the media as extremists, but we're really not that extreme." "...not that extreme...." Boy is that comforting!
These are the folks that made Stephen Harper "scary" in 2004 and my guess (hope of hopes) is they do the same for Ted Morton. Drs. Morton and Oberg are on the same page here. Morton is reported as being committed as Premier to reintroduce his anti-gay legislation to discriminate and deny certain people the fairness and the freedom to marry. Even Victor Doerksen isn't going there and notes it is a federal issue according to the same Edmonton Journal report.
The tactics are the same old "set up" survey questionnaire of the "gotcha" playbook of political tricks. These groups used them in the last two provincial elections. I wonder which of his profusion of advocacy fronts and factions he will use this time. Will it be the Canada Family Action Coalition, or his Family Life Coalition, or Families for Day (yes that's Stockwell Day we're talking about here). These are just a few of his political action "vehicles."
These organizations are large groups of people, not like the phoney grassroots cabal that took on Deb Gray a few years back. They proved to be loud and media savvy but in the end, they had a membership about as big as a half empty phone booth. Rohr has a huge membership base and claims an e-mail list of 50,000 names. That is more than enough to make a difference in the PC leadership. In fact it could determine the end result if everyone else sits on the cynical sidelines.
I have posted before on Dr. Morton (August 22, 27) and Victor Doerksen (Aug 16) if you want more context on them and their issues. For serious citizens participation in this PC leadership is not an option.
The world is run by those who show up and Garry Rohr and his people are determined to show up. Good on them. That is what democracy is all about. What about the rest of us? Will we show up or simply sit back and settle for an outcome determined by others?
These are the folks that made Stephen Harper "scary" in 2004 and my guess (hope of hopes) is they do the same for Ted Morton. Drs. Morton and Oberg are on the same page here. Morton is reported as being committed as Premier to reintroduce his anti-gay legislation to discriminate and deny certain people the fairness and the freedom to marry. Even Victor Doerksen isn't going there and notes it is a federal issue according to the same Edmonton Journal report.
The tactics are the same old "set up" survey questionnaire of the "gotcha" playbook of political tricks. These groups used them in the last two provincial elections. I wonder which of his profusion of advocacy fronts and factions he will use this time. Will it be the Canada Family Action Coalition, or his Family Life Coalition, or Families for Day (yes that's Stockwell Day we're talking about here). These are just a few of his political action "vehicles."
These organizations are large groups of people, not like the phoney grassroots cabal that took on Deb Gray a few years back. They proved to be loud and media savvy but in the end, they had a membership about as big as a half empty phone booth. Rohr has a huge membership base and claims an e-mail list of 50,000 names. That is more than enough to make a difference in the PC leadership. In fact it could determine the end result if everyone else sits on the cynical sidelines.
I have posted before on Dr. Morton (August 22, 27) and Victor Doerksen (Aug 16) if you want more context on them and their issues. For serious citizens participation in this PC leadership is not an option.
The world is run by those who show up and Garry Rohr and his people are determined to show up. Good on them. That is what democracy is all about. What about the rest of us? Will we show up or simply sit back and settle for an outcome determined by others?
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