Dead Right
By For the most part, David Frum’s op-ed about the Liberal meltdown in Canada is marginally less hackish than one might expect, and even contains one piece of useful information for American readers. There is, however, some utter nonsense at the heart of his argument:
Many Americans see Canada as a kind of utopian alternative to the United States: a North American democracy with socialized medicine, same-sex marriage, empty prisons, strict gun laws and no troops in Iraq.
What they don’t see is how precarious political support for this alternative utopia has become among Canadian voters in recent years. From World War II until the 1980’s, Liberal power rested on two political facts: its dominance in French-speaking Quebec and its popularity in the immigrant communities of urban Ontario.
Note the egregious bait-and-switch here. The decaying support for the Liberal Party is conflated with decaying support for the social arrangements that distinguish Canada from the United States. But this is simply false. One the most important issue–socialized medicine–there is virtually universal support on the public, and support from every national political party. Majorities in Canada support same-sex marriage and oppose the Iraq war. Gun control depends on how you ask the question, but more importantly, who gives a shit? This is simply not an issue central to Canadian political culture. I’m sure Frum would like to think that the decline in the Liberal Party–which I suspect won’t last much longer than Paul Martin remains the Prime Minister–will mean that Canadians will eagerly embrace a Frumian agenda that includes replacing an effective and well-liked health care system with an American style one that will produce worse results for much more money, reactionary social policies and a constitutional amendment banning beards. He is in for a very bitter disappointment.
And, of course, this transparent silliness contradicts his useful point, which is that the Liberals–far from being a party of the left–are a “brokerage party” virtually devoid of any core principles. The scandal that is likely to bring down the government soon is real–a gross squandering of public funds that is not only wasteful and unethical but counterproductive. (It would be almost as bad, frankly, even if the money wasn’t funneled to contributors and other cronies and family members.) The Liberal Party is a corrupt machine only marginally more progressive than the Mulroney Tories. Unfortunately, because of the foolishness of Quebec secessionism the Conservative Party will profit in the short-term, but the potential damage is limited (especially since they don’t have much chance of a majority government.) But contrary to what right-wing bloggers seem to think, this is not a repudiation of the central principles of Canadian political culture in the slightest. (It’s also amusing to compare the InstaReaction to this scandal and the relentless state-funded propagandizing of the Bush administration.) The chastening of the Liberal Party, in the long run, is good news for those who want to maintain a Canadian society that is freer and more just than its southern neighbor.