pbi said:
Yes-demagogues can indeed be popular. That is their nature, and what makes them dangerous, because they will almost always be shilling for some very distorted view of things, or focused on "single issue" fights.
I should state my biases up front, and say that in my opinion the best possible outcome for Canada in 2015 would be a Tory minority. A "perfect world" result for me (although, as you point out, probably quite counter-factual) would be a return to the "Red Toryism" that could appeal to a much wider swath of Canadians and avoid the US style of bi-polar dysfunction, in which political discourse is reduced to mouth foaming and ranting.
I've also read "The Big Shift", and I'm aware that the current brand of Toryism, both federally and provincially, has realized that there is fertile soil amongst some segments of new Canadians who hold social, cultural and frequently religious views which are much more conservative than those of mainstream Canadians. As far as I can tell, these particular groups continue to represent only a minority of Canadians, although they are perhaps over-represented in the major urban centres.
Naturally, Tories seek to exploit these like-minded individuals to boost their share of hte ballot: I would not expect much different behaviour from any political party. Politicians in this country often seem, IMHO, far too fixated on their short term gains and the survival of their brands, than on a longer term view.
I also take note of your very accurate observation about "democratic chaos", which Churchill would probably have observed upon as being one of the messy but glorious aspects of our system. We absolutely do not want to pander to, or in any way exploit, the innate desires of people who yearn for "The Big Man" system. We know where that goes, and I think sometimes I see signs of a drift towards it.
I wonder (and worry) about the wisdom and long-term effect of encouraging and politically exploiting the meaner, nastier and more regressive aspects of certain cultural groups in our country. We might want to be careful about where we end up with that.
I think that a common oversimplification, especially popular in some segments of the
commentariat.
There is, indeed, "fertile ground" out there for Conservatives:
It is, as it always has been, among older voters, people of our ages who
both a) vote in disproportionately large numbers, and
b) hold some socio-economic views that
coincide better with the CPC than with either the Liberals and NDP;
It's in rural and small town Canada - and I'll describe Peterboroug, ON, for example, as being at the top end of "small town," but, of course, places like
Shelburne, ON and
Unity, SK are
the classic small towns, and reliably Conservative, too; and
It's also in the suburbs, around the big cities, some of which, but by no means all, have large immigrant populations, especially East and South Asians who, like senior citizens, share
some of the views espoused by the CPC.
It's a large, diverse, and, broadly, representative slice of the country.
Most Canadians do not fall into the Conservative
pool of potential voters,
but more Canadians are
potential CPC voters than 'fit' into either the Liberal or NDP camps.
