Red Tory v.2.0
Thanks for the kind words, Red. I've got a new post up--about the dishonourable genesis of the CPC. It's been said before, but I think I add some brass to the knuckles...
You're more than welcome.
Unfortunately, I don't have anywhere near the "reach" that I used to, but every little bit counts.
My "liberal" friends may not agree with a lot of your politics, but there is more than enough, how shall we say, points of convergence with which they can at least take immense enjoyment in.
Red:
Thanks for the link.
Sir Francis' first post and conversation in the comments is very interesting and certainly well above what passes for political discourse these days.
"...(although you’d never know it from the dunderheads that comprise the “Blogging Tories”)..."
I don't know, bud, but have you read the Liblogs lately???
Occasionally. What's that got to do with the price of tea in China?
Yes, Toryism is suspicious of both libertarians and socialists.
But alas, I and most others have no desire to be servants to British gentry.
Red:
Well said. I would go further and argue that the relationship between Tory and progressive dispositions is even more symbiotic than you suggest.
It is, in fact, genetic. Recall that the Loyalists who established Toryism as Canada's normative politico-cultural paradigm were traumatised refugees--losers, frankly. Many if not most of them had had their homes looted and their property confiscated; many had also been terrorised by mob violence.
This trauma did two things, I think. First, after the Revolution, the Loyalists immediately self-mythologised by equating defeat and victimisation with nobility and virtue; this made their disaster seem psychologically satisfactory (i.e. a moral victory).
Having done this, they naturally began to look upon all losers as noble. They felt an instinctive empathy for the oppressed and the marginal within their own community. I would point to this as the coeval beginning of "progressivism" and the High Tory tradition in Canada.
This is why a reactionary, "anti-democratic" Tory like John Graves Simcoe was so passionate about eliminating slavery in Upper Canada in the 1790's (keep in mind that many American refugees brought their slaves with them). Feeling himself the victim of injustice, he couldn't abide the thought that the injustice of legal bondage might establish itself in his province, and his bill of abolition faced virtually no popular opposition. Think of how hard this was to do--after over three generations of "progress" later--in liberal, democratic, republican America.
I and most others have no desire to be servants to British gentry.
I cannot speak for other titled gentlemen, but I can assure you that the labour I require from my serfs is deucedly light. A few dozen gross of rocks to be moved every day and an hour or so contorted in the form of a table or chair as I dine hugely off of pheasant, boar or hare...Nothing at all really.
SF — That’s a good point. I hadn’t really considered the psychological affinities in that regard.
As for our “liberal, democratic, republican” friends, it should be pointed out that had Thomas Paine prevailed, slavery would have been abolished 90 years sooner. I only mention that because I’m re-reading The American Crisis and can’t help but chuckle thinking of you. I’d imagine you’re no fan of the great man. ”There is a dignity in the warm passions of a whig, which is never to be found in the cold malice of a tory. …the canine venom of the latter knows no relief but revenge.” Heh. Hey Tom, tell us what you really think!
By the way, I sent you something interesting from the Brookings Institute that you might find interesting. It certainly caught my eye.
Nyuk nyuk, Sir Francis. My but you've changed my mind.
Pray stay but awhile and give tell to how I might become the bondservant to such a gracious master.
As the risk of sounding tedious, there is a reason why the CPC cannot garner a majority. Can you guess what that is?
Stop thinking along the lines of how the "Liberals are so great."
Consider where the (authentic) tory vote has been "parked" the last eight years or so ...
ATY — Is that directed at me? I most certainly don't think the "Liberals are so great"... far from it.
RT: You are a silly man!
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