Selling conservatism, revisited

Today's Globe reports that the Conservative Party is planning to create a larger party headquarters in anticipation of a possible upcoming general election. The headquarters will be the size of a large Shoppers Drug Mart, and will contain a television studio. It will also contain a war room that will enable the Tories to tell candidates how to respond to campaign-related news within 60 minutes of its happening. The Tories also have bus and air transportation lined up for their prospective office-seekers, and plan to maintain a list of candidates that are likely to say damaging things. (I assume that they will provide some effective deterrent to get them to stop. A rap on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper would probably work as well as any other tactic.)

Like all of the Tories' election plans and strategies, this makes me uneasy. The Conservatives are spending thousands of person-hours and millions of dollars on the latest and most up-to-date techniques of persuasion, selling themselves as if they were some new brand of toothpaste or flavour of potato chip. As I've said before, it's as if they realize that most Canadians don't really want what they're offering, so they have to somehow hoodwink the country into buying it.

It all reminds me of one of those morality playlets you used to see in old educational films or high-school health textbooks: the ones in which a teenage boy is so desperate to get lucky that he'll promise anything and everything to the girl who is the object of his intended affections. Of course, these promises remain in effect only until he gets what he wants from her. Sometimes, I think that the Canadian electorate is like that unsuspecting girl, and the Conservatives are that desperate boy. They'll say whatever it takes to get what they want so badly - namely, a majority government. Once they get that, all bets are off, and they'll do what they've always wanted to do: remake Canada in their own image.


In case anyone cares: from now on, I may not post here every day. I originally created this blog to give me a chance to sharpen my writing skills, and to serve as an exercise in self-discipline. I wanted to see if I could achieve something if I set my mind to it. It's been 106 straight days now, so I'm calling it Mission Accomplished. I'll keep writing here reasonably often - I need to write almost as much as I need air - but I'll only post when I think of something I want to write about.