Liberal vs. liberal

No, there isn't a typo in the title of this blog.

I've been a liberal all my life and have also been active in the Liberal Party (I'm of the Ajax-Pickering Young Liberals). But I don't take my party affiliations to mean that I agree with everything the party is doing. On the contrary, I know that the best way to affect the party at a grassroots level is...like this. By getting my views across and get a conversation going from the bottom up.

I don't want to be another one of the endless political blogs in the blogoshpere, but with the coalition, Liberal leadership race and proroguing of parliament in the headlines, I couldn't help myself (I promise, I'll branch out to other topics). Therefore, I wanted to start off by talking briefly about my political views.

There are a lot of things the Party does that I don't like. However, barring any extreme events, I'm most likely going to be voting Liberal in the provincial and federal elections to come.

I've met many people who would follow Liberal policies blindly without thinking about them twice. These are the same people who think that because we're in opposition, we must oppose everything the Harper government proposes. I'm a bit different.

I have no qualms in disagreeing with the Party or with giving credit where credit is due . There are many things that the Harper government does that I don't agree with (as a matter of fact, I disagree with most things they do). However, they have proven themselves to be the choice of Canadians, twice, and this is no minor feat. They must be given credit for running well-organized, strategic campaigns.

I know that without fail, every press conference of Harper's is followed closely by similar conference, press release etc. from the Liberal Party denouncing everything Harper said. I know, I'm not that naive. I know the role of the official opposition. But honestly, isn't there anything Harper has done that the Liberals can kinda agree with? Maybe "agree with" is too strong. I would settle for "not hate". There must be a way to be 95% partisan and try to work together at least 5% of the time.

I voted for the Liberals in the last election, therefore I expect to get something in return for my vote: a party whose caucus members spend time representing my constituency in Ottawa and not on their own internal squabbles. The Liberal Party must go through an intense reform process if they want to win the confidence of the Canadian public again.

I'm a liberal and a Liberal. I would like nothing more than to see a Liberal government (asap). Let's hope that with the right changes to the party, more Canadians can say the same. It's people who get involved at the grassroots who act as the check and balance for such reforms and make sure we're headed in the right direction. I'm hoping that in enough time (and more substantial postings) I can be one of those people. Yeah, I know it's a lofty goal....but those are the most interesting ones ;)


Side Note:
Ok, so this post wasn't exactly "news commentary". To be honest, it's a bit of a rant that's been floating around in my head since Oct 14. I know that once I get these "background" thoughts out, I'll be able to move on to actual commentary of current events.