Issue Archive » The Future of Conservatism


Going Global with Peace, Order and Good Government

by Christopher Sands & Shuvaloy Majumdar on June 16, 2009

Nobel laureate Lester B. Pearson understood that the dignity of peoples was closely linked to their freedom, that achieving social and economic status is fleeting when compared to unleashing the open democratic expression of free peoples worldwide, and that democracy properly understood was more than a process – it remains an enduring, transcending value. Pearson was a famous ally in the cause of freedom in the Cold War, and he understood something which members of a worldwide movement in democratic assistance have grasped today. Democracy, distilled down, is comprised of peace loving values, of intellectual and moral courage, and of the triumph of liberty. The defense of democracy was once a Canadian calling in times of crisis. In the course ahead, democratic assistance must remain at the heart of what brave Canadians are fighting for in Afghanistan, and on new frontiers where democracy hangs precariously in the balance.

Read more »  |  0 comments

Nixon in China

by Adam Daifallah on June 18, 2009

Only one presidential trip in memory has resulted in the creation of a famous political saying. From Richard Nixon’s seminal visit to China in 1972 came the “Nixon Goes to China Rule” of politics, the crux of which is that the politician perceived to be least likely to do something will actually have the easiest time doing it.

Read more »  |  0 comments

Enrightened Thinking

by Unknown Author on June 18, 2009

In an era of instant news headlines and empty libraries, a project that seeks to deepen our thinking on a sustained basis through the written word seems downright old-fashioned. To make the point clearer, do you think that many people would respond favourably today to this ad in your local paper?

Read more »  |  0 comments

Growing Up in Castro's Cuba

by Mark Milke on June 18, 2009

In a strange twist of a double coincidence, Luis M. Garcia was born in 1959, the year of Cuba’s revolution, and in the town of Banes, the birthplace of deposed dictator Fulgencio Batista (born there in 1901). Garcia’s shopkeeper parents, initially supportive of the 1959 revolution, later applied to leave Cuba after they lost their small business in one of Fidel Castro’s nationalization programs. The application to leave meant that from that moment on, the Garcia family were “gusanos” – “counter-revolutionaries” – in the view of the regime.

Read more »  |  0 comments

Explaining the Facts of Life - "Idea" Conservatives & The Media

by Mark Milke on June 18, 2009

“The facts of life are conservative” said Margaret Thatcher. Perhaps, but the facts never speak for themselves, which is especially problematic for any Canadian mildly interested in ideas. Too many newspapers have hollowed out their editorial, analysis and comment sections; the number and length of book reviews have been slashed; in both newspapers and on television, investigative reporting is often absent (there is no Canadian television equivalent of John Stossel for example); and the Canadian media is more monolithic than the American media, in part because our smaller population makes diversity in staffing and the sheer number of outlets less possible.

Read more »  |  0 comments

The Emerging Conservatism of the Anglosphere

by Michael Lindsay on June 19, 2009

There are those in my gown town who believe that every political idea expressed in the Anglosphere originates in the United Kingdom. This belief draws indignation from the city’s colonial contingent, which champions the contributions of non-Britons from Rand to Kymlicka. However, we colonials are forced to admit that, particularly over the past thirty years, it has typically been in Britain where global shifts in political attitudes have first been fully expressed in political platforms.

Read more »  |  0 comments

Solzhenitsyn's conservatism

by Collin May on June 19, 2009

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s life and works are a testimony to moral, political and literary courage. His short stories, novels, speeches and his own experiences convey, perhaps more than any other author, the drama, terror and heroism that manifested themselves throughout one of humanity’s most violent and decisive periods. By collecting excerpts from these works together in one volume, the editors have performed a valuable service for English readers seeking to understand the forces and ideas that gave birth to and continued to support totalitarianism long after its bankruptcy was realized.

Read more »  |  0 comments

Federalism, Like It's 1867

by Brigitte Pellerin on June 19, 2009

How often do you get a blast from the present while reading history books? It certainly happens when the subject is Canadian unity. For instance, if you heard a Quebec politician complain about a supposed fiscal imbalance within our federation because “the share of income tax collected by the province . . . is still clearly inadequate” and claim that “by so often giving short shrift to Quebec’s pleas up to now, the federal government has acted as though it meant to put a brake on our province’s social and economic development”, you could be forgiven for believing that former Parti Québécois premier Bernard Landry had made a comeback. In fact, a Liberal Premier, Jean Lesage, uttered these criticisms in 1963. [i]

Read more »  |  0 comments

Why Canada Needs Conservatives, Though it Tends to Imagine Otherwise

by Dr. Travis D. Smith on June 19, 2009

Canadians are fortunate beyond measure. Given that underneath we’re the same creatures that the world has ever seen, the liberty, civility, prosperity and opportunity that we enjoy is astounding. Little wonder that people the world over want to move here, while relatively few seek to flee. An awareness of our good fortune must supplement our appreciation for the enormous effort that goes into making Canada such a pleasant place to live. We should be more grateful and less smug.

Read more »  |  0 comments