One of the greatest achievements of the modern day NDP is that it has managed down the insurgency. It has managed to keep the blowback to the radical agenda of the neo-liberals in check. It has provided a conduit for activists and anarchists alike to push back in the parliamentary system while blunting direct action and the formation of a more representative political party. This is a profoundly tactical and highly strategic maneuver that even has adherents in the party's most openly marginalized components, such as the "socialist caucus" and other organized expressions of the insurgency that have managed to carve out a bureaucratic reflection within the inner machinations of this long established political institution.
This roll is invaluable to the current power brokers who control our country and are careening down the narrow and dangerous path away from democracy and toward a benevolent military dictatorship.
Bold moves such as 'W' making his first post presidential appearance in Calgary's tarpit, while immersing the Canadian military system with that of the US are just the tip of the iceberg that sees Canadian sovereignty melting away before our very eyes. The looting of the treasury, the harmonization of policies with that of the oligarchies empire, the corporate confiscation of the commonwealth and the very bold and public abuse of the office of the Governor General's during the "constitutional crisis" are the visible aspects of the iceberg.
Bit players like Lizzy May and former independent Garth Turner have been raising flags and ringing alarm bells while mainstream newspapers with considerable readership dangle evidence every once in awhile with language clearly describing the complete and utter abandonment of democracy in favour of a more dictatorial, anti-democratic approach to governance. Yet there is barely a whimper from the NDP caucus. Instead, we experience a complicit caucus that contributes to the development of a stealth police state by publicly involving the RCMP in elections that bring down governments.
The result, or more to the point, the reward for this remarkable achievement is snippets of positive mainstream media coverage and a bankroll. The lapdogs of the purveyors of this agenda receive a life line, no more - no less. One simply for the unstated purpose of containing the insurgency as evidenced in the Bank financing of a indebted party with little fundraising capacity outside of public dollars allocated on a per vote basis. The NDP vote is shrinking at an alarming rate and with a resurgent Liberal party the trajectory (at least from a financiers point of view) must be downward yet the vault remains open even during the "credit crunch." The reason is twofold, they recognize the vital role the party is now fully committed to and are willing to risk the dollars to ensure its survival, with the full understanding that the risk is nominal given the direct line to the public treasury that exists. So for today's financiers its all gain and no pain, yet for party members and adherents it is the complete opposite - all pain and no gain.
For a number of years in the run up to these developments the more astute activists at the centre of the insurgency argued and worked to re-align the party with its intended, if not original, purpose and when efforts where met with a stiff and unmoving wall of resistance the obvious alternative of the formation of another party entered the debate. Here is where more analysis is required. We need to ask the hard questions. Why are those who prescribe to the party's constitution still, after a generation, holding onto the faint hope that the NDP will rediscover its roots? Why after repeated failures from before the highly publicized waffle to the recent machinations of new party advocates do supporters of the party accept the abandonment of principle and purpose the party has come to boldly represent? Why during these most headiest days of socialist philosophy is the country's socialist party the least relevant player and most silent? The questions are many, however the answers are few as evidenced in the fact that long standing members within the party cannot even get accountability when asking who is responsible for decision making on campaign financing and strategies. The requests fall on deaf ears and no one is responsible for the abysmal failure the party has become with respect to electoral achievements.
The NDP requires a retooling and not simply an upgrade to continue the now long established agenda of managing down expectations while greasing the skids for the corporate confiscation of the commonwealth. It needs to be re-made and re-invented with a populist penchant that works to fill the void displayed by the current apathy within our system. Now is the time if it is not already to late otherwise a new party will evolve which in the end will serve to extend the term of the current rulers but may in the end be the only future alternative. Its time to face the fact that there is nothing new or Democratic about the New Democratic Party and either change it or move on.
The Hill Times, June 8, 2009
NDP lags in fundraising, still has a multi-million-dollar debt load
But party's national director Brad Lavigne says it's ahead of schedule to pay off debt, and has secured financing to fight a federal election, whenever one is called.
By Harris MacLeod
The federal NDP has not done any substantial fundraising in four of its five biggest donor provinces in the first two fiscal quarters of 2009 and still has a multi-million-dollar debt from the last election campaign.
But the NDP's national director says the party will catch up on fundraising in the third and fourth quarters, will pay off its debt "in a matter of months," and says the party's feeling "bullish" about its chances in the next election.
NDP National Director Brad Lavigne, speaking to The Hill Times last week from Washington, D.C.,
Read here: http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=2009/j...
...yup, that was me,... when I discovered that you actually had been banned, for trolling non-the-less, (GASP!) and appear to have been in that little group whose accounts were accidentally reopened in big changeover.