I hope for an NDP minority as first choice but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have second choices too. I usually enjoy your comments and find them thoughtful Sean but I think you're way off base on this one. I've never worked on an election for an NDP candidate where the message was anything other than "we're going to win this riding" - no matter how ridiculous that was in reality. There is always plenty of "hope" to keep everyone going. Maybe that's why we never get what we want becasue we dare not even hope for it.
When I've dared to "hope" for stronger positions on some issues, I've get dumped on by NDPers who think I'm unrealistic and that whatever position the party takes is the correct position. So which is it? Not enough hope? Not the right kind of hope? Too much hope?
Shifting the responsibility to yourself and other supporters who just don't "hope" enough is certainly noble but I think it's misguided to blame party supporters for not having enough hope.
I guess Canada's First Nations just need to do some more hoping. What I'm reading into this is that it's not enough to hope to get rid of Harper - that we're setting our sights too low. Unless the NDP wins the election (if we hope enough), the outcome really doesn't matter. In the darkest days of any country's experience peole hoped for better even though it was unlikely-- and then things changed.