Monday, May 09, 2011

Hey, Maybe American Republicans Should Take Some Lessons In Winning Elections From Canada's Conservatives

Sheesh! A long headline, yet it is packed with such truth!
Last week the good people of Canada finally gave the Conservative party the levers of government ending six years of Conservative minority governments.
Because Canada government is more or less based on the Westminster system, it was 308 mini-elections. Three-hundred eight is the number of members of the House of Commons, the lower house of government. A majority is 155 seats. In the past two elections, the Conservatives were the majority party, yet did not get 155 seats. But by being the majority party, they were asked to form the last two governments.
Long windily, what happened last week was the culmination of a tenacious wearing down of the left and making the Conservatives the party people trust to govern.
So, how did this happen?
It did not happen overnight.
Because Canada's Conservatives made the Republicans here in the states look like unity beyond belief.
After suffering a humiliating defeat that saw the former Progressive Conservatives go from majority to two seats in 1993. They would eventually cease to exist as a party by 2003. That is when the Reform and Canada Alliance parties merged with the Progressive Conservatives to form the current Conservative party.
But it took several elections for the people of the whole of Canada to eventually embrace the now modern Conservative Party.
As Michael Barone notes in this column is that in the complex racial politics that is modern Canada, the Conservatives made an all out effort to attract non-white and or French candidates for each seat. They made a real effort in attracting Indian and Chinese speaking Canadians to run and appeal to voters in the languages that they understood. No, not the way that the American Republicans think that they can do with appealing to the amnesty crowd. Just by serious outreach.
The American Republicans have a lot of very good people in office now, such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Governors Susana Martinez of New Mexico and Brian Sandoval in Nevada. And two of the most conservative members of congress in Blacks Tim Scott (R-SC) and Allen West (R-Fla.).
They are the future of the Republican party. And all of the above are conservatives.
And Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper learned to attract fellow conservatives of color in Canada, the Grand Old Party must do the same in the United States. It will be how we win future elections. On principle and tenacity in espousing that principle to all people.

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