I don't like him (though I volunteered for Olivia Chow's campaign twice when I lived in her riding); he talks a good talk but he's been taking the party away from its leftist roots and, since he's pretty much guaranteed a victory here, I didn't vote for him.
That's interesting. I watched the English language debate and his rhetoric was much more left-wing than anything a senior politician on the British left would say, perhaps with the exception of the SNP or the ex London mayor Ken Livingstone.
I think Layton can't take much principled stances when there is no strong movement on the left to support him. You could argue that it's the NDP's job to nurture such a movement, but really, electoral politics mostly follows civil society, so really you need a strong and visible movement to support the political left...
It's not inspiring, is it? I take some bitter consolation that the imminent economic meltdown (and the new government's complete inability to deal with it) will destroy the Conservative party as we know it within one year. Steven Harper will be the new Herbert Hoover.
What did you think of the Green Party this election?
Heh, I voted Green (even volunteered a bit for them), mainly because I felt they were the only party which acknowledged peak oil and general limits to growth in a serious way. That and the fact that I found Layton's rhetoric to be ridiculously corny and hackneyed this time. I share your misgivings about some of their right-leaning economic policies, but that's less important to me than simply understanding the fundamental crisis of our time.
What would it take to have a party which really gets both social justice and ecology on a deep level?
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Date: 2008-10-14 09:25 pm (UTC)We're screwed '08
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Date: 2008-10-14 09:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 12:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 12:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 12:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 01:07 am (UTC)(No, seriously, his rhetoric is left, but he keeps making all sorts of compromise deals and not standing up for principles when he should.)
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Date: 2008-10-15 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-10-15 12:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 03:38 am (UTC)Anyway. Sigh. On to the next thing.
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Date: 2008-10-15 10:09 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-10-15 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 05:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 12:37 pm (UTC)What did you think of the Green Party this election?
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Date: 2008-10-15 10:10 pm (UTC)Hilariously, everyone at school was convinced I voted Green. Because I am a hippie. Who did you vote for, incidentally?
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Date: 2008-10-15 11:59 pm (UTC)What would it take to have a party which really gets both social justice and ecology on a deep level?