Paul S. Graham

Liberal blogger Scott Tribe, progressive blogger Kelly John and Dipper Chick, in the spirit of political cooperation that is spreading across the land, have designed a badge (on the left) to show support for the new Liberal-NDP-BQ coalition

They plan to launch a website – coalitionbloggers.ca – but it’s not live at this point. They have asked for suggestions on the form this new website should take. I hope you can take a moment or many to send them your suggestions.

I am loathe to make predictions, but if the traffic to my obscure little part of the Internet is any indication, there will be lots of takers for this discussion.

Not all of them will be supportive and I hope that Coalition Bloggers will make room for all shades of opinion, including those who happen to think Stephen Harper should continue as PM.

While I suspect a majority of Canadian voters will be happy to see Harper’s back, there is a large chunk of the Canadian population who supported him in the last election. Dismissing them as Tory douchebags and fuckbaskets is counterproductive.

Leaving aside some of the sleazier political operatives who are beyond redemption and who would be lost without their talking points, there are lots of folks with whom we can have a respectful debate. I hope that will happen at Coalition Bloggers.

It is one thing to support replacing Harper with a coalition that better reflects the views of Canadians, it is quite another to give this coalition a blank cheque.

Never forget that the Liberals are the party of big business, and they will have to be pushed really hard to get them to devise an economic program that addresses the needs of working Canadians. They are the folks who got us into Afghanistan, which history will judge as one of Canada’s more disgraceful interventions. If they choose Michael Ignatieff as their leader (barely and recently repentant apologist for the invasion of Iraq), our foreign policy isn’t likely to improve. And never forget Adscam.

On the NDP side of the equation, those of us who have experienced the NDP in government can assure you, contrary to the excited bleatings of the Tory spin machine, New Dems left socialism behind a long time ago. This is unfortunate, to say the least. In the provinces where they’ve had political success they have tended to run from the left and govern from the right, not unlike the Liberals.

So, Vive la Coalition, but we will have to hold their feet to the fire if the dreams of those who support a “progressive” coalition are going to be taken seriously.

Coalition Bloggers – Goodonya. Let a hundred flowers bloom ‘n all that! I’ll post a more permanent link when your website is functional.