Thread by @sunnshiiny

@MichelletypoQ @VoiceOfFranky

Appealing to left libertarian’s sense of “lost freedom” is the latest recruitment strategy of CPC.

I just wrote a thread about that.

https://twitter.com/michelletypoq/status/1494952886446395395

I keep trying to convey to people that left libertarians and left anarchists want exactly the same thing as far right libertarians. Anarchy.

Both want to eliminate liberalism as competition. And with that to eliminate democracy.

threadreaderapp.com/thread/1494890…

Liberalism is democracy. The Overton window Canada had from 1950-2000 was a narrow set of acceptable beliefs and values based on welfare state social liberalism and humanism.

Where conservatives were progressive and socialists were centre left.

The reason Canadian Liberals won so often is because that’s what democracy is: Liberalism.

Compromise, cooperation, ethics and principles, diversity, legitimate authority, pluralist authority, regulated capitalism.

That’s democracy. It’s also the defining characteristics of liberalism.

Which is why we had such success as a nation in acknowledging human rights and maintaining peace and social cohesion.

It didn’t matter who won the election.

Blue Liberals and Red Tories predominated politics. And NDP pulled left by influencing the addition of a blended economy and expanded social programs.

Essentially all major political parties offered the same policies, with minor tweaks.

That changed when Quebec wanted to separate and Reform Party wanted power. That’s what expanded Canada’s Overton window to include more extremist ideologies.

Canada was libertarian before WW2 with a growing liberal progressive movement within the federal Liberal party.

The influence of humanism, progressivism and socialism on libertarian beliefs was profound. The Ginger Group and the Progressive party were spawned from Liberal party during similar turbulent geopolitics about 100 years ago.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_Gr…

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressi…

Alberta is where the CCF originated. From members of the national Progressive party and Farmer’s political movement. Much like modern day national politics, capitalism and big business were making it tough to survive for farmers and labourers.

This was the Gilded age of North America and the Roaring 20’s.

It all ended when the Great Depression hit. Alberta & Saskatchewan were the worst hit economies in North America & abandoned by the federal government. The resentment and rage created during the 1930’s never healed.

Radicalized left/centrist extremists opted for the populist Social Credit.

And that was the end of progressive governance in Alberta. The next 81 years Alberta was dominated by one party rule representing far right populism and evangelical Christian conservatives.

Iron fisted Evangelical Christian Social Credit libertarians (1935-1971). Progressive Conservatives from 1971-2015). A brief period from 1971 to 1985 remained progressive conservative. But former social credit fully infiltrated the party by 1985 & brought back libertarianism.

We’ve been down this path before.

The Ginger Group/Progressive Party spawned both NDP and Reform Party. They were both formed from libertarianism.

Anarchism is a form of radical & extreme socialism.

Far right libertarians and radical left libertarians are both extremists.

They share many of the same ideals. Radical utopian beliefs about freedom and liberty.

The member of the Ginger Group and Progressive party who returned to the Liberal party influenced changes within the Liberals from classic liberalism to humanist liberalism.

Especially after the trauma of WW2.

Conservatives were always more centrist and progressive than classic liberals (libertarians). And modern liberals are slightly left of conservatives due to their social beliefs.

Anarchism contributed to the bloody revolutions in Paris, France, Russia and Spain.

The Russian revolution resulted in communism. The Spanish revolution resulted in fascism.

But the autocratic rule was virtually indistinguishable from one another.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism

Socialists were the minority of CCF when it was created. Most CCF were centrist farmers. Not until Labour organizations merged with CCF did the party move further left. But only slightly more left than modern liberals.

And that was Canadian politics for about 50 years.

Until the influence from far right libertarians who wanted to recreate the extreme wealth disparity of the guided age of a past era.

The Great Depression and FDR severely limited the “freedom” of libertarians after the devastation of the depression using anti-trust laws.

Libertarians tried to overthrow FDR when he stripped them of their privileges in the 1930’s. Thank god they failed.

Most western democracies adopted similar policies to FDR after the war. Including Canada.

Global economic devastation coupled with 70 million dead of WW2 and millions of displaced refugees created the humanist liberal welfare state.

Of course this is a simplified retelling of history.

I’m just using a simplified retelling to illustrate why radicalized conservatives (libertarians) appeal to radicalized socialists (Anarchist libertarians). They’re both extremists. Fringe beliefs outside of the moderate Overton window Canada established & nurtured for 50 years.

Many accuse Nazis of being socialists. They were far right fascists. But Hitler joined the Germans Workers Party. A nationalist socialist party.

Then Hitler coopted the “brand” of socialism while purging actual socialists.

That should sound familiar. It’s what Social Credit leaders did in Alberta in 1935 and shortly after Lougheed’s PC’s won the 1971 election.

Parti Quebecois was a similar take over heavily reliant on left and right libertarianism. CAQ is centre right libertarian.

Of course, CPC is the rebranded Canadian Alliance/Reform party. Whose origins can be traced back to Social Credit of 1935 in Alberta.

All of these events have happened before.

Fascists use whatever means they can to create chaos, create support for anarchy, & then takeover.

Interesting to note: Hitler personally ordered the murder of Röhm, the leader of the SA, and several top commanders in 1934. But he coopted socialist extremists to gain power first. Röhm
knew Hitler since the beer putsch of 1923. Both were members of the German Worker’s Party.