Editing Talk:Party Direction (section)

== E-mail from GJ June 2012==
3. the direction of the party.� I'm pretty sure that everyone knows that I'm in favour of pragmatism.� I'd rather claim one victory for personal liberty in this province (if that means reaching out to people in different parties to get that result) than to be "right" all the time, and be ignored.� I don't want to provide a huge background reasoning for this, but consider this.� Harper changed the conservative party into a big-tent party, and moved it towards the traditional grounds of the liberals.� Now the liberals are (almost) gone.� Harper has been in charge since 2005.� He has pulled every trick in the book (and invented some new ones), and he has been successful in being in control over what's happening in Canada for all that time.

Pleasant?� Probably not.� But after door knocking and talking to people in Ottawa (in 2010), I have gotten a bit of a feeling of what passes for "acceptable" to voters, and I assure everyone that Rothbard, Mises, Hayek or Molyneux are not names that any voter is aware of or cares about.� People care about real topics.� Waiting lists in health care, education paid for by government, social security and old age pensions.� I would strongly, nay, *vehemently* suggest that we drop any and all references to the aforementioned names of folks for the simple reason that voters don't give a crap about those.

The NDP doesn't quote Karl Marx or Friedrich Engels; they just translate the ideas into stuff that speaks to the media and that speaks to voters.� They have been setting the direction of this province (and this country) for *decades*.� If we want to turn the tide, we (as a party) have to make a conscious decision: either use the tactics that work, and effect change for Ontarians, or eschew the tactics that others use and try to invent strategies that work.� Thus far (judging from the number of laws that have been enacted that curb our liberties), the previous strategies by the OLP to influence government in Ontario have not been as successful as the NDP's tactics.

I, for one, am really sick and tired of the modus operandi of politicians whence they get elected.� The *only* party that has an opportunity to be different is the OLP.� I believe that the OLP has everything it takes to become a driving force in Ontario, but it will require a very very focused effort, strong commitment, and (yes) we will have to do things while we hold our collective noses.

I'm not interested in "just having fun"; I have many other opportunities for that (all outside politics; real fun, not angry-fun).� I want to make life better in this province for myself and for my kids.