Gallery Software Installation Complete

I have completed installation of 'Gallery' -- the software that we will be using to track our library of images for use in the magazine. There's not much to see right now, but what's there lives at:

http://imgbank.billymag.com/

I am going to start categorizing my images and adding them later this week. Here is the initial list of categories that I am trying to fill:

1. Federal politicians
2. Provincial politicians
3. Famous people
4. Generic urban
5. Generic rural
6. Generic agriculture
7. Generic business
8. Generic industry
9. Generic medical
10. Generic police/fire
11. Generic Internet/computer
12. Generic communications
13. Generic technology
14. Generic weather/climate
15. Generic pollution shots

Anyone with a camera who is willing to help out is asked to get in touch with me. Don't feel intimidated because you're not a professional photographer or you don't own a fancy camera. You'd be surprised just how good a snapshot from the cheapest camera can be made to look with a bit of tweaking and cropping.
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Progress and "The Back of the Book"

Sean has been a busy man. We have the URL and the Content Management software is just being set up. I merely report this, Sean is the man who actually got it done.

When he thinks it's ready we'll put up discussion forums to proceed with the organization.

Now would be a good time to think about a) what articles you are burning to write, b) who else we should have onboard, c) the "back of the book" - movie reviews, CD's, games, books, websites, software.

The back of the book is a place which is about opinion but not politics in any direct sense. And it is potentially a huge draw for Billy. For example, Bob over at Let it Bleed, along with having come up with Billy, writes first class book reviews.

With the book reviewing budgets at the Canwest papers cut back to nearly zero and very few book editors being willing to assign anything but the next big literary novel for fear of missing a GG nominee, non-fiction reviewing (and fiction of course) is open to new entrants..That be us.

And so on. Thoughts and comments and dibs welcome in comments. more?

CMS Installation Complete

The Content Management System (CMS) is up and running. Please don't ask me how all the bits and pieces work just yet, I'm still learning my way around as well. I would encourage everyone to sign up for an account and play around with the new site a bit:

http://www.billymag.com/

You won't have full posting permissions until I change your role from 'authenticated user' to 'contributor'. I'm heading to bed shortly so this may not happen until tomorrow. Don't worry about breaking anything -- any boo boos are easily fixed so indulge yourselves. There's also a chatbox feature. Please avail yourselves of it and let me know how you like it.

I realize the site is butt ugly at the moment as I'm using one of the default themes. We'll start work on prettying things up shortly.

In the meantime, here's some reading for you folks on posting content to Drupal:

- User's Guide
- Administrator's Guide
- Theme Developer's Guide

...not everyone is expected to go beyond the User's Guide, but I've provided the other links for those who are feeling ambitious.
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Billy

Looking at the comments on the proposed "Billy" as a title for the magazine I note that Don has run into some negative reaction. So have I.

In my case it has been more a reaction of "What?" rather than fully negative. In a sense, simply because it signifies nothing in particular people are non-plused when they hear it.

I don't actually think that matters. what does matter is that it is short, memorable and unlikely to actually drive anyone away.

Rather than spend the next two months coming up with a marginally better name - if one is possible - I would like to go ahead with Billy.

Assuming that no one violently objects over the course of today (Saturday) I will let loose the dogs of Sean who will get the name reserved (with a .com) and set up web space.

We can then get on with the more interesting and useful task of putting some editorial flesh and bones on Billy. He's a scrawny, squally infant at the moment. Breathing through his mouth, knuckles dragging....

Here's to Billy!

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A woman from Mars

Hello -

I've been reading the posts here since Jay sent me the invitation, and although I feel somewhat tongue-tied in forums, comments sections and chat rooms, I do want to express my thanks to Jay and my growing interest in this project.

Perhaps the best contribution you are all making to the conservative movement in Canada is demonstrating that conservatism (and libertarianism) are not monolithic group think modes but a springboard from which any number of ideas and political views can be expressed.

Two sentences! I'm on a real roll here ...




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Central area for info

I find this space a bit difficult to use for organizing us. I have set out some space where we can set things up so we can see who is doing what to who (whom?)

Find it here.

There are only two things up so far: the original features list and a blank list of contributors.

Please email me with how you are going to contribute and I will add your info. I am also looking to fill in more columns to the contribution chart and would be willing to add other areas to the space as we see fit. Send me your comments and ideas.
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Camping joke here

Interesting paragraph in Inkless Wells, part of his comments on "being exposed" by Don Martin in the National Post for staying over at Scott Brison's compound:

In the meantime, there's an assumption underlying Don's column that I find remarkable indeed: that the biggest danger in political reporting is excessive sympathy for our subjects. I'd argue that a comparable danger is the cheap assumption that they're all liars and scoundrels, an assumption that's easier to strike because it insulates us from the crippling accusation of being "in the tank."

I like this, and not just because it's a bit contrarian. There is a tendency for the opposition and the media (can I use "us" here?) to focus on corruption. Often this lets mere incompetence go un-discussed, and plain old bad decision-making is rarely if ever addressed.

There is a connection here to Gomery, and the ways to spin its purpose, as well as to a rule of thumb I spelled out a couple of months ago. I'm going to work on this, but in short, I hope my new colleagues here resist not only the temptation to reflexively oppose everything the Liberals do, but also the temptation to focus on the crisis-du-jour. As Wells concludes:

..money is being hosed around this country for health care and equalization and regional development and research infrastructure in amounts dozens or hundreds of times greater than the party favours politicians hand out to their cronies. Ottawa remains more obsessed with politics than policy, which means the biggest crimes against good government go unreported. But everyone feels vaguely virtuous, which after all is the Canadian way.

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That NAME thang...

Okay,

It looks like we're tilting in favour of Billy as a name. Can we put it to a vote?

Also, please state your preference for a domain name:

- billymag.ca
- billymag.com

The sooner we have this nailed down, the sooner I can register a domain, get some Web hosting, and start installing Content Management Software.
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A case for privatizing the CPP

I’m pretty sure this is not Tom Sandborn’s intent, but he builds a powerful case for privatizing the management of pensions in this article at the Tyee titled Pensions Deep into Weapons, Toxins, Sweatshops. It begins:

The investment experts at the arms-length body that administers Canada Pension Plan funds are facing fierce criticism these days. Critics say the CPP Investment Board managers are pouring public money into war production, tobacco companies and firms like Wal Mart with unsavory reputations for labour and environmental abuses. They also challenge the prudence of shifting CPP money into the volatile and uncertain arena of the stock market, away from the public bond holdings that have traditionally both backed up Canada Pensions and financed public infrastructure across Canada.

No one should be forced to have their money invested in companies that they find ethically objectionable, in my opinion. It’s even worse if they don’t have confidence that the management team is making sound investments, worrying that their retirement depends on “the volatile and uncertain arena of the stock market”.

The obvious answer is to let him direct his contributions to the CPP to the investment management team of his choice. Personally, I’m cool with the volatile and and uncertain stock market, and am content to profiteer on weapons, toxins and sweatshops if it allows me to retire in comfort. In my case I actually have more confidence that money invested privately will be available for my retirement, rather than having it sit in government bonds and depend on the generosity of voters in the future to honour the debts. But far be it for me to tell Tom Sandborn or anyone else how their retirement funds should be invested.

So the solution is clear – we can both have the same CPP contributions deducted at source, but then allow each to select a fund management team that meets our ethical requirements and has a risk profile with which we are comfortable. Tom and similar-minded folks can select ethical funds that avoid companies to which they object – they could even build up a pool of capital that could be lent to developing countries at favourable rates and terms, displacing the IMF and World Bank. And I can sleep soundly knowing those Asian sweatshops will ensure both my comfortable retirement and their economic progress, as outlined in this article by Nicholas Kristof.

(Apologies if posting content is premature, but my view of starting an E-zine is similar to my view on Foreign Policy - conduct it, don't study it. This is an example of what I think one type of content should be - interact with the other E-zines with arguments that potentially persuade on their terms.) more?

Mars Needs Women!

...and maybe we could use some, too? The rooster to hen ratio is looking kind of sucky at the moment. Can I lead off with a couple of nominations?

Theresa Zolner (Heart of Canada)
http://heartofcanada.typepad.com/about.html

Shannon Davis (Shenanigans)
http://shannondavis.blogspot.com/

;-)
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Peanut gallery

Hello, fellow nerds who have reservations about da Canadian value as they are presently and commonly understood. I asked for this invitation, and thus I am happy to accept it.

This was Jay Currie's idea and he is volunteering to edit - so as far as I'm concerned, it's his, and that works for me (The notion of a Conservative magazine being some sort of co-op I find a little strange. That said, I'll help out however I can.)

I'm going to try to be the best darn contributor here. If I suck, I expect Currie to cut me off. If this thing destructs, or peters out, or sucks, I'll step away without shame and hold Currie responsible for the mess. Hah!

As for a name, I'm somewhat indifferent, but offer a few reactions:

• TANSTAAFL - not too big on making an explicit political statement with the title of the thing
• The Vorpal Blade - notwithstanding how well-known (or not) the allusion is, it sounds scary
• Billy - not bad!

My barely-thought-through suggestion is "A Smoke and a Drink". For background, see Colby Cosh's pre-election mini-polemic here. In short, it's a rebuke to "the Liberal civil religion of aggressive egalitarianism", which I think is probably one of the major aims of this whole effort, and if it's not, it ought to be.
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Torah Wisdom

via Winds of Change

Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
the lazer beam

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Stock photography bank

We're going to need a library of stock photography that can be used to accompany articles. I'm offering everything from my personal photography site (www.digiteyesed.com) with the exception of those images that contain pictures of people. We can't legally use those as I do not have releases from most of them for this purpose.

I will make an effort to get as many local-to-Alberta pictures as I can. I will also make a point of getting pictures of whatever local politicians I can (e.g. Ralph Klein, Gary Mar, etc.)

I will assign the rights to the images I'm able to, to our magazine once there is a name to put to paper.

I know that Rick McGinnis has expressed an interest in contributing photography to the endeavour. Is there anyone else who can step up and provide something? This may mean nothing more than being willing to attend a public event and snap a few shots of local personalities, buildings, etc.

Those who can help out in this regard are asked to step forward. :)
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Editorial process

What editorial process does everyone else here envision for this publication, if any? I will admit that it annoys the heck out of me to see items in the mainstream media loaded with grammatical and spelling errors.

Will there be an editorial process where things are checked before being allowed online? Checked for grammar and spelling, certainly. The recent Kinsella Kerfuffle also has me wondering if we need to be checking items for what could be considered 'libelous' content as well?
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A Name

Had an idea for a name that I think meets the points made. It is one word, catchy and does not limit us to any particular view.

TANSTAAFL

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

Bonus points if you know where it is from. Or you can just go here.

The .com is taken but not the .ca
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Three little comments...

I'm guessing that the events of the last day are a demonstration of the need for more robust discourse on freedom of speech in this country?

***

Did we get any further on the name? The Vorpal Blade appealed to me, as we all must be wary of the Jabberwock. ;-)

***

As for sports commentary -- sports covers universals. With talented enough writers, it could probably be really good.

But that begs another question -- when a focus or various focii are settled on, how would this all work? Is this going to be a collaborative project like I imagine something like The Shotgun is, or is this a magazine proper? (in an electronic form) Or...? Just what are we in for?
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Sports

There are a lot of bloggers who, I swear, are actually jobless sports writers. Now I have long since lost the habit of reading or watching sports; but I know there is an audience out there. Would it be worthwhile to do sports commentary? more?

Howdeee!

I'd also like to thank Jay for inviting me aboard. Regarding Laurent's suggestion regarding Reason - good idea. I like Reason, and like their website even more - it actually makes Libertarians seem like (pardon the pun) reasonable people, which isn't quite the impression I've gotten debating with them online.

And while we all like to get our inner policy wonks out for a run in the park, I'd like to see as much cultural content as political, if only for the simple reason that - and I think we should be up front about this now - what we're doing is marketing conservatism as sane, smart, and attractive.

I don't want to encourage a defensive tone - a wheedling, whining "please love us" sort of approach - but there should be a forum to show that there's a conservative way of looking at music, movies, books, TV, and that it doesn't begin with the sort of elitist disdain I associate with The New Criterion, for instance. (And don't get me wrong - I also love TNC.)

Kathy Shaidle and I have a movie project thing coming up, and I write a TV column every day that's pretty obviously written from a conservative viewpoint. A lot of us are former punks; most of us are openly obsessed with some facet of pop culture. Let's give our cultural obsessions as long a leash as our political ones - I think that would go a long way to fulfilling what's slowly emerging as a mandate.

And yeah - photo essays. Of course (he said, selfishly.)
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Names

While I don't want to get hung up on names here are a couple of considerations. First, using the words "conservative" or "rightwing" or "right" in a name immediately limits your audience. Something I'd like to avoid. Second, whatever name we decide on needs to be memorable. One word, two at most...Yes, Bob, "Billy" is not at all a bad suggestion. more?

Hello world

First of all, thanks to Jay for the invitation. I'll keep this post short and simply point out to the website of the libertarian magazine Reason. Personally, I like the combination of a blog along with more detailed articles. The homepage layout also seems good, giving quick access to both the latest articles and the latest blog posts (though maybe the first few words of the posts could be included in addition to the title; also I think there is one column there which could be trimmed)
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More Ideas

I have no problem with the web hosting idea. It sounds like a good place to start.

I have some ideas on what a conservative, web-based magazine/newspaper should include. I think this is a unique opportunity to build something, and it should be a hybrid that goes beyond what a simple blog would do.

Here is a first draft list of features that I think would be a good place to start. I have put them here, as I do not want to clutter up this page. (click on Newspaper Features List)

A few suggestions for a name:

Conservative Review - a bit boring, and I would prefer something without conservative, as I think this limits us

Right Wing Rogue - interesting, but this might be too low brow, depending on how you want to go.



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Web Hosting

I'd like to get the ball rolling in terms of building a site by offering to foot the hosting bills for the first year. I have 'Canaca.com' in mind as a hosting provider as they are Canadian, reliable, and inexpensive (I'll be moving my own sites to their servers once my prepaid time at Integral Hosting is up). You can find their various plans here:

http://canaca.ca/virtual.html

I'm thinking that the Silver Web Plan would be good to start with. That's a LOT of storage and bandwidth, and it would easily accomodate thousands of unique visitors per day. I'm happy to donate the first year of hosting at Canaca if that is okay with everyone else.

I feel that the magazine should be hosted on its own domain on its own server. Using a free service is nice, but it doesn't look or feel professional.

Looking forward to everyone else's thoughts...
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Eclectic

I've taken a look at most of the Online Magazines listed on the sidebar. I also noticed that Salon.com was not there. I once paid for a "premium membership" at Salon because they had some articles I really wanted to read.

Although Salon.com has an obvious left wing slant to it (slant is probably not the word), there is some other great content. Book reviews, art reviews, and general "life" stories. I'm not so sure JC would want a section on sex in the Urban Conservative or whatever it's name will be, but on the other hand, why not? It seems to me that this is one thing that left wing types of mags and ezines have done very well - they've got a wide variety of content that appeals to a wide variety of people, and of course their major political viewpoint pieces as well.

Not all of us are experts on anything to do with foreign or economic policy. We can recognize what's wrong with such policy, but some of us would do a lousy job of bringing Von Mises to the masses. Some might do a great job, as well. And as Bob points out, as much as we're interested in foriegn and economic policy, we also read general fiction, engage in interests such as photography, fly fishing, sampling beer from around the world, and maybe there's even a pipe smoker still amongst us.

That can all make for great content along with the pieces on policy. Such content will provide a wider readership and in doing so, introduce many people to conservative/libertarian thought that otherwise, would never really know much about it.

Anyhow, that's my 2 cents first thing in the morning.
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Canada or the Anglosphere or the World?

The first question I would like to pose about an urban conservative magazine is "target audience". Who do we want to read this mag?

Much as debates about 2 tier health care and asymetrical federalism are fun - they are, one must admit, less than riveting for people unblessed with Ralph, Smilin' Jack and the NDP and POGG. Yes, there is a bigger world out there and there are urban conservatives trapped in the Republican Party, the Tory Party in England, the EU and Asia.

So, should we look past the 3 sea Dominion? I think we should. But I am also aware that funding, advertising dollars and support are easier to garner on a national basis. Comments? more?

This Time We Need T-Shirts

Hey all, and thanks, Jay, for inviting me: much appreciated and happy to be here. In reading the posts so far, I'd like to propose something which may go a ways to avoiding the potential problem of paralysis (howzat for alliteration?): let's not discuss what we "are", let's just do it. If we spend too much time trying to figure out where we fit in the taxonomy ("This is gonna be a fiscalconservativesocialliberal"eagle""hawk"classicalliberal nonidiotarianbutnottoo"liberal" liberalknowwhatImean?-type magazine"), we might just tie ourselves in knots and never actually get around to, you know, actually being. I call it the "mission statement" disease: don't create a nice memo setting out what you're all about, just be about it.

I think most of the names I've seen so far involved with this project share a certain sensibility which we can draw on to organically create something which appeals to the readers we want to attract (who, after all, are likely to be a lot like us). Which is a long way of saying: let's talk about some ideas for articles we'd like to read. What do we want to see in the Urban(e) Conservative?

Here's a few things I'd like to see: stories about visible minority conservatives; interviews with any of (a) Stephen Harper, (b) Conrad Black, (c) Canadian bloggers, (d) Linda McQuaig, (e) Naomi Klein, and (f) Niall Ferguson; the proportional representation movement in Canada; efforts to introduce vested property rights in under-developed economies; the history of revolution and conservatism in Mexico; a review of the Star Wars DVD set; a survey of political conservatives in American popular music.
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A great opportunity, and thanks

My thanks are owed to Jay Currie for both the conception of this project, and the invitation to participate. I'm very excited to be a part of what I think will be Canada's first "conservative" web magazine.

In fact, it will be one of the first "conservative" magazines in Canada in any modality, paper or web, and I believe one of only three currently being published: after Western Standard and of course Fraser Forum, I think we'd be the bronze medalist.

I share some of the obsessive concern about my own political label which others have expressed below. Broadly speaking, I am a right-winger and a conservative. Narrowly defined, I am a libertarian with (as I have recently discovered) Jacksonian foreign-policy overtones. I suspect these distinctions matter more to those of us inside the tent, as it were, but they are real nonetheless. Still, I don't spend a great deal of time trying to differentiate between the hard-left and the soft-left, the enviro-whackjobs and the soft-power-sycophants, the union muscle and the trotskyite professoriate--they're all just "the lefties" to me. So perhaps I shouldn't get my knickers all a-twist about exactly which flavour of freedom ice cream we're trying to sell here. It's all good, baby.

I think this is going to be an exciting and enjoyable chance to share our passion for ideas and for liberty with a broad Canadian (and international?) audience. Well done, Jay. I hope my Urban Conservative peers don't mind my continued anonymity: if I were a socialist, I would not have any concern for my employment in a Canadian medical environment... but I am a conservative, and as the recent experience at Concordia University makes plain, freedom-of-speech is truly a one-way street in our native land.

Maybe the Urban Conservative can be a part of changing that. But we've got to get a better name!! :-)
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An urban classical liberal?

I will second Ian's post -- I find myself in some pretty distinguished company here.

I think that it is very characteristic of the type of mindset that is aimed at here, that people have immediately started to distinguish themselves in little ways: one gent says rural libertarian, another mentions Andrew Sullivan's Eagles, and yet another starts with "the neo-conservatism that dare not speak its name." Everyone hates being put in a box -- unless it's a specially designed one.

I'd call myself an urban classical liberal, actually. With neo-conservative leanings on foreign policy (or democratic globalist, if you go by the labels in Krauthammer's lecture).

Yet there are some common threads, I think: a respect for individual autonomy both inside and outside of the home, a belief that it is a cruel world out there & so our foreign policy must be strong and principled, and a desire not to let our (often very admirable) history slip through our fingers.

Perhaps the biggest part of getting a project like this going is the simple act of getting interested (and interesting!) people together and seeing what the heck they do with themselves?

***

Oh, and one of the most important things -- which is definitely not represented in this post -- is the intellectual playfulness that shows through in the writings of most of the people I see on the sidebar right now. Because, darn it all, as deadly earnest as many get while writing about important events and ideas, people can (and do) have fun with it. That's how people end up dressing like nineteenth century aristocrats, reading Wodehouse, and watching South Park. Or joining the Protest Warriors.

***

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see what direction this takes. And I'll be glad to be along for the ride.
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Housekeeping I

I put up links to a few online mags. Take a look. Each is an interesting variant on the idea of an internet mag and I think each has a good deal going for it. Folks who understand things like Linux servers, PHP and the like may want to look at the code. Right now it is more or less a matter of having a frame of reference.

If you know of any very cool web mags - not necessarily political - post them to comments on this post and I'll put them up. more?

Kudos And Thanks To JC

Kudos to JC for getting the ball rolling! And my humble thanks for including me in such esteemed company of thinkers and writers. As far as talents and abilities in prose, folk such as Currie, The Flea, and Sean McCormick far outdo me.

At first, I was a bit hesitant to participate in something called the "Urban Conservative" because, if labels are needed, it would be more truthful to label me a "rural libertarian." In that sense, I may be a bit of an oddball in the collection of great thinkers that will contribute here. On the other hand, I most certainly share similar values and beliefs regarding economic policy - even though on foriegn policy we may sharply differ at times.

One thing we probably all agree on - Governments have far too much power over individuals and sadly we are watching the erosion of individual liberty through economic policy - and I'd even suggest through our governments' foreign policies as well.

I'm looking forward to participating, and hope I won't feel too intimidated by the great individuals that Jay has invited to participate here.

So here's to Urban Conservativism meeting Rural Libertarianism with the hopeful results of strengthening those ties that bind us while learning from some of our differences as well. In the end though, may we all agree: Back Off Government!


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Initial Thoughts

What follows are excerpts from my initial e-mails to Jay after I read about this project.

4 October 2004

As one who considers himself an urban conservative and has used the phrase to try and explain my political thinking colour me intrigued.

Advancing the cause of the urban conservative won't happen simply by passing resolutions at riding meetings and hoping they make it to a convention floor somewhere. Urban conservatism is as much about culture, I think, as it is about politics.

Andrew Sullivan used to talk about "eagles" in the states - those who are hawkish on foreign policy and progressive on social issues.

I believe there is a similar phenomenon in our own country only it involves a split more along the "economic/social" divide.

Having worked for the Conservative candidate in Trinity-Spadina in the past federal election I believe there is a potential for conservatism in urban centres that isn't reflected in the election results. The poor showing is because the Conservative choice has effectively been branded as a group of troglodytes who are out of touch with urban concerns. To a degree this is true, but there are pockets of us "UCs" who need a more cohesive way to get our ideas across than sitting around committee rooms bemoaning damage done by "non-urban" conservatives.

In my next e-mail from 9 October 2004 I responded to some of Jay's questions about what the magazine might look like.

I would think that the focus should be on Canada, her provinces, and her cities but with an eye on the world. Let's take those global trends and ideas and apply them to the Canadian context. Are they doing something particulary cool in Australia? Let's write about it. Elections in Afghanistan? Let's write about it. Is there a hip, urban conservative candidate running somewhere in Ontario? Let's write about them.

At whom do we shoot? Centre, Left and Right, I'd say. In order to keep from getting side-lined as just another "conservative" media start-up we would need to establish our credentials as "non-trogs" pretty forcefully. The way to do that is to take on the Cheryl Gallants and Rob Merrifields of the world as well as the usual targets on the left.

At the same time, by identifying as urban conservatives I think we make stronger the argument that the old labels of "left-right" don't really apply anymore.

We could have articles in one issue that would deal with tax-cuts (for the middle/lower classes but not the upper class), argue that police should have the ability to get the homeless off the street if they are in danger, have a point-counterpoint on why/why not Canada should be in Iraq, a follow-up to the Atlantic's recent article on the Bush admin's policy on homelessness, an review of architecture in Regina, a story about the nightlife in Whitehorse, and online dating in Halifax.

The goal of all this being that we're able to get the message across that there are hip conservatives out there who don't fit the caricature drawn by the left.

Doing only a daily blog wouldn't separate us very much from what's already out there in terms of daily blogs. However, doing a weekly or bi-weekly that contained more in-depth articles (maybe for subscription) with a non-sub daily blog component might be the way to go. Take a look at rabble.ca, Judy Rebick's project. In terms of the way it's laid out it's not bad. Discussion boards, advice column (which I'm totally addicted to), and columns.

As far as driving traffic I'm sure we'd get a fair bit of plugging from our friends in the blogosphere. We could take out blog-ads. There are "Web Directory" sections in the classifieds in eye and Now; I'm sure they'll be in the other weeklies across the country. And there's always postering that can be done on city streets. Press releases and what not can also be effective. With an interesting hook the media will be all over us. more?

Round I of invites out

I have sent out a dozen invitations to join this blog and will be sending more. If you feel you have something to contribute please email me.

As well, I am looking for input on people outside Canada. Ideally under appreciated small "l" liberal bloggers and writers who you like to read. We all know who the "A" list are - I am looking for people who write as well or better than the A-listers.

In particular, this being the world wide web, I'd like to spot people in the EU/Asia/the Middle East and Africa. more?

The neoconservatism that dare not speak its name

Testify!

Fiscal and foreign policy conservatives need a Canadian venue. The neoconservatism that dare not speak its name? Think tank meets agenda-setter meets rallying cry. Also, I need a paying market/editorial gig. Big time.

And I am in complete agreement vis a vis hidden agendas. I have come to respect some of the socons of the Canadian blogosphere and am beginning to think they are right to be worried about the prospect of censorship of religious ideas. That said, there is a nasty fixation on other people's sex lives that I cannot support and which I regard to be as dangerous a distraction from the GWOT as anything our Liberal overlords are doing.

There is a longing for something along these lines... A couple Red Ensign Bloggers have suggested something similar. We have more than enough talent and we have a pent-up market for our ideas that must number in the millions. Thanks for getting the ball rolling, Jay.
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The Conservative Habit of Mind

[Note: This has been posted at my Long Posts site but if you have not read it it is a good place to get an idea of my own habit of mind.]

Adam Daifallah’s recent article on the need to create a conservative infrastructure in Canada begged the one critical question: why? Certainly not to win elections. Winning elections is about selling the products of that infrastructure – advertising and marketing rather than policy prescriptions.

Amidst the attractive visions of think tanks and journals, policy institutes and conventions, the question of what exactly is being created is easy to lose. Is it a more successful Conservative Party? A better government for Canada? Yet another re-definition of conservatism in Canada?

The bankrupcy of the conservative idea in Canada – after the assorted mergers and acquisitions of the last couple of decades – can no longer be concealed from Canadians or the Conservative Party itself. Harper’s campaign inspired as much fear as support. Canadians suspected, rightly in my view, the Conservative Party had a “hidden agenda”. They recognized the brand new party’s platform was missing more than a few planks. Canadians also recognized the platform had no decernable philosophical foundation voters could use to make educated guesses about the missing policy.

Daifallah’s infrastructure would address the policy gaps and cobbling together platforms to meet the challenges of the 21st century. However, policy wonkery is essentially a value free enterprise. Faced with providing medical care, education or a military there are a variety of solutions which bright lights with economics and law degrees can label “conservative”. But how to choose? Without a philosophical core, the choice becomes a matter of which policy alternative polls better and that’s largely a waste of time because the Liberals cornered the value-free policy market years ago.

Canadian conservatism – as opposed to Red Toryism – has yet to produce a coherent account of itself. Think tanks and policy conventions cannot give that account, they cannot define the cast of mind, the political style and the principles of Canadian conservatism.

Red Tories had the anti-technological, Catholic, utopian socialism of George Grant to use as a water and flour paste patching together their unlikely three way alliance between the decendents of United Empire Loyalists, Fine Old Ontario Families and Protestants in the Maritimes. Grant’s anti-capitalist message provided Red Tories with philosophical underpinnings. Not as a matter of policy prescription; rather as a flexible framework onto which to bolt various versions of the PC role of “official alternative to the Liberals”.

Today’s Conservatives, a generation removed from Grant – (who has found his natural home as a favorite philosopher of the anti-globalism brigade) – and are bereft of a similarily Canadian political philospher to draw on. While the libertarian wing can cite Hayak and von Mises and the socons everything from the Bible to the tabletalk of Ronald Reagan, none of these offer a particularily Canadian understanding of conservatism.

Conjuring up a political philosopher to order is impossible, so Canadian conservatives will have to rely on an even more basic resource: the cultivation of a conservative habit of mind.

Conservatives and what have come to be called classical liberals begin with a tradition of tremedous humilty in the face of human folly, their own and others’. They are blessed with an almost limitless scepticism about personal perfectibility much less the perfectibility of the people around them.

With luck a conservative will have learned the personal habits of generousity, forgiveness and respect and the virtues of politeness, graciousness and modesty. Experience should have taught them to value learning, to recognize reason, to look for facts before making arguments and to honour language as the only bridge we have to each other.

These traits, if practiced carefully and constantly, open the possibility of a politics which is profoundly engaged with the human spirit and the human capacity for ganuine innovation, ingenuity and perserverance. This politics has only the most tenous connection to the rough and tumble of electoral politics. A conservative’s politics are, ideally, embedded in his or her daily life. Participation in formal political world becomes a reluctant extension of this personal world and the idea of a conservative “professional” politician is antithetical to the conservative habit of mind.

For a conservative the personal, familial and communal are vitally important. Important enough for conservatives to prefer the particular over the general, the local over the national or the international, and the concrete facts of daily life over the abstractions of theory.

Politically these very basic mental traits translate to two core principles. First, the desire to have larger units exercise as little power over smaller as possible. Second, a belief in the organic evolution of a culture and society. The modern obsession with the big, the new, the fresh and the revolutionary, worries conservatives mindful of the unintended consequences and outright disasters which have characterized so many innovations in the political world.

The last three hundred years have not been kind to the conservative cast of mind: huge, anonomous, nation states arose, governments began to pursue ameliorist agendas, information became systematized, citizens became statistics. Entire classes of people have taken up the helping professions, mass education and bureaucracy in all its forms. The profound belief in the perfectability of human societies, if not actual humans, became a growth industry in the 1850’s and never looked back. Missionary zeal, suitably repackaged in a politically correct, multi-culturally sensitive box, remains the theoretical underpining of the Liberal Party in Canada and church basement strategy of its hyperactive little brother, the NDP.

From economics to healthcare to education and the law, the essentially immodest, empirically empty ideas of the “just”, the “well”, the “fair” society have been sold to the increasingly gulible public. With the extension of the franchise, the hollowing out of the public education system, the replacement of print culture with mass entertainment we have lost the ability to actually explain why while each of these “societies” was wonderful in theory and unattainable in practice.

Conservatives had to wait for the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the rise of the dollar economy in China and the failure of every socialist inspired state in Africa to make their point. In the West they are waiting for the coming bankruptcy of France and Germany and the failure of limitlessly funded healthcare, public education and the social safety net in countries as diverse as Sweden, Britian and Canada to confirm the laws of economic gravity once again.

The mental habit most important to a conservative is empiricism. The capacity to see the world without hopeful or pessimistic illusion. It is the precise opposite of the idealism which drives the Liberal and socialist minds. Conservatives do not believe in magic beans, fairy godmothers or regional economic development programs. Experience has proven each to be in the realm of fable rather than fact.

Humility, skepticism about the perfectibility of society and people, respect for language and reason, modesty, politeness, generosity, valuing the particular above the general, empiricism: not one of these habits of mind needs an institute or a magazine or even an endowed chair at a prestigious university. Not one of them offends any religious, racial or cultural sensibility. Yet these simple traits of the conservative mind offer a full tool box for assessing the policy and politics offered up by the wonks in Dallifalah’s think tanks.

One of the worst consequences of the Conservative’s reflexive “me-tooism” with respect to the Liberals is its requirement that conservatives accept the philosophically barren calculus of political victory which has powered the Liberal Party since the second Trudeau election. This dooms the party to the role of echo and last resort when the electorate believes Liberals are in need of a short rest from governing. It’s a recipe for tinkering, value free wonkery and polling for policy which has already been perfected by the Liberal establishment.

For the Conservative party to do well a steady, patient effort to create and encourage conservative minds and conservative habits of thought needs to begin in Canada. From that movement there will almost certainly emerge the political theoreticians and, with luck, philosophers, who will provide the analysis and the reflections which will, in their turn, allow the Conservative Party to create and be proud of a real and unhidden, conservative agenda for Canada.

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A Net Driven Magazine

Right, I thought I might set up a webpage for "The Urban Conservative" [name to be changed shortly; but rather than that I figured a blog is more in keeping.

I am going to manage this as a group blog. I will be sending invitations out shortly. However, if you are interested in discussing what a non-trog mag would look like send me an email and you're on the list.

More to follow. more?