Thank you for personally responding to my email. Sorry about my delayed response, I actually got your e-mail the day I left for my vacation. I've spent the last 14 days travelling around the country. It was my first time seeing the Prairies and the Rockies and all I can say is: wow - we live on a vast, beautiful planet. Since I hitchhiked for most of my trip, I met a lot of interesting Canadians with a variety of opinions.
One day I was in a car with a 28-year-old Marxist that hated the oil sands. A few hours later I was picked up by a Albertan businessman that tried to convince me to leave Ontario to come work in Alberta. On my way back through the province I got a ride with a genuine entrepreneur in the energy industry. He ran his own business servicing pumps, pipes and other drilling accessories.
In Vancouver I went into a marijuana bar. It was the most peaceful bar I had ever visited. I met an older man in Saskatchewan that had voted for nearly every party at least once. In Canmore I met 30-something nurse that didn't agree with everything Ron Paul said but agreed with a lot. More than he possibly realized. Outside of Kelowna I met a University grad that was visiting her family. She teaches overseas; she has no intention of working in Canada and its got nothing to do with the weather. In Winnipeg I had a beer with an old high school friend, he considered himself a "Leftist." I discovered that "Leftists" and libertarians/classical liberals have much in common.
The reason I'm telling you all this is because of what you wrote. You're absolutely right about how the Liberals have moved to the right on social issues and to the left on economic issues and how that's the complete opposite way most Canadians want to go. From my experience, what Canadians seem to have in common is that they're to the left on social issues and to the right on economic issues.
Obviously this isn't uniform and everybody has their own ideas and beliefs. But the central theme is there. Even with the Marxist, she didn't like the idea of private property but there she was driving a privately-owned car. The Leftist denounced capitalism, but he also denounced the state. I think people are beginning to understand that being "on the right" of economic issues is merely just an extension of being "on the left" of social issues. It is the only consistent position to take: treat others as you'd like to be treated and to each his own.
Basic stuff.
I hope this e-mail reaffirms some of your beliefs that Canadians can't be categorized as exclusively "left" or "right" anymore. It may interest you to know that everyone I met agreed on the same issue: the USA is becoming a police state and is heading for economic disaster. If any Canadian politician publicly announced this I'm sure they'd be kicked out of their Party and ridiculed in the mainstream media. But individual Canadians know better; political correctness only happens on TV.
Thanks again for responding. As far as supporting and volunteering for your potential leadership campaign: I don't want to jump the gun just yet. My biggest issue is monetary policy. The Bank of Canada is a secretive institution headed by a former Goldman Sachs associate (conflict of interest, anyone?) The Keynesian School of economics is a half-baked economic theory that has no credibility (see: http://mises.org/daily/5765/ or http://mises.org/daily/5595/). I don't expect you to come out swinging for the Austrian School, but I certainly can't support anyone who still accepts going into debt as a cure to being in debt. Sorry if that makes me sound like an ass, but it's kind of obvious.
Thanks again,
-Caleb
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