I Need Your Help...

Dated Sat. January 7, 2012: The results are in - from here on in - just call me a 'Compassionate Libertarian' G.


But First -

Only a few contacted me to encourage me to continue with my regular Blogging.

Ergo, I will now move to infrequent writing.

But before I 'write off into the sunset'... I need your help.

From the outset, I have felt rather smug in my Libertarian Cloak - even most recently poking fun at the names of the three major parties in Canada - ie that their names do not reflect their true identities.

So in that context, I did some more research in regard to the word 'Libertarian' and here is what I discovered.

Wikipedia defines a Libertarian generally as one that considers "liberty (t0 be) the moral principle of Society. In the broadest sense (it) advocates strict limits to government activity and sharing the goal of maximizing individual liberty and political freedom".

If my research had ended there - I would have continued to remain smug....however...

Further reading found that there is a broad spectrum to be found under the Libertarian Umbrella ranging from out and out Anarchists, including those who would have the poor and disadvantaged fend for themselves, to economic philosophers such as Libertarian Guru Milton Friedman who called for a negative income tax - otherwise known as a guaranteed income for those without.

No wonder then when I mention to some folks that I am a Libertarian, they physically recoil.

For me, I believe that I am a Libertarian as described in Wikipedia. I am also a firm believer that the poor and the poor disabled are in need of society's financial assistance.

So how do I describe myself? A Conscience Libertarian?

Here then is where I need your help.

I would welcome your ideas of what to name Libertarians without including the weird and wacky.

In the meantime, I might find myself joining the New Liberal Party which is currently under development.

Articles today by two of its candidates for Party President - one the ubiquitous Sheila Copps - call for their New Party to use modern media - face book, tweeting and the like to tap into the 'grass roots' of society. It would be "bottom up democracy" rather than the top down models we have endured for far too long.

And this you will recall, is exactly what I called for in my recent Blog.

The problem of course is that with Power - it corrupts absolutely and given that, it is difficult for the leadership of any party to share power - even with the 'grass roots'. The Reform Party is the most recent example of how principle and practice struggle to co-exist.

So before I am forced to take out a Liberal Membership, I need your help in coming up with a descriptive of 'Libertarian' that best defines me and like minded persons.

As I see it...

'K. D. Bell'

We are in Desparate Need of ...

New Labels for our Political Parties.

But first:

I think I am coming to the end of my prolific phase of doing Blogs. Simply stated, feedback is becoming less and less so I am assuming fewer are reading my Blogs.

I started my Blogging with a main purpose in mind - to provide my children and grandchildren with a view counter to what they were receiving in their schools and by way of the liberal media.

Whether I have been successful in that - I simply do not know.

What I do know though, is that I did my best and my conscience is clear.

I also like to write, I did enjoy the phase.

And I especially liked to write about how things 'have changed since the 1960s'. Nowhere is the change more evident than in the area of religion.

In 1962 a self styled evangelist by the name of Templeton wrote a book entitled The Comfortable Pew. The book savaged the established Church and correctly predicted its coming decline in Society.

We see today that he was a visionary, with half empty churches while Malls are bursting at their seams - particularly on the Sabbath. These Malls have become Society's New Temples of Worship.

Anyway, I have said what I wanted to say in this regard and am now planning to dramatically reduce my production.

But two more immediate topics.

In the first, I want to deal with the nomenclature for our main Political Parties in Canada, to be followed next time with a Blog on what I see Libertarianism to be - for me.

The Names of our Three Main Parties:

Need to be changed since they tell you nothing about the Party itself.

Taking the New Democratic Party first. It certainly no longer is new and to say it is Democratic is to say the obvious in a democratic system. That leaves the word Party which too is in doubt given that it really is Two Parties - one for the Rest of Canada and one for the separatist leaning former Bloc Quecbers.

So 'New Democratic Party' must go.

I suggest it be replaced by the 'Big Union Party in support of Rich and Pampered Employees in both the Public and Private Sectors' (the 'BUPisoRaPEibtPaPS'). Admittedly a mouthful but it much better describes this Party.

And the Liberals. They can and should be renamed to the 'Party that Stands for Anything and Everything that may Lead to Power' (PtSfAaEtmLtP).

And then the Tories. Their name should be changed to the 'Party that Almost Stands for Anything and Everything that may Lead to Power' (PtASfAaEtmLtP).

Let's take debt / deficits as an example.

In the mid 90s the Liberals under PM Chretien / Finance Min Martin - disposed of the massive deficit left them by Conservative Mulroney. Today, Tory Harper has given us the biggest deficit in Canadian History.

All to say, current names Conservative / Progressive Conservative / and Liberal - do not begin to describe what the poor voter is voting for.

Once again we need a new party - like the Reform Party of before but one, unlike the olde Reform Party, that is serious about giving the voter a marked choice.

This, plus the new descriptive names for the 'other three parties', will enable the voter to make an informed decision.

So Galagher - what do you propose we call this new party?

The Grass Roots Platform Party - GRPP.

As I see it ...

'K. D. Galagher'