The right wing is unfit to govern

By Letter to the Editor on February 4, 2021.

Editor:
A recent Newsweek article reports that since January 6th, 30,000 registered Republicans have officially left the GOP. Since the “Tea Party” movement of 2009, the grand, old party of Lincoln that once embodied American exceptionalism and the American dream has basically devolved into a neoliberal cult pursuing total freedom and power at any cost.
Although there is now widespread agreement that it, and the right wing generally, has lost its mind, all this anger and division has been very strategically cultivated, and deliberately stoked. Ultimately, thanks to rampant misinformation, the internet, and Trump, uptake has been exponential, resulting in the full manifestation of the “alt-right.”
The resulting era of “post-truth” and “fake news” has stuck what’s left of civilized society, i.e. the political left wing, with an unprecedented challenge — how to somehow “de-program” millions.
Despite it being a Canadian pastime to eschew over-the-top Americanism, we have our own burgeoning version of the “alt-right.”
The “Proud Boys” originated here, as do other dangerous factions exclusive to the right wing.
I hear conservatives saying “yeah, but those people aren’t real conservatives,” like RINOs, Republicans in name only. Many of those 30,000 probably claim that “their party left them; they didn’t leave IT,” but political groupings are naturally dynamic; where are all the “progressive” conservatives from that old party? Permanently superseded by the Reform Party that introduced us to “bozo eruptions” that continue apace.
Such are the inherent limitations of so personally identifying with any one party, creed, doctrine, or cult (of personality or otherwise.)
I see Jason Kenney being called “Premier Jason Trump” and rightly so; the UCP’s divisive tactics are indistinguishable from Republicans’ — reviling Trudeau, “elites” and “lame stream” media, revering free markets (except for fossil fuels); denigration of government despite ever more complex populations facing neoliberalism’s consequences — growing inequality and existential crises like climate change, but still consistently cutting revenue for any social spending, even education, cornerstone of democracy.
Two further examples: Alberta’s agriculture minister campaigned for Trump in 2016, and O’Toole’s digital campaign manager founded “Ontario Proud.”
My point?
The right wing has simply become unfit for modern governance.
Patricia Pargeter
Lethbridge