LibertasPost

A couple of articles ago, I talked a little about former Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier and his maverick approach to Conservative politics in this country—an approach that actually represents what are, really, basic, small-c conservative principles.

Don't me wrong: I love mavericks. But now it's time for me to denounce them.

You see, the problem with mavericks these days is that they shouldn't exist. From Bernier to Sarah Palin, grassroots conservatives are latching onto certain figures as saviours—figures who, while they might be members of good standing in the conservative community, should not be as prominent as they are.

I won't go after Sarah Palin too much, because she serves a good purpose in her own way. But her status as a conservative idol is really due to the ideological contortions of the GOP. Not in the sense that she's a Republican shill but in the sense that the GOP has moved too far left for its own good—why vote for Democrat-lite, after all, when you can have the real deal?

Many members of the GOP base understand this and don't like it. They didn't like John McCain as a presidential nominee because he was, by all rights, a 'maverick' in the sense that he was a squish.

They’re even unhappier with the Republican Party, deservedly or not, for being largely helpless in the face of a hit-and-miss bout of Hope and Change.

Into this maelstrom comes Sarah Palin. She says conservative-type things about conservative-type issues. She has at least a seeming modicum of integrity. Most importantly, she has developed her skills at interacting with press and public to the point where she has attracted a cult-like following of unhappy conservatives who bask in her glow.

Hey, different strokes for different folks. But it seems to me that if there were more people within the Republican Party and the conservative movement in the United States saying the same things as Palin, she wouldn’t be nearly as famous as she is right now.

It's not that I don't like Palin—I just think that in a better world she would be irrelevant.

My feelings toward Bernier are largely the same. I identify more with his politics than with Palin's (I can be a strange conservative animal, I admit), but again, by all rights Maxime should be one amongst many.

Instead, he stands out for being one of the few within the Conservative Party establishment who actually sounds like a conservative on a host of issues. For this he gets a following, and good on him for it. Rock on, I say. But it doesn't change the fact that in a better world with a better conservative political establishment, he would be nowhere near as prominent. In other words, I like him, but I wish conditions were such that instead of being a maverick, he was part of a majority.

Ah well. It isn't a better world and the conservative political establishment is what it is.
We'll just have to live with that for now. Until that wonderful new world comes along, we'll have to make do with the people that we've got, including our mavericks. It's better than nothing. But after a while, one gets tired of having to accept better than nothing. Surely a time will come when a conservative political party emerges that actually reflects the views of its base? And follows through on those views if and when it wins office?

I wait with baited breath.

Any comments, hate mail, or love notes? Drop me a line or four at dresdenmorrow@gmail.com, or give me grief on Twitter @wmorrow1.