Monday, September 30, 2013

To all my BC Conservative friends ... and in particular Dan Brooks and Rick Peterson ... "Pursue your goal. Opinions be damned.”

Last Friday (September 27th) I happened across the North Shore News editorial entitled "Off to the races", which began by asking the question: 

"Can anyone recall a time when we were not in the midst of political party leadership race?  "

In the editorial comment they all but wrote off the 'leadership contests of the BC Conservatives and Greens' ... basically saying that even if you knew they were having a leadership contest, who would really care. 

At the same time however they did not have much complimentary to say about the Liberals or NDP:



Every time, we get the same commentary about the identity crisis the party must have in order to begin anew. Should they focus on their core principles? Or should they branch out to bring more people into the tent? 
 
In the NDP's case, it didn't seem to matter. Dix came in as a leader criticized for being too much of an old-guard, partisan ideologue and went down as a leader who wouldn't fight hard enough win the election. 
 
No matter who emerges as the new leader, a few things won't change.


Shall I complain?  Well to paraphrase the North Shore News, who would really care.  But then again, who should really care what they have to say?

SOME in the media, in my personal opinion, take the easy way out.  They rely on government, or political party media releases to get information needed for the news they present, and they don't dig very deep because that would take some effort and time.  Given the fact that media everywhere have chopped newsroom staff and budgets, that becomes difficult. 

So, let me say this ...  there are difference between parties, and therefore there is reason to pay attention to leadership races.  NOT just to see who is running, but why they are running. 

Every British Columbian -- and people involved in presenting the news -- should make some effort to find out what each political party stands for; not just the policies they say they champion, but also the principles that guide them. 

As a BC Conservative, I believe there is good reason see what both Dan Brooks and Rick Peterson will present as their vision for the party -- AND see how that lines up with our beliefs and principles.

IT DOES MATTER!  


I should ... and do ... care.

At the same time, and again this is my personal opinion, I believe the BC Liberals and the NDP have relied more on who they think will look best and sound best for the media to quote.  I don't blame them for doing that, because that's what will often get the air time and column inches.

It is however a sad commentary of how we get our political information, and the substance of it though. 

A quote I was looking for, to use, is actually a bit on the crude side, so instead today I'll end my own opinion piece today by presenting this quote from Nassim Nicholas Taleb: 

When you develop your opinions on the basis of weak evidence, you will have difficulty interpreting subsequent information that contradicts these opinions, even if this new information is obviously more accurate” 

Or better yet, to all my BC Conservative friends ... and in particular Dan Brooks and Rick Peterson ... "Pursue your goal. Opinions be damned.” 

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops, with the thoughts of one conservative.

No comments: