Nor is it confined to the U.S. Last December I wrote here about Tony Abbott, the “Mad Monk” who’d gone from Catholic seminary school to a Rhodes Scholarship to the top spot in Australia’s conservative coalition. Seasoned observers of Australian politics hurried to assure me there was no way a right-wing whack job like Abbott could win an election. Which was true, technically. All he managed to do on Aug. 21 was tie with Labor. “At the cultural level, there is a gulf between middle Australia and an educated elite concentrated in inner-urban areas who hold values at odds with one another,” an editorial in the Australian said last week. “Middle Australia is more socially conservative, comfortable with religion, patriotic and sports-loving; while the inner-urban group is progressive, secular and likely to mock suburban Australia.”
Of the secular, mocking urbanites, the Australian noted that “the political class, particularly Labor, is dominated by this group and the ABC”—Australia’s equivalent of the CBC—“broadcasts to them. The Canberra press gallery is part of this culture, explaining why so many journalists could believe for so long that Mr. Abbott was unelectable.”
This might be the moment to point out that the Australian is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News, which makes him Glenn Beck’s boss, too.
Of course Canada’s own political debate has been framed in similar terms at least since Stephen Harper became leader of the new Conservative party in 2004. More than any Conservative leader since Diefenbaker, Harper has worked to pull our politics onto the treacherous but potentially highly rewarding terrain of culture, patriotism and religion. Who believes Christianity is an endangered religion in Canada, or that there is not enough appreciation for our veterans? Enough people to give the Harper Conservatives a tenacious voter base is who.
The historical moment that most resembles the current one is the 1960s, when social change and national-security tension provided the setting for acrimony that seemed insurmountable. In his 2008 book Nixonland, author Rick Perlstein pointed out that during that period, America went from the biggest Democratic landslide in presidential election history, for Lyndon Johnson in 1964, to the largest Republican landslide, for Richard Nixon in 1972.
Throughout that period, writes Perlstein, “America was engulfed in a pitched battle between the forces of darkness and the forces of light. The only thing was: Americans disagreed radically over which side was which.”
And so it is today in our own politics. Whether it’s the long-form census, the long-gun registry, criminal justice or Canada’s role in the Middle East, our politics has become nasty and hotly accusatory. One noteworthy feature of the acrimony is that each side blames the other for all the ugliness. Another is that, thanks to websites and broadcasts that preach to the converted with pinpoint accuracy (Huffington Post, Beck’s The Blaze), the possibility of consensus collapses further because neither side even hears what the other is talking about.
This is useful to Harper and disorienting to the federal Liberals. The Prime Minister is content with a polarized debate, first because it suits his personality, but also because the Conservatives get all of one side and the Liberals have to fight the Bloc and the NDP for the rest. The Liberals, meanwhile, still hope to straddle a centre that’s increasingly hard even to find.
Meanwhile, all the sniping turns off legions of potential voters: turnout is near historic lows in both Canadian and U.S. elections. (Turnout’s still fine in Australia, where voting is mandatory.)
One more feature of the new landscape: because the new conservatism is resolutely populist and frankly doesn’t seriously care about fiscal balance, it risks running some surprising characters offside.
Take Conrad Black. When he launched the National Post in 1998, Black saw himself as the finest example of well-earned elitism in battle against “envy,” which he defined as jealous carping by people who had not earned their bragging rights. But Stephen Harper has reversed the polarity of Canadian conservatism: envy is in now. Elites are the enemy. Black, fresh from his detour through the correctional system, struggles to find his bearings. “It is a howling mystery to me why the Harper government is seeing to placate the reactionary end of the law and order vote,” Black writes. You and me both, boss. Welcome back to the urban elites.
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