He has managed to make getting involved in a political party at the grassroots level the hottest ticket in town, empowering his listeners to become influential political operatives.
The thing is, this only works if the *only* people willing to participate in democracy are extremist. In other words, it's not that Bannon's crew is taking over -- it's that everyone else is willing to let them speak on their behalf. Participation isn't a bug. It's a feature!
The solution is for more people to participate in the political process, even if that just means asking questions and holding officials and leaders to account.
For example, it costs $15 to buy a CPC membership and help chose the party's next leader, which determines the choices will have in the next election. That's not an onerous task. How many centre-right leaning folks who bemoan the state of Canadian conservatism have signed up? I guess we'll soon find out!
Indeed. Having never joined any political party in my very long life, I did pay the fee and joined, so I could vote. Can I make a difference? Well, doing nothing ( when you are still able) promises a worse outcome. Just ask any of us who are children of WW2 vets.
I agree Mark, this is terrifying stuff. The quote below sums up the authoritarian dystopian vision perfectly. No imaging machines to count votes, mail in voting as a last resort! I have tended towards right of centre voting my whole life- but with this type of extremist talk and the exposed subversion of the “democratic process” being taken here in order to usurp our betters, let us flee into the arms of our respective establishment left leaning parties - if only to save democracy itself...
“America First Americans must take their political activities ‘into’ the Republican Party by becoming Precinct Committeemen and thereby transform the Party.” It also states the goal is “to have our state legislators pass election reform laws requiring all counties to stop using any kind of imaging machines for counting votes” and “making voting by mail the exception and not the rule.” The first step, according to the strategy, is “taking back the Republican Party from those running it now. And that means YOU becoming a precinct committeeman.”
The great thing about Canada is that there is no functional separation between the PCO (civil service) and the PMO - at least when Canada is controlled by our rightful Liberal rulers, and government hasn't been temporarily usurped by another party.
In those times, of course, the civil service functions as a resistance government until order is restored.
The most disturbing bit of this piece (I was already aware of what Bannon is up to) is that his podcast is #5 in Canada! Yikes! I subscribe to Paul Wells' substack and his last one ("Winning is easy. Governing is hard.") featured Poilievere's recent Youtube video on the Bank of Canada. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVJMTsfnTH0&t=1s&ab_channel=PierrePoilievre
Other than the bonuses these people are getting, which are obscene, his whole blaming the BoC for inflation is BS. Take a look at the comments. If they are not bots then we have a whole lotta MAGA-minded people here uncritically lapping up every word and PP is determined to use them just like Trump and Bannon do. Fortunately we have Elections Canada but we won't escape the backwash from the south and shouldn't be smug.
Printing money “Quantitative Easing”, and having that result in inflation should be surprising to no one- not least our leaders. They got away with it in 2008, but those circumstances were different. Inflation hit 6% + as well before oil prices spiked keep in mind. The BoC isn’t entirely to blame for certain, but they do have culpability here. Had they refused to continue to finance the Liberals insane spending spree after we had a clearer picture of the economic effects of covid policy in Winter of 2020 we would be sitting in a different situation right now.
Ms. Paradis, please clarify something for me. You say that thousands have jumped onto precinct committees.
Out of curiosity, I found this: "The 2020 survey by the United States Election Assistance Commission found a total of 176,933 precincts or precinct equivalents in the United States, of which 175,441 were in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia and 1,492 were in overseas U.S. territories."
So, even if your thousands come to, say, 20,000 ... doesn't this mean about one-tenth of a person per committee on average? Not so scary.
Thank you. I read with great skepticism because "taking over the United States" is a very, very large goal for one man. It's a third of a billion people, and they're very politically active and opinionated, these days.
And Bannon, of course, does not devote all of the cash donated to the Cause; as much as possible is diverted to Bannon and friends. Indeed, I would, as a first assumption, think that "taking over the Republican party", being wildly ambitious, is just another Bannon scam to part the gullible from their money.
Like the Convoy donations that never reached the guy buying the diesel.
I think the key is that thousands have already done this. Thousands more likely will as we get closer to election season in the U.S. But to your point, even if it’s just 20,000, that’s in addition to the existing Republicans already on those precinct committees. The whole idea is to add enough to tip the scales.
The most disturbing trend is state Republicans trying to give themselves the power to ignore the actual vote tally and declare the winners they want. It's hard to believe that a decent person would even contemplate that but Mr. Trump seems to have purged the party of decency. See the censuring of the R party worker in Arizona who stood fast against the pressure to cheat.
I think it would take a constitutional amendment to eliminate the Electoral College.
Sorry, but US democracy is finished. Biden's agenda will remain paralysed because after November, he won't have the 60 seats in the Senate needed to overcome the filibuster. So he'll get nothing done in the last 2 years either. Voting rights have already been compromised. SCOTUS will hear a case this fall that allows state governments to overrule the voters, and declare their own elctors....as Trump wanted to do in 2020. In 2024, it will be in place. Whomever the GOP candidate is will win; regardless of the popular vote. Minority Christian Fundamentalist rule will commence and democracy in the US dies. Too many states have already gerrymandered the vote so that the results are all but predetermined...which is what all votes in the US will be; ironically, a clone of Mother Russia.
I think (fear) that this is a possibility. But, I have a hard time imagining that a majority of Americans will just roll over and accept the dictates of a minority, folks who seem to be eager to use the government to intrude into the lives of all. When it starts impacting those folks directly -- either themselves or people they care about -- it seems like it will be hard to hold back the will of the people. Perhaps I'm being too optimistic, but one of the things that has protected demoncracy is that Americans, by and large, do not like governments telling them what to do!
I agree that I have a hard time with it. But with the gutting of the voting rights act, the laws put in place in GOP states to restrict voting, McConnell paralyzing the agenda, and the reality of the "not too bright American who votes republican because "ma Daddy was a republican"", and I can easily see them voting it away. The sea of media misinformation down there makes it pretty clear that a significant portion of the population don't understand what is at stake, and with such short term vision, and blaming Biden for all the challenges of today, they'll vote GOP because they're frustrated. That should push them over the edge. I really hope I'm wrong. And for the effect on Canada, I'm petrified that I'm right.
In that scenerio, do we end up with an influx of Americans who don't want to live under an increasingly "Christian authoritarian" government? If so -- how does that impact our relationship with the US? An influx of talent to Canada -- people seeking stability and a relatively open society -- could benefit us assuming we can manage the relationship with a destabalized neighbour (which, lets be clear, will be very, very challenging!)
I’m not sure a sizeable influx of Americans is such a great thing, especially since this country is not of the same political ilk as the US. A close friend took, he says, and I believe him, about 20 years before he really understood how this country works. He’s a physicist so not a dummy, just brought up to be ‘very American’.
Melanie, you imply a level of negative judgement about "the [Bannon-like] chaos" of joining Canadian Electoral District Associations to bring an "action orientation" to their boards. And you follow up with the notion that there is "nothing you can do to stop it".
Melanie, this service is plain, ordinary, healthy political involvement. Canada's lack of provincial and federal leadership skills is testamony to the sleepy, do nothing EDA boards of today. We should all be (at least in this case) Steve Bannon messangers.
I gather we're supposed to be alarmed by the developments Ms. Paradis describes; but the major premise underwriting her expectation--that Bannon isn't simply exercising his democratic right to change policies he doesn't like but desires "chaos" as the prerequisite for pulling off some kind of illegitimate "heist"--would be more persuasive if accompanied by at least some proof. Those for whom jumping to such conclusions about Bannon has become a reflex would be wise to ask themselves on what foundation their convictions rest. The picture of Bannon painted by institutional media? Trying to detail here the mountain of evidence why that might be fatal to the judgment would be tedious in the extreme--all I can say as a retired reference librarian is that those simply aren't trustworthy information sources.
In any event, there's no need to rely on them: listen to Bannon in his own words and make up your own mind what his aims and motives are. You may discover they add up to a more coherent and humane--and definitely more plausible--set of aspirations than the default assumption Ms. Paradis apparently attributes to her article's readers (she may be right, but that's not necessarily positive news for democracy, or for that matter for beneficial information diffusion):
Incidentally, it should go without saying that tampering with ballots isn't the sole way to steal an election: slanted news coverage is far more efficient and makes such tampering unnecessary. And there's nothing particularly nefarious about trying to influence public policy by means of grassroots organizing: leftist activists have been doing exactly that for decades. Bannon is probably right to warn that any attempt by conservatives to take a turn at bat risks provoking a hostile reaction from those accustomed to seeing only their own hitters march to the plate.
Excellent analysis/rebuttal Mark. Couldn’t agree more or have said it better. This article relies on more un-inspected presumptions of nefarious motivations and proffers them as fact - which the entire foundation of the article then rests upon. Steve Bannon = Evil. Grassroots democratic organization by “Bannonites” = dangerous takeover. I appreciate the link to his own words. Judge for yourselves people. This may just be a human being whose ideas you disagree with (or not) after all.
Thanks for the compliment, Christopher. You've put your finger on it: the default presumption seems to be that 'evil Steve Bannon' is a redundancy--i.e., we could substitute this phrase for 'Steve Bannon' in a sentence without changing that sentence's meaning.
The reality, of course, is that we'd be committing a logical equivocation... though we'd have plenty of company since surreptitiously substituting compromising words and phrases for innocuous ones, as if the different meanings actually were equivalent, is the very essence of political discourse these days.
P.S. The strategy is clever--your opponent isn't supplying you with legitimate targets to shoot at, so you manufacture some that are distortions of his views and demolish those instead--but it's also transparent. Surveys suggest few are actually persuaded by it: most people, even children, understand when someone is being treated unfairly and deliberately misunderstood.
This in turn suggests that those employing the strategy aren't really attempting to persuade; they're simply expressing their contempt for the intelligence of their opponents. Since both sides can play that game we end up with a so-called information commons in which mockery and insult are the goals, not genuine dialogue or information exchange. It's a charade which takes the form but lacks the substance of conversation.
Terry the Liberals have already been taken over by Trudeau sycophants and the looney left. It will be interesting to see how far to the centre the CPC will move in order to finally win an election.
It would be interesting to see how far to the centre the Cons are willing to go. So far it has not been very far at all. They sort of mumble and dip and look over their shoulders. That's if you can get them to answer the question in the first place. After PP finishes his song and dance I really hope they move more to the centre. I would love to hear some policies instead of bumper-stickers.
I think if the Liberals dump JT before the next election, they have a good chance at a majority. If they keep him, after 10 years, they risk the "Wynne treatment" where Canadians vote CPC simply to send the message regardless who the CPC leader is. Trudeau seems to be doing everything he can to create a Conservative landslide.
That’s an interesting take. This is a democracy. People vote for the party with the policies they wish to support. That the party chosen by the electorate then puts those policies into practice is expected. The fact that you don’t agree with these policies is your right. Maybe it would help if the party you would vote for had policies that reflect Canadians’ priorities.
At this point, I'd be happy to see anything that looks like a vision...from any of them. But I think the financial hole is so big that they no longer know what to do, and are paralysed by the reality that you can't get elected telling people the truth. Canadians have traditionally voted to get rid of governments....2025 is going to be interesting.
You need to do some basic research. The current disagreements over the soul of the CPC are BECAUSE of Mulroney. Mulroney is the epitome of the Laurentian class running everything for their benefit and treating the western Provinces as assets to raid. Sounds exactly like we have in a Justin Trudeau Government.
Easterners like to see themselves as the great moral conscience of the country, but the image of plunderers and going with the flow to retain power is appropriate.
So now you're blaming the Conseratives for COVID, the deficit, inflation, the passport mess, the armed forces mess, the RCMP mess, the EA invocation, Sport Canada, the Rogers outage, Oil prices etc. Even though they haven't been in power for 7 years. Boy maybe if we give the Liberals 7 more years all the shit will magically go away.
Don't be silly Dan, there is always something messy going on. Shall we list Harper Con stuff for you? No one is blaming Cons for anything on your list. Did the Cons do everything they could to help people thru Covid? Have the RCMP been making a mess of themselves for a long long time? Oil and gas prices have never gone up before? Remember 2008 when Harper said "What recession?" Rogers is a private Corp—blame Rogers. Hockey Canada, that's another conversation. I am delighted that the EA was used and within a weekend it was all over. Fantastic. If necessary I hope they do it again but sooner. You and I are working on the passport mess, aren't we? Inflation is everywhere, like Covid. Blaming the BoC is silly. Like death and taxes, inflation happens now and then. If anyone really understood it, it would never happen. Like how prices never really drop. For fun check out BitCoin and El Salvador, 64% inflation in Argentina, UK inflation at %9.1 the strikes and walkouts have begun. Truly, I think no one really knows what they are doing.
The people will decide if JT and/or the Liberals get in again. There will always be shit happening. Just imagine how deep it will be if PP stands up on his hind legs and starts making decisions that we have to pay attention to. Have you seen #FreePierre?
That was an opinion piece. While Heather Scoffield's opinion is generally worth something she is not the entire Toronto Star. Why do people never check what they are linking or quoting?
Lou you can see I said "toronto star is not so sure". I realize that this is an opinion piece but it is written by the Ottawa Bureau Chief and Economics Columnist at The Toronto Star. So while her opinion may not reflect all of the people at the star, it does reflect the opinion of the Ottawa Bureau Chief and Economics Columnist at The Toronto Star.
Melanie - interesting article, but it seems like it's an excerpt from a much longer interesting essay? I was just getting settled in, and it abruptly ended! Please tell me this is the first of a series?
Somehow the people who I imagine Bannon wants to recruit are not the sort who would sign on for a 2 year, voluntary, no-pay, commitment. He sure wouldn't.
The job sounds very important and if done correctly it could be effective. This is a Dem site explaining it:
I think just walking in and being polite to the GOP already there isn't enough. And again, no pay.
Checked out Bannon's War Room. He plays the straight man quite well. Alex Jones of InfoWars has a new "movie" "Alex's War". Gee, what's that going to be about? It's a combo War Room/Info Wars interview. Jones is grovelling in delight and Bannon sits back and accepts the accolades. B says J is one of the great thinkers going back to the revolutionary generation. AJ has a new book with an original title, "The Great Reset (the war for the world).
I know people wallow and lap up this stuff. They buy the books and hats and t-shirts and flags. They believe. But I still do not understand why. It's a dark night of tyranny, Bannon is a political prisoner. But the real problem and it's been a problem for a while is transhumanism, our brains in robotic bodies. The demi-gods of Davos are taking over the tech and taking over everyone. Can you say slaves?
So the people who are buying Jones' book are also going to donate their time and energy as precinct committee persons?
The Right, the GOP, the republicans, and SCOTUS, are a big worry. But I'm thinking they'll implode soon. At least I hope so.
HA! Jones calls Bannon "sir"!
I've spent too many years listening to these ... people ... or whatever they are. Jones since 9/11 and Bannon slide into our consciousness long before Trump. But Trump has burrowed into every New Yorker's brain like a weird old uncle no one wants at Thanksgiving way back. Jones, Trump, Bannon, Stone, Tucker, Assange, etc. are all being prosecuted even tho they are all innocent of any misdeeds. And they are all doing it for the people before they turned into transhumans or androids or robot bodies with brains!
Reading through the comments I'm not sure if people understand the threat that Bannon poses. He's highly intelligent, effective and likely insane. His goals aren't lower taxes and trimming some regulations but the destruction of the administrative state. If you don't understand what that means - that's good because it means you are NOT insane. He wants to burn down all of government. He's not particularly clear about what he's going to replace it with because he doesn't care.
The great documentary maker, Errol Morris, did a film on Bannon called "American Dharma". It's worth seeing because it is completely weird. In the Q&A after one screening someone asked Morris "What does Bannon mean by x, y and z?" Morris responded that he had no idea. "I just think he's crazy."
As far as recruiting people to work on elections, it is not at all about civic responsibility. The whole purpose is to have people on the inside who can cheat! If there's an honest poll worker getting in your way then call in the Proud Boys and the Republican sheriffs! If you think this is not going to work you haven't been watching the January 6th hearings. Poll workers have already received all kinds of death threats and had to leave their homes. The Republican poll worker from Arizona who stood with the Constitution was just sanctioned by the Arizona Republican Party. They're punishing him for being honest! You don't hear any Republicans speaking out against that because, if they do, they will lose their funding and will get the same death threats. Many honest Republicans are not running again rather than stand up to this. Mitch McConnell seems fine with all of it. People forget why Richard Nixon was not impeached. He was headed there but the Republican Party forced him to resign because he was making them look bad. Right now the Republican Party is more like a crime syndicate. None of this bodes well for the future of American democracy.
We may have more secure election laws and practices but having a failed democracy with nuclear weapons on our border is not going to be a good thing. Pipelines from the Great Lakes to Arizona anyone? Will PM Poilievre stand up to them? It would be funny if it wasn't so chilling.
Many, many likes. I often wonder if people who don’t see the plan for what it is are too innocent or closing their eyes, covering their ears and singing a comforting little song to themselves.
Your link didn't work for me, but PBS Frontline (YT) did. I started to watch but I had to stop because of his insistent sniffing.
Nixon was pardoned. McConnell is as old as dirt and so long as his lobbyists are happy, he is happy (never mind his connections to China $$$). Mmm like McConnell (80yo) PP is also a lifelong politician, just younger. (PP at 80yo, what a thought).
Bannon is blisteringly smart, somewhat effective and yes, totally insane. And he's lazy. He's much much smarter than Trump, who he fed all sorts of populist garbage that fit DT like a suit, a big blue one with a red tie. Bannon likes to be the brains of the operation, more behind the scenes than not. And DT gave him the pardon.
Bannon was never a good fit in the WH. None of them were, to be honest. Did he wear two shirts under his suit? Quirky dude. Look at Breitbart News. Kind of a classier Enquirer but with a political spin. Doesn't change the fact that both rags are BS. And Bannon knows it. He's not a true believer he is a shit disturber. Like Trump, he can say anything, and he does. For instance, "Donald Trump Jr. is a guy who believes everything on Breitbart is true.” And DJTJ giggled, and his father nodded in agreement. Horrible people the lot of them. But they are in the news making a lot of noise so everyone pays attention to them. Whether people act on the silly BS is up to them but I have faith that most won't.
I am not worried about Bannon and his ilk. They'll blow themselves up in some sordid spectacular way. If PP is made PM, I would find that chilling. I do expect better from my fellow Canadians.
I’m not sure I agree with this analysis. Trump already brought the fringe to light and most Americans didn’t like what they saw, including many from his own party. Most Americans are moderates, like Canadians, with a more pronounced divisiveness between the 2 extremes. Bannon does not appeal to the average American, who’s main concern is providing for their family, ensuring their kids get a decent education, and have adequate healthcare coverage in the event they get sick. Perhaps if Bannon shared these priorities it might be a game changer; appealing to fringe ideology won’t have the desired effect.
But remember their last election and the threats and chaos. What normal people want won’t matter if the electoral system is trashed. They already have gerrymandering. The disinclination to care what others than those on their team want has been going on so long it’s become a feature.
An enlightening article that also helped to place this American political phenomenon into perspective. Thank God for those Canadians who, in their wisdom, made the supervision of elections a non-partisan affair.
Isn’t what Bannon is promoting is what the NDP have been doing for decades at the municipal level and now the Woke are doing in civil society? The body that regulates lawyers in Ontario was taken over by Progressives, for example, local associations too. It happened because they were exercised. So good for Bannon. He’s getting people to participate in the Democratic process. I suggest the antidote, if you don’t like his medicine, is to do the same
Sam, where is the NDP doing anything at the municipal level that equates to Bannon's promo (fund raising). Is The Woke a new party? Which Progressives have taken over the Ontario Bar? What other local associations?
Do you honestly think Steve Bannon wants people to participate in the democratic process, especially at the grassroots level? Really? Myself, I think it will come to nothing. Too big of a commitment for the folks who listen to Steve/Trump/the rest of the weirdo GOP. One big rally complete with smashed things and fires is more their speed.
To be a precinct committee person, you have to play well with others. This stuff has been around for decades so if you think Bannon is coming up with something new you are kidding yourself. If Steve thinks he can get his USA 1st folks to decimate the GOP he's kidding himself.
The US is a big big country and they are not all as sketchy as Bannon and Co.
The thing is, this only works if the *only* people willing to participate in democracy are extremist. In other words, it's not that Bannon's crew is taking over -- it's that everyone else is willing to let them speak on their behalf. Participation isn't a bug. It's a feature!
The solution is for more people to participate in the political process, even if that just means asking questions and holding officials and leaders to account.
For example, it costs $15 to buy a CPC membership and help chose the party's next leader, which determines the choices will have in the next election. That's not an onerous task. How many centre-right leaning folks who bemoan the state of Canadian conservatism have signed up? I guess we'll soon find out!
Indeed. Having never joined any political party in my very long life, I did pay the fee and joined, so I could vote. Can I make a difference? Well, doing nothing ( when you are still able) promises a worse outcome. Just ask any of us who are children of WW2 vets.
Indeed the extremist tails seem to wag the centrist dogs on both the left and the right.
Good heavens! Imagine that! An actual grassroots movement to wrest power away from professional party insiders! We can't have that!
Fortunately, in Canada, power is securely in the hands of the bureaucrats and can't be pulled away from them by the people! Phew!
I agree Mark, this is terrifying stuff. The quote below sums up the authoritarian dystopian vision perfectly. No imaging machines to count votes, mail in voting as a last resort! I have tended towards right of centre voting my whole life- but with this type of extremist talk and the exposed subversion of the “democratic process” being taken here in order to usurp our betters, let us flee into the arms of our respective establishment left leaning parties - if only to save democracy itself...
“America First Americans must take their political activities ‘into’ the Republican Party by becoming Precinct Committeemen and thereby transform the Party.” It also states the goal is “to have our state legislators pass election reform laws requiring all counties to stop using any kind of imaging machines for counting votes” and “making voting by mail the exception and not the rule.” The first step, according to the strategy, is “taking back the Republican Party from those running it now. And that means YOU becoming a precinct committeeman.”
An limited to those in the PMO at that!
The great thing about Canada is that there is no functional separation between the PCO (civil service) and the PMO - at least when Canada is controlled by our rightful Liberal rulers, and government hasn't been temporarily usurped by another party.
In those times, of course, the civil service functions as a resistance government until order is restored.
The most disturbing bit of this piece (I was already aware of what Bannon is up to) is that his podcast is #5 in Canada! Yikes! I subscribe to Paul Wells' substack and his last one ("Winning is easy. Governing is hard.") featured Poilievere's recent Youtube video on the Bank of Canada. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVJMTsfnTH0&t=1s&ab_channel=PierrePoilievre
Other than the bonuses these people are getting, which are obscene, his whole blaming the BoC for inflation is BS. Take a look at the comments. If they are not bots then we have a whole lotta MAGA-minded people here uncritically lapping up every word and PP is determined to use them just like Trump and Bannon do. Fortunately we have Elections Canada but we won't escape the backwash from the south and shouldn't be smug.
Printing money “Quantitative Easing”, and having that result in inflation should be surprising to no one- not least our leaders. They got away with it in 2008, but those circumstances were different. Inflation hit 6% + as well before oil prices spiked keep in mind. The BoC isn’t entirely to blame for certain, but they do have culpability here. Had they refused to continue to finance the Liberals insane spending spree after we had a clearer picture of the economic effects of covid policy in Winter of 2020 we would be sitting in a different situation right now.
Ms. Paradis, please clarify something for me. You say that thousands have jumped onto precinct committees.
Out of curiosity, I found this: "The 2020 survey by the United States Election Assistance Commission found a total of 176,933 precincts or precinct equivalents in the United States, of which 175,441 were in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia and 1,492 were in overseas U.S. territories."
So, even if your thousands come to, say, 20,000 ... doesn't this mean about one-tenth of a person per committee on average? Not so scary.
Thank you. I read with great skepticism because "taking over the United States" is a very, very large goal for one man. It's a third of a billion people, and they're very politically active and opinionated, these days.
And Bannon, of course, does not devote all of the cash donated to the Cause; as much as possible is diverted to Bannon and friends. Indeed, I would, as a first assumption, think that "taking over the Republican party", being wildly ambitious, is just another Bannon scam to part the gullible from their money.
Like the Convoy donations that never reached the guy buying the diesel.
I think the key is that thousands have already done this. Thousands more likely will as we get closer to election season in the U.S. But to your point, even if it’s just 20,000, that’s in addition to the existing Republicans already on those precinct committees. The whole idea is to add enough to tip the scales.
This is an excellent analysis. The US political system's own processes are being used by Bannon to take it over. Similar organization can prevent it.
The most disturbing trend is state Republicans trying to give themselves the power to ignore the actual vote tally and declare the winners they want. It's hard to believe that a decent person would even contemplate that but Mr. Trump seems to have purged the party of decency. See the censuring of the R party worker in Arizona who stood fast against the pressure to cheat.
I think it would take a constitutional amendment to eliminate the Electoral College.
Dems do it too. All states are really purple states. Red and blue don't have a lock on it though it seems so at times.
Night owls. Or you are early.
Sorry, but US democracy is finished. Biden's agenda will remain paralysed because after November, he won't have the 60 seats in the Senate needed to overcome the filibuster. So he'll get nothing done in the last 2 years either. Voting rights have already been compromised. SCOTUS will hear a case this fall that allows state governments to overrule the voters, and declare their own elctors....as Trump wanted to do in 2020. In 2024, it will be in place. Whomever the GOP candidate is will win; regardless of the popular vote. Minority Christian Fundamentalist rule will commence and democracy in the US dies. Too many states have already gerrymandered the vote so that the results are all but predetermined...which is what all votes in the US will be; ironically, a clone of Mother Russia.
I think (fear) that this is a possibility. But, I have a hard time imagining that a majority of Americans will just roll over and accept the dictates of a minority, folks who seem to be eager to use the government to intrude into the lives of all. When it starts impacting those folks directly -- either themselves or people they care about -- it seems like it will be hard to hold back the will of the people. Perhaps I'm being too optimistic, but one of the things that has protected demoncracy is that Americans, by and large, do not like governments telling them what to do!
I agree that I have a hard time with it. But with the gutting of the voting rights act, the laws put in place in GOP states to restrict voting, McConnell paralyzing the agenda, and the reality of the "not too bright American who votes republican because "ma Daddy was a republican"", and I can easily see them voting it away. The sea of media misinformation down there makes it pretty clear that a significant portion of the population don't understand what is at stake, and with such short term vision, and blaming Biden for all the challenges of today, they'll vote GOP because they're frustrated. That should push them over the edge. I really hope I'm wrong. And for the effect on Canada, I'm petrified that I'm right.
In that scenerio, do we end up with an influx of Americans who don't want to live under an increasingly "Christian authoritarian" government? If so -- how does that impact our relationship with the US? An influx of talent to Canada -- people seeking stability and a relatively open society -- could benefit us assuming we can manage the relationship with a destabalized neighbour (which, lets be clear, will be very, very challenging!)
I’m not sure a sizeable influx of Americans is such a great thing, especially since this country is not of the same political ilk as the US. A close friend took, he says, and I believe him, about 20 years before he really understood how this country works. He’s a physicist so not a dummy, just brought up to be ‘very American’.
True enough, but Manchin is a big part of ending democracy by killing the voting rights bill.
We'll all find out in November, but I have little faith in American's to save their democracy.
Winning means nothing if he doesn't get 60 seats in the Senate.
Melanie, you imply a level of negative judgement about "the [Bannon-like] chaos" of joining Canadian Electoral District Associations to bring an "action orientation" to their boards. And you follow up with the notion that there is "nothing you can do to stop it".
Melanie, this service is plain, ordinary, healthy political involvement. Canada's lack of provincial and federal leadership skills is testamony to the sleepy, do nothing EDA boards of today. We should all be (at least in this case) Steve Bannon messangers.
I gather we're supposed to be alarmed by the developments Ms. Paradis describes; but the major premise underwriting her expectation--that Bannon isn't simply exercising his democratic right to change policies he doesn't like but desires "chaos" as the prerequisite for pulling off some kind of illegitimate "heist"--would be more persuasive if accompanied by at least some proof. Those for whom jumping to such conclusions about Bannon has become a reflex would be wise to ask themselves on what foundation their convictions rest. The picture of Bannon painted by institutional media? Trying to detail here the mountain of evidence why that might be fatal to the judgment would be tedious in the extreme--all I can say as a retired reference librarian is that those simply aren't trustworthy information sources.
In any event, there's no need to rely on them: listen to Bannon in his own words and make up your own mind what his aims and motives are. You may discover they add up to a more coherent and humane--and definitely more plausible--set of aspirations than the default assumption Ms. Paradis apparently attributes to her article's readers (she may be right, but that's not necessarily positive news for democracy, or for that matter for beneficial information diffusion):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AtOw-xyMo8
Incidentally, it should go without saying that tampering with ballots isn't the sole way to steal an election: slanted news coverage is far more efficient and makes such tampering unnecessary. And there's nothing particularly nefarious about trying to influence public policy by means of grassroots organizing: leftist activists have been doing exactly that for decades. Bannon is probably right to warn that any attempt by conservatives to take a turn at bat risks provoking a hostile reaction from those accustomed to seeing only their own hitters march to the plate.
Excellent analysis/rebuttal Mark. Couldn’t agree more or have said it better. This article relies on more un-inspected presumptions of nefarious motivations and proffers them as fact - which the entire foundation of the article then rests upon. Steve Bannon = Evil. Grassroots democratic organization by “Bannonites” = dangerous takeover. I appreciate the link to his own words. Judge for yourselves people. This may just be a human being whose ideas you disagree with (or not) after all.
Thanks for the compliment, Christopher. You've put your finger on it: the default presumption seems to be that 'evil Steve Bannon' is a redundancy--i.e., we could substitute this phrase for 'Steve Bannon' in a sentence without changing that sentence's meaning.
The reality, of course, is that we'd be committing a logical equivocation... though we'd have plenty of company since surreptitiously substituting compromising words and phrases for innocuous ones, as if the different meanings actually were equivalent, is the very essence of political discourse these days.
P.S. The strategy is clever--your opponent isn't supplying you with legitimate targets to shoot at, so you manufacture some that are distortions of his views and demolish those instead--but it's also transparent. Surveys suggest few are actually persuaded by it: most people, even children, understand when someone is being treated unfairly and deliberately misunderstood.
This in turn suggests that those employing the strategy aren't really attempting to persuade; they're simply expressing their contempt for the intelligence of their opponents. Since both sides can play that game we end up with a so-called information commons in which mockery and insult are the goals, not genuine dialogue or information exchange. It's a charade which takes the form but lacks the substance of conversation.
Excited to witness the same takeover of the CPC up here.
Terry the Liberals have already been taken over by Trudeau sycophants and the looney left. It will be interesting to see how far to the centre the CPC will move in order to finally win an election.
It would be interesting to see how far to the centre the Cons are willing to go. So far it has not been very far at all. They sort of mumble and dip and look over their shoulders. That's if you can get them to answer the question in the first place. After PP finishes his song and dance I really hope they move more to the centre. I would love to hear some policies instead of bumper-stickers.
All together now— GATEKEEPERS!
it's no "Sunny ways" or "we're back" for sure.
Easy to do when you have no principles beyond staying in power. Don't lead just follow the "mood of the country" and pander.
I think if the Liberals dump JT before the next election, they have a good chance at a majority. If they keep him, after 10 years, they risk the "Wynne treatment" where Canadians vote CPC simply to send the message regardless who the CPC leader is. Trudeau seems to be doing everything he can to create a Conservative landslide.
That’s an interesting take. This is a democracy. People vote for the party with the policies they wish to support. That the party chosen by the electorate then puts those policies into practice is expected. The fact that you don’t agree with these policies is your right. Maybe it would help if the party you would vote for had policies that reflect Canadians’ priorities.
At this point, I'd be happy to see anything that looks like a vision...from any of them. But I think the financial hole is so big that they no longer know what to do, and are paralysed by the reality that you can't get elected telling people the truth. Canadians have traditionally voted to get rid of governments....2025 is going to be interesting.
You need to do some basic research. The current disagreements over the soul of the CPC are BECAUSE of Mulroney. Mulroney is the epitome of the Laurentian class running everything for their benefit and treating the western Provinces as assets to raid. Sounds exactly like we have in a Justin Trudeau Government.
Easterners like to see themselves as the great moral conscience of the country, but the image of plunderers and going with the flow to retain power is appropriate.
we’ll see.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/investigates/quebec-s-conservative-party-surges-in-the-polls-as-some-of-its-candidates-spread-conspiracy-theories-1.6532486
What will the Cons go on about when Covid is no longer the boogyman?
I like his haircut! Does that make me a sycophant?
So now you're blaming the Conseratives for COVID, the deficit, inflation, the passport mess, the armed forces mess, the RCMP mess, the EA invocation, Sport Canada, the Rogers outage, Oil prices etc. Even though they haven't been in power for 7 years. Boy maybe if we give the Liberals 7 more years all the shit will magically go away.
Don't be silly Dan, there is always something messy going on. Shall we list Harper Con stuff for you? No one is blaming Cons for anything on your list. Did the Cons do everything they could to help people thru Covid? Have the RCMP been making a mess of themselves for a long long time? Oil and gas prices have never gone up before? Remember 2008 when Harper said "What recession?" Rogers is a private Corp—blame Rogers. Hockey Canada, that's another conversation. I am delighted that the EA was used and within a weekend it was all over. Fantastic. If necessary I hope they do it again but sooner. You and I are working on the passport mess, aren't we? Inflation is everywhere, like Covid. Blaming the BoC is silly. Like death and taxes, inflation happens now and then. If anyone really understood it, it would never happen. Like how prices never really drop. For fun check out BitCoin and El Salvador, 64% inflation in Argentina, UK inflation at %9.1 the strikes and walkouts have begun. Truly, I think no one really knows what they are doing.
The people will decide if JT and/or the Liberals get in again. There will always be shit happening. Just imagine how deep it will be if PP stands up on his hind legs and starts making decisions that we have to pay attention to. Have you seen #FreePierre?
Seriously Terry? Ask the Afghans we left behind. Or try to get a passport. Try being a woman in the armed forces. Or how about sport Canada.? Even you Toronto Star is not so sure. https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2022/07/25/we-dont-trust-you-whether-its-rogers-or-the-rcmp-facing-questions-the-liberals-are-in-the-hot-seat.html
That was an opinion piece. While Heather Scoffield's opinion is generally worth something she is not the entire Toronto Star. Why do people never check what they are linking or quoting?
Lou you can see I said "toronto star is not so sure". I realize that this is an opinion piece but it is written by the Ottawa Bureau Chief and Economics Columnist at The Toronto Star. So while her opinion may not reflect all of the people at the star, it does reflect the opinion of the Ottawa Bureau Chief and Economics Columnist at The Toronto Star.
Melanie - interesting article, but it seems like it's an excerpt from a much longer interesting essay? I was just getting settled in, and it abruptly ended! Please tell me this is the first of a series?
I hope to write more on this!
Somehow the people who I imagine Bannon wants to recruit are not the sort who would sign on for a 2 year, voluntary, no-pay, commitment. He sure wouldn't.
The job sounds very important and if done correctly it could be effective. This is a Dem site explaining it:
https://dpo.org/get-involved/precinct-committee-persons/
And a Republican site:https://oregon.gop/become-a-pcp/
I think just walking in and being polite to the GOP already there isn't enough. And again, no pay.
Checked out Bannon's War Room. He plays the straight man quite well. Alex Jones of InfoWars has a new "movie" "Alex's War". Gee, what's that going to be about? It's a combo War Room/Info Wars interview. Jones is grovelling in delight and Bannon sits back and accepts the accolades. B says J is one of the great thinkers going back to the revolutionary generation. AJ has a new book with an original title, "The Great Reset (the war for the world).
I know people wallow and lap up this stuff. They buy the books and hats and t-shirts and flags. They believe. But I still do not understand why. It's a dark night of tyranny, Bannon is a political prisoner. But the real problem and it's been a problem for a while is transhumanism, our brains in robotic bodies. The demi-gods of Davos are taking over the tech and taking over everyone. Can you say slaves?
So the people who are buying Jones' book are also going to donate their time and energy as precinct committee persons?
I think there is a longer interview between these two (very serious men) at the War Room but I'm leaving it til tomorrow. https://beforeitsnews.com/prophecy/2022/07/media-bombshell-steve-bannon-talks-great-reset-with-alex-jones-2532486.html Alex's nostrums and potions are available too of course.
The Right, the GOP, the republicans, and SCOTUS, are a big worry. But I'm thinking they'll implode soon. At least I hope so.
HA! Jones calls Bannon "sir"!
I've spent too many years listening to these ... people ... or whatever they are. Jones since 9/11 and Bannon slide into our consciousness long before Trump. But Trump has burrowed into every New Yorker's brain like a weird old uncle no one wants at Thanksgiving way back. Jones, Trump, Bannon, Stone, Tucker, Assange, etc. are all being prosecuted even tho they are all innocent of any misdeeds. And they are all doing it for the people before they turned into transhumans or androids or robot bodies with brains!
I say follow the money.
Reading through the comments I'm not sure if people understand the threat that Bannon poses. He's highly intelligent, effective and likely insane. His goals aren't lower taxes and trimming some regulations but the destruction of the administrative state. If you don't understand what that means - that's good because it means you are NOT insane. He wants to burn down all of government. He's not particularly clear about what he's going to replace it with because he doesn't care.
The great documentary maker, Errol Morris, did a film on Bannon called "American Dharma". It's worth seeing because it is completely weird. In the Q&A after one screening someone asked Morris "What does Bannon mean by x, y and z?" Morris responded that he had no idea. "I just think he's crazy."
https://youtu.be/bTLIBwH8Ex4
There's an excellent article in a recent issue of Atlantic magazine on Bannon. Well worth the read if only because he has such a significant audience. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/07/steve-bannon-war-room-democracy-threat/638443/
As far as recruiting people to work on elections, it is not at all about civic responsibility. The whole purpose is to have people on the inside who can cheat! If there's an honest poll worker getting in your way then call in the Proud Boys and the Republican sheriffs! If you think this is not going to work you haven't been watching the January 6th hearings. Poll workers have already received all kinds of death threats and had to leave their homes. The Republican poll worker from Arizona who stood with the Constitution was just sanctioned by the Arizona Republican Party. They're punishing him for being honest! You don't hear any Republicans speaking out against that because, if they do, they will lose their funding and will get the same death threats. Many honest Republicans are not running again rather than stand up to this. Mitch McConnell seems fine with all of it. People forget why Richard Nixon was not impeached. He was headed there but the Republican Party forced him to resign because he was making them look bad. Right now the Republican Party is more like a crime syndicate. None of this bodes well for the future of American democracy.
We may have more secure election laws and practices but having a failed democracy with nuclear weapons on our border is not going to be a good thing. Pipelines from the Great Lakes to Arizona anyone? Will PM Poilievre stand up to them? It would be funny if it wasn't so chilling.
Many, many likes. I often wonder if people who don’t see the plan for what it is are too innocent or closing their eyes, covering their ears and singing a comforting little song to themselves.
Your link didn't work for me, but PBS Frontline (YT) did. I started to watch but I had to stop because of his insistent sniffing.
Nixon was pardoned. McConnell is as old as dirt and so long as his lobbyists are happy, he is happy (never mind his connections to China $$$). Mmm like McConnell (80yo) PP is also a lifelong politician, just younger. (PP at 80yo, what a thought).
Bannon is blisteringly smart, somewhat effective and yes, totally insane. And he's lazy. He's much much smarter than Trump, who he fed all sorts of populist garbage that fit DT like a suit, a big blue one with a red tie. Bannon likes to be the brains of the operation, more behind the scenes than not. And DT gave him the pardon.
Bannon was never a good fit in the WH. None of them were, to be honest. Did he wear two shirts under his suit? Quirky dude. Look at Breitbart News. Kind of a classier Enquirer but with a political spin. Doesn't change the fact that both rags are BS. And Bannon knows it. He's not a true believer he is a shit disturber. Like Trump, he can say anything, and he does. For instance, "Donald Trump Jr. is a guy who believes everything on Breitbart is true.” And DJTJ giggled, and his father nodded in agreement. Horrible people the lot of them. But they are in the news making a lot of noise so everyone pays attention to them. Whether people act on the silly BS is up to them but I have faith that most won't.
I am not worried about Bannon and his ilk. They'll blow themselves up in some sordid spectacular way. If PP is made PM, I would find that chilling. I do expect better from my fellow Canadians.
I’m not sure I agree with this analysis. Trump already brought the fringe to light and most Americans didn’t like what they saw, including many from his own party. Most Americans are moderates, like Canadians, with a more pronounced divisiveness between the 2 extremes. Bannon does not appeal to the average American, who’s main concern is providing for their family, ensuring their kids get a decent education, and have adequate healthcare coverage in the event they get sick. Perhaps if Bannon shared these priorities it might be a game changer; appealing to fringe ideology won’t have the desired effect.
But remember their last election and the threats and chaos. What normal people want won’t matter if the electoral system is trashed. They already have gerrymandering. The disinclination to care what others than those on their team want has been going on so long it’s become a feature.
An enlightening article that also helped to place this American political phenomenon into perspective. Thank God for those Canadians who, in their wisdom, made the supervision of elections a non-partisan affair.
Isn’t what Bannon is promoting is what the NDP have been doing for decades at the municipal level and now the Woke are doing in civil society? The body that regulates lawyers in Ontario was taken over by Progressives, for example, local associations too. It happened because they were exercised. So good for Bannon. He’s getting people to participate in the Democratic process. I suggest the antidote, if you don’t like his medicine, is to do the same
Sam, where is the NDP doing anything at the municipal level that equates to Bannon's promo (fund raising). Is The Woke a new party? Which Progressives have taken over the Ontario Bar? What other local associations?
Do you honestly think Steve Bannon wants people to participate in the democratic process, especially at the grassroots level? Really? Myself, I think it will come to nothing. Too big of a commitment for the folks who listen to Steve/Trump/the rest of the weirdo GOP. One big rally complete with smashed things and fires is more their speed.
To be a precinct committee person, you have to play well with others. This stuff has been around for decades so if you think Bannon is coming up with something new you are kidding yourself. If Steve thinks he can get his USA 1st folks to decimate the GOP he's kidding himself.
The US is a big big country and they are not all as sketchy as Bannon and Co.