Would you buy a used party from this man?

I am on the horns of a dilemma.  As a lifetime socialist I am faced with abandoning the only party which I have supported in my adult life, the New Democratic Party.  Now I must either hold my nose, support them and compromise my principles, or leave them for the remaining parties who have a shred of social conscience, the Green Party and the Communists.  Both options, the leaving and the joining, are problematic in their own way.

The New Democrats have been drifting to the right for years.  At first I thought that I was drifting further left but, upon looking back on party press releases and leaders’ statements, it is obvious that it is the party that has changed, not I.

My university explorations of politics led me to giants such as Marx, Engels and Trotsky, had me reading ‘Grundrisse’, and having long into the night cigarette and coffee fueled discussions with my friend Emilio Gatto, an archetypical Italian anarchist.  Reading Emile Zola and George Orwell, hanging out with the South East Asia Action Committee, folk songs, and campaigning for Neil Reimer all helped to guide me to an appreciation for humanism which has always stayed with me.  Politics was never about winning – my candidates never did – but about integrity and standing up for the people and caring more about the future of society than how many seats our party garnered in the latest election.  The Ed Broadbents, Tommy Douglases, David Lewises, and Jack Laytons of this world were the leaders I looked up to and supported.

Now we have a leader in Ottawa and a new party membership who are willing to scrub the party policy manual clean of terms that may offend business or hurt the feelings of a naïve and stuporous electorate.  The NDP have shown a willingness to become a party that will sacrifice its very raison d’être to challenge for political ascendancy.  And if the challenge is successful, what then?  Will we trot out a hidden agenda like the current group of thugs and corporate bag men that have usurped the Parliament of Canada?  Will we resort to robo-calls because winning at any cost is more important than toiling in the best interests of working Canadians?

And if I decide to change parties, where do I go?  Do I join the communists who, when I was among them, were little more than a poorly socialized group of doctrinaire delusionals with poor personal hygene? Or do I throw in my lot with the Greens who are myopic when it comes to political philosophy?  Do I join a group who ignores the realities of 21^st century corporatism and thinks that slogans and state capitalism are acceptable substitutes for a comprehensive strategy?  Or do I throw my lot in with a dog’s breakfast of political philosophies and economic priorities just because they oppose environmental degradation?  I believe in preserving the planet but am convinced that enacting laws and restrictions on how we exploit nature has no long term benefit without a realignment of wealth and a sound strategy for reclaiming the public good.

So, as I have always done, I will watch and evaluate and adjust.  When there is no sound option, choose ‘none of the above’.  When you are presented with two options, wait for a third to come along . . . or go for a walk with your friends.