Der Separatismus in Alberta wirft Schatten auf die konservative Konvention

In theory we need to respect conservatives, we need open dialog, but then they do something like play footsie with breaking up the country. That’s not recognizable as „conservative“, it’s nihilism and sedition, or at best, extortion.

And then the interviews – it’s almost all retired guys. It’s hard to avoid the thought these are ultimately men angry at irrelevance, angry that their kids don’t respect them or call enough, and they’re just acting out and demanding attention. The cat pushing a cup off a shelf because it’s not getting attention, but older men.

Edit: I did not mean to trigger yet another example of the rhetoric that feeds this problem. Think about it in my (ok, possibly also slightly demeaning) cat example. The answer isn’t „the cat is just an assh0le“, or „yell at it when it pushes sh off the shelf“, the answer is actually put the cups out of reach, give it harmless things to push off, and most importantly, *ignore* it when it does it, and give more positive attention for positive behavior. Maybe it’s too late for these strategies. But „give lots of attention when the attention-starved break stuff“ is probably not a winner.

It’s kinda hard to preach unity when you’re in a place that is having 20% of the population try to make sure you’re not going to be holding the convention there next year.

This is a Leopard eating face moment. The Conservatives in an act of stupid encouraged and fuelled it so that it could cause pain to Ottawa. But did it ever occur to them. IF (and only if) Alberta tried to separate, say goodbye to a large chunk of MPs and official opposition status.