Many people think Stephen Harper has a hidden agenda when it comes to social conservatism.
Social conservatives who follow Ottawa politics know that's not true.
There are basically two kinds of people who think Stephen Harper is a social conservative.
1) Social liberals who believe the hype about him being socially conservative, or who construe his less than enthusiastic support for abortion as being reactionary. They trot out the idea that he's a closet theocrat as a political bogeyman to scare the public to vote Liberal
2) Naive social conservatives, so desperate for reason to hope, and who believe the social liberal propaganda mentioned in number 1, that they think: if social liberals are afraid, there must be something to it.
Nope. Nothing to it whatsoever.
Stephen Harper is more socially conservative than many. That doesn't make him a fetal rights advocate. In fact, I would say that Stephen Harper is about where most Canadians are at this point.
Anyhow, this is what Campaign Life had to say about him in their January Newsletter.
It is quite obvious that Harper wants this issue to go away. It is also obvious that he is counting on the gratitude of traditional values voters in the next election. In January 2006, weekly church-going Christians tipped the balance of power to the Conservatives and Harper needs to keep them in his big tent to win the next election. While he has done some very good things - defunded radical special interest groups; brought some transparency to the judicial appointments process; kept his promise to revisit the marriage issue; has kept euthanasia and assisted suicide off the legislative table; and, we hope, is even attempting to address the age of sexual consent – on other vital issues he has allowed the status quo to continue: no legal protection for the unborn, and, by an ambiguously worded motion, accepting the legal recognition of homosexual relationships,
Both economic and social conservatives congratulate Harper and the Conservative government for what they have done on many issues, but the government has failed in protecting innocent human life and upholding the uniqueness of the traditional definition of marriage. Pro-life and pro-family Canadians must not lose sight of the bigger picture and blindly follow Harper or his party. They must continue to pressure the party, and continue the battle for the rights of the traditional family, along with the battle for the rights of unborn Canadian children. The issue will not just go away. It can’t, since the current situation defies nature, defies reason and will inevitably lead to great harm to our nation. The issue is far from decided.
More Canadians who value life and family will make these issues priorities in their voting, and nominate or support candidates, regardless of party affiliation, who will uphold the sanctity of human life and family in all its aspects, and restore the uniqueness of traditional marriage.
I love it when social liberals tell me "you know, if you thought Stephen Harper was a real social conservative, well he's not...".
DUH.
People who are plugged in to the social conservative movement know this. Thanks for the newsflash, but you're several years too late. We knew that about 20 years ago.
The implication is that all these "duped" Christians (and especially Catholics) will stop voting Conservative, because they've been lied to.
I think that real pro-lifers vote for whoever is the best fetal rights candidate in their riding. In most cases that's a Conservative, but sometimes it's a Liberal (and occasionally, it's a CHiPper or an Indie).
Real pro-life Catholics won't run back to the Liberal Party of Canada, is what I'm trying to say. The days of the Liberal Party of Canada counting on the Catholic vote is coming to an end. More and more, the pro-life message is filtering down to the masses. I think it's getting stronger, not weaker.
Even if Stephen Harper has screwed us over, the fact of the matter is, the best pro-life candidate in most ridings tends to be Conservative. As long as that doesn't change, the Catholic vote is going to sway more and more to the Conservative Party.
