When it comes to political favorites I’ve had a few.  Yes, I’m old enough to remember Pierre Trudeau in his heyday.  He was an amazing guy, didn’t know much about economics but he sure knew a world about everything else.  I also liked George W. Bush; a guy much-maligned almost anywhere you go.  I like Stephen Harper too.  However, one of my favorites from the Canadian political landscape of the last 30 years was former Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

I liked the little guy from Shawinigan Quebec. Is true he might have benefited from a split on the right of the political spectrum during his tenure, but at the same time he had confidence to burn.  He never had much trouble deflecting blame from himself and always walked with an air of confidence.  Canadians liked him and I think to this day, they miss him.

I have read Mr. Chretien’s first autobiography.  In it he sheds light on what being a liberal means.  At the time he said that the Conservatives always had a problem because Canadians liked to be governed from the center and they always had people on the far right that we’re pulling them that way.  He said at the same time the NDP had people within their party who were pulling them to the left making it difficult for them to make political headway.  Mr. Chretien said that put the Liberals right in the middle, where he believed most people were.  So being a Liberal was somebody who didn’t believe in some of the extremes of our political discourse, at least according to Mr. Chretien at the time.

I have never forgotten that description of what a Liberal is.  Yes, last week I ask what is a conservative? This week I’m asking what a Liberal is?  That’s why I look at Mr. Chretien’s definition.  I felt his description of a Liberal without the political extremes made a lot of sense.  In many ways I think the present Liberal party of Canada struggles with that.  When you watch the machinations of the Liberal party of Canada, I always get the feeling that they are wishing for the way things used to be.  It’s like, some of them are putting their hand up saying, “remember, we are the center “and everybody else is extreme.

Mixing in politics when defining what a liberal is invariably changes the game.  There is always somebody in the wrong place at the wrong time that will nix that definition.  So I am wondering what really is a liberal person?  Is it somebody that believes in collective rights and giving the benefit of the doubt?  Or is it a person that believes in the welfare state, but one with enough incentives to keep the bogeyman socialists away?  Or is it is simply a person who believes in the equality of all people and that there should be some compassion within our society for those who have less?  I know we’re splitting hairs here, but there must be some differences between “conservatives” and “liberals”.

What do you think a “liberal “is?  I think it is a difficult subject to muse about simply because I believe most people think of themselves as “liberals “.  I think if people were honest they would always be interested in giving others in society the benefit of the doubt.  In the back of their mind there is always the specter of if they fell on hard times, somebody along the way would be there to pick them up.  In other words, the survival of the fittest isn’t always top drawer with our more “liberal friends”.

I have a good friend who is a political animal and he is a partisan liberal.  He works for the party at the local level and is involved in many other ways.  I believe he does it because he thinks it’s important to be engaged in the political process.  I also think that he doesn’t really see much difference between liberals and conservatives, but you have to support someone so he chooses the Liberals.  He is conservative by nature so it is bit of an oxymoron that he finds himself surrounded by liberals.

To him, there seems to be a difference between conservatives and liberals but it’s pretty obvious it isn’t much.  In many ways I think it’s like the proverbial weathervane, whichever way the wind is blowing and there I will go.  Ditto for many of us here in Canada.  Liberals, Conservatives what’s the difference?  I dunno. Next week I’m not asking what is the NDP.  This is getting complicated.  Take some time to consider.