It's Not Always Conspiracy Theory Thinking

For a very long time, I have believed that the political right wing, and the religious far right in particular is far more politically organized and well-funded than most of us would like to believe.  Back in 2010, Marci McDonald published a book called "The Armageddon Factor".  It's a bit dated in 2024, but it laid out the connections between the Harper-led CPC and a range of far right actors, both in Canada and the United States - mostly with an orientation towards "Socially Conservative (SoCon)" issues.  That book alone provides a significant basis for asserting that there is a significant far right organization that continues to fund and campaign for a range of policy and legislative initiatives.  

It often seems a bit like it's "conspiracy theory" level thinking to assert that there is in fact a large, well-funded network of far right actors.  Then someone like Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) writes a document like this with receipts:  Group Dynamics and Division of Labor Within The Anti-LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience Network.  

I recognize most of the names mentioned in this document, and I have encountered them in the past. Just about every anti-trans trope that I've heard in the last few years originates with one or more groups in this document.  It's no surprise on that front.  What I'd like to see from here is a document drawing out the connections between Canadian groups and the groups in this document.

Here's where this isn't a conspiracy theory - we have actual evidence connecting these various organizations together here, as well as evidence of a funding network.  It's one thing to imagine a conspiracy, it's another altogether to have a fairly solid research effort that draws out the connections in depth.   

The Wingnut Base Is Still Firmly In Control

According to CBC, the CPC has passed a swath of policy motions which are clearly designed for the ultra-conservative (theocon) base.

Conservative Party members have passed motions at their biannual convention in Calgary, pledging not to support euthanasia or assisted suicide, and to scale back public sector pension plans. 

The policies don't necessarily become government policy, but tell the party's leadership, including the prime minister, what direction members would like to see. 

The party also adopted policies to:

• pledge not to support any legislation to legalize euthanasia or assisted suicide.

• move public sector pensions to defined contribution plans rather than defined benefits, essentially scaling them back and bringing them into line with private sector pensions.

• reject the concept of legalizing the purchase of sex and develop a plan to target the buyers and third parties who profit off the sex trade.

• let faith-based organizations refuse the use of their facilities to people holding views contrary to their own.

• separate the CBC's TV and radio funding allocations.

So, let's go take a closer look at these, shall we?

On "sex-selective abortion", it takes a couple of minutes to find the resolution because the far right have learned that Harper won't touch anything with that word in it.  Here's the resolution:

Canada’s Social Fabric – 1-26-157 - EN EDA – Langley
Section K - 70 - Women (MODIFICATION)
Amended:
The Conservative Party supports the full participation of women in the social, economic, and cultural life of Canada.
i) The Canadian workforce has evolved to include more women than ever. The Conservative Party believes all Canadians have the right to freedom from discrimination in the workplace and equality of opportunity.
ii) Individuals should be only judged on skills, qualifications and merits. Women must be entitled to equal pay for equal work.
iii) The Conservative Party recognizes the value of the caregiver. We will examine measures within the tax system to help offset economic costs without discrimination.
iv) The Conservative Party condemns discrimination against girls through gender selection 

Make no mistake about it, the faux issue of "sex selection" is nothing more than yet another attempt on the part of the Theocon base to open the abortion debate.  Intriguingly, it contains in it a none-too-subtle bit of racism as well.  It is a handful of cultures in the world who are known to engage in such practices, and trying to regulate this aspect of the discussion either involves calling people of those cultures liars when the pursue an abortion to end a pregnancy or it guarantees that they will lie about their motivations in the first place.  (Practically speaking, the motivations for having any medical procedure are between the patient and their doctor - if they even need to go that far)

On prostitution, they basically reworded an existing policy which meant more or less the same thing:

Canada’s Social Fabric – 1-09-194 - EN EDA – Kildonan-St Paul
Section M - 97 – Sexual Exploitation in Canada (MODIFICATION)
Amended:
i) The Conservative Party rejects the normalization of prostitution and declares that human beings are not objects to be enslaved, bought and sold; and
ii) The Conservative Party will develop a comprehensive strategy to address and prevent the legalization of keeping a common bawdy house, living off the avails of prostitution, and communication for the purpose of prostitution.
i) The Conservative Party rejects the concept of legalizing the purchase of sex;
ii) The Conservative Party declares that human beings are not objects to be enslaved, bought or sold; and
iii) The Conservative Party of Canada shall develop a Canada specific plan to target the purchasers of sex and human trafficking markets through criminalizing the purchase of sex as well as the acts of any third party attempting to profit from the purchase of sex. 

Again, this boils down to nothing more than continuing to criminalize sex work, sex workers and those who engage with them.  Like the "war on drugs", the "war on sex" is a failed strategy.  Prostitution has been around as long as human beings have, possibly longer.  Anybody who thinks that making it illegal (and throwing people in prison) is kidding themselves.

More "red meat" for the base.

Canada’s Social Fabric – 1-21-130 - EN EDA – Saskatoon Humboldt
Section J - Euthanasia (NEW)
63. Euthanasia
The Conservative Party will not support any legislation to legalize euthanasia or assisted suicide.  

How effective.  There's a new issue that needs to be addressed constructively.  I know!  Let's bury our collective heads in the sand.

Euthanasia is not a simple subject, nor would I want anyone to believe that it is.  End of life issues are complex for all involved.  The courts have been clear that the current laws do not effectively address the issues involved.

Canadians need to have a constructive discussion about this subject.  Like the abortion debate, I suspect strongly that it is next to impossible to do so.  Those who have seen the suffering of those who live with long term terminal illness are no doubt far more sympathetic to the desire to have some control over when and how someone leaves this world.  The religious argument is no doubt going to continue to pound on the "every life is sacred" line.

Canada’s Social Fabric – 1-15-159 - EN EDA – Mapleque
Section K - Pensions (NEW)
75. Pensions
The Conservative Party of Canada will include in its policy statement a commitment to bring public sector pensions in-line with Canadian norms by switching to a defined contribution pension model, which includes employer contributions comparable to the private sector. 

Role of Government, Taxation and Crime – 2-22-004 - EN EDA – Abbotsford
Section B - 3 – Public Service Excellence (MODIFICATION)
Amended:
The Conservative Party believes that all Canadians deserve an efficient, effective, and independent professional public service. We believe the government should build upon the whistle-blowing protection legislation to ensure that those who expose corruption and wrongdoing are protected from reprisal. We continue to support any measures which enhance public service effectiveness and accountability.
The Conservative Party believes that Public Service benefits and pensions should be comparable to those available to similar employees in the private sector, and to the extent that they are not, they should be made comparable to such private sector benefits and pensions in future contract negotiations. 

When it comes to the public sector, there is no shortage of hostility.  Aligning with "private sector pensions" is a bit of a joke.  Outside of former crown corporations, I haven't seen a private sector company that offers a pension plan of any sort for decades.  For the most part, they leave it to employees to contribute to RRSP plans and that's about it.

The second motion is the more interesting one, in my opinion.  It points to yet another area where the CPC will attack union workers in the civil service.

Canada’s Social Fabric – 1-13-152 - EN EDA – Souris - Moose Mountain
Section K – Faith Based Organizations (NEW)
75. Faith Based Organizations
The Conservative Party supports the right of faith based organizations to refuse the use of their facilities to individuals or groups holding views which are contrary to the beliefs or standards of the faith based organization without fear of sanctions or harassment and that discrimination based on the beliefs of a faith based organization be excluded from the definition of disallowed discrimination under Human Rights. 

Oh yes.  Let's institutionalize the right of certain groups to deny access to others who aren't "holy" enough.  We haven't seen this before have we?  Oh yes ... the Knights of Columbus issue in BC.

In yet another piece of red meat for the base, someone has decided that they want an "explicit" exemption for religious-based discrimination.  Who is this going to affect the most?  GLBT people, no doubt.  Annoyingly, the wording that is being used here is sufficiently broad that it could easily be stretched into the workplace, with business owners declaring their business a "faith-based organization", and presto, we have the same kind of insane crap that we regularly see in the US on matters ranging from discrimination to health insurance.

Make no mistake about it, the wingnut base is firmly in control of the CPC's policy direction.  They never have gone away or actually moderated.  Early on they were happy enough to comply with Harper's desire to gain power.  Now that they have a majority, the hard liners are once again reasserting their positions - albeit their language is a bit more vague than it once was.

You've Got To Be Kidding

Apparently, the latest catalogue from J. Crew has the wingnuts all up in arms because it shows a five year old boy with his toenails painted hot pink.

Let's start with one Dr. Keith Ablow who posted this screed on Faux News' website:

Well, how about the fact that encouraging the choosing of gender identity, rather than suggesting our children become comfortable with the ones that they got at birth, can throw our species into real psychological turmoil—not to mention crowding operating rooms with procedures to grotesquely amputate body parts? Why not make race the next frontier? What would be so wrong with people deciding to tattoo themselves dark brown and claim African-American heritage? Why not bleach the skin of others so they can playact as Caucasians?

Why should we hold dear anything with which we were born? What’s the benefit of non-fiction over fiction?

For someone who is supposedly a mental health professional, Dr. Ablow is profoundly ignorant about the nature of transgender people and the treatment protocols for them. Worse, he clearly hasn't even bothered to read the DSM-IV (much less the working material for the DSM V on the subject. If he had, he would have a much different understanding things. (Of course, he is being published on Faux News, so it's not as if I expect much here)

Jenna Lyons and J. Crew seem to know exactly what they’re up to. That’s why the photograph of Jenna’s son so prominently displays his hot pink, neon toe nails. These folks are hostile to the gender distinctions that actually are part of the magnificent synergy that creates and sustains the human race. They respect their own creative notions a whole lot more than any creative Force in the universe.

No, Dr. Ablow, it is you who fails to understand that gender is much more flexible than the rigid boy/girl binary that you are propounding. Transgender people all over the world show up the lie in your assumptions every day - just by existing.

Even more ironic is that it is well enough established that painting a little boy's toenails pink (or giving a little girl a toy gun) isn't going to make anybody transgendered. This is another little fact that had Dr. Ablow been paying attention to the research work in his field at all he would have been aware of.

... and of course there's always the predictable outrage from one of the religious "research" think tanks:

J.CREW, a popular preppy woman's clothing brand and favorite affordable line of first lady Michelle Obama, is targeting a new demographic - mothers of gender-confused young boys. At least, that's the impression given by a new marketing piece that features blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children.

Really? That's "propaganda"? First of all, what's wrong with painting toenails or fingernails? Why is that a "girls only" activity in the first place?

The upshot of this is that it's much ado about nothing really. However, once again it is being used by the wingnuts to attack transgender people by repeating the same tired old lies that are trotted out at every opportunity.

Putting Don Cherry In Perspective

Here:

I thought I had said all I ever wanted to say about Don Cherry. But lately, the man has morphed into Glenn Beck in sequins, out to prove that he who shouts loudest is always right. It's always the same thing: the rage, the name-calling, the complete absence of reason

... and I just love the last line:

So put that in your pipe and smoke it, Don. Just don't get ashes on the pink jacket. Liberace's ghost wants it back.

:-)