Reflections on the 2008 election, and a tribute to youth
Last week we had the story of a 10-year-old girl whose persistence earned her a place as a Christian Heritage Party (CHP) candidate in her school’s mock election. This week, I want to relate the story of some young men and women in their 20s who were delegates to the CHP’s leadership convention Nov. 5-8 in London, Ontario. Several had also been candidates in the just-completed 2008 federal election.
As we watched these young people participate in the policy and procedure discussions at the convention, we were deeply impressed—not just with the number of young people, but also with their insight and understanding as they spoke articulately, passionately and with commitment on issues that will affect Canada’s future.
It is no overstatement to say that such young people are Canada’s future!
But when comparing their participation with the story of a 10-year-old schoolgirl who had to struggle with the public education bureaucracy to be allowed to bring the CHP into a public school mock election; when thinking about the attempts of the “human rights” tribunals in Canada to limit public dialogue to “politically correct” speech and writing, we have to wonder: how long will there be a place for these committed, principled young people to express their convictions? Already, in some schools and universities in Canada, Christian voices are being silenced. Only “politically correct” expression of ideas is allowed.
That kind of limitation—the insistence that only one side of any argument is allowed—is in fact the essence of fascism. The tragic fact is that what Jonah Greenberg calls “Liberal Fascism” (in his excellent book by that title) is rapidly becoming the norm in Canada—especially in public “education”, which is increasingly being transformed into indoctrination of students.
How can we reverse this fascist trend in “education”? By prayer; and by supporting the only federal political party that is already active in defending Canadians’ right to free speech: the CHP.