Re: "Canadian Political Science: Missing in Action?" by Sylvia Bashevkin (December 2010).
Flanagan, Tom
Sylvia Bashevkin's plaintive cri de coeur confirmed my belief
that conservatives are winning the war of ideas in Canada. The Calgary
School of political science--Barry Cooper, Ted Morton, Rainer Knopff and
I, along with our historian outrider David Bercuson--did not cause this
transformation, but we and our students have played an honourable part
in making it happen. Based on our experience, let me offer five helpful
hints to "progressive" political scientists who would like to
exercise some influence upon public affairs:
1. Learn to write clearly so you can reach the general public.
Shake off the influence of academic trends that are so deadly to
effective communication. One is postmodernism, with its misguided
insistence on using nouns as verbs ("gendered," "to
foreground," etc., etc., ad nauseam). Another is multiple
regression analysis, with its opaque vocabulary, such as
"homoscedasticity" (conservatives, of course, prefer
"heteroscedasticity"). Read Hemingway and learn to write short
declarative sentences. Do it. Now.
2. Tackle controversial topics that people care about. In The
Charter Revolution and the Court Party, Morton and Knopff took on
judicial activism. Cooper and Bercuson's Deconfederation: Canada
without Quebec undermined the Meech Lake agenda of endless concessions
to Quebec. In First Nations? Second Thoughts, I stood up against the
juggernaut of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. All these
books were widely discussed in the media and have had some impact on the
course of public affairs.
3. Get involved with political parties. If you want to effect
change, there is no substitute for getting control of the government, or
at least pushing it hard by creating a credible threat to take control.
I spent years helping Preston Manning build the Reform Party and
managing campaigns so Stephen Harper could come to power. Ted Morton got
elected to the Alberta legislature, ran for leadership of the Alberta
Progressive Conservatives and is now provincial minister of finance.
4. Encourage your students to get involved in public affairs.
Danielle Smith, Alberta's own wild rose, is the fairest flower of
the Calgary School. When she won the leadership of the Wildrose Party
and made it a contender, she scared Ed Stelmach into appointing Morton
finance minister. Maybe she'll be the next premier. Ezra Levant is
putting the fear of God, Jehovah and Allah into human rights
commissions--even as he finds time to defend the tar sands, fan Brodie
was Stephen Harper's chief of staff in the critical first two years
in office. Mark Milke, Marco Navarro and Mercedes Stephenson are working
for think tanks and filling the media with conservative commentary. The
students of the Calgary School will be its most long-lasting legacy.
5. Have a long-term plan for world domination. The Calgary School
is now grooming Sarah Palin to be the next president of the United
States. When that mama grizzly is installed as POTUS, our work will be
complete. Until then, we will not cease from mental fight, until we have
built a Hayeldan Jerusalem in Canada's green and pleasant land.
TOM FLANAGAN
CALGARY, ALBERTA
