In the October election, Andrew Scheer did what every conservative does when they get into trouble on social issues: pretend to be a libertarian. Wounded culture warriors on the right routinely take refuge in this kinder, gentler brand when under siege by the progressive left. But authenticity matters, and voters aren’t buying it..When pressed on his opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion in a post-election interview, Scheer argued: “…you can have a personal view and you can acknowledge that, in Canada, the prime minister does not impose a particular viewpoint on Canadians.”.I like it..It’s a perfectly reasonable position that reflects an understanding that 1) the state must be limited in both size and scope so that no citizen is subject to the capricious personal preferences of the political class, and that 2) culture should be allowed to develop organically in the private sphere. When market forces are allowed to work in the cultural arena, the best and most adaptive values and traditions are adopted, and the worst and least adaptive values and traditions fall away. Engineering a culture – like engineering an economy – doesn’t work and allows the government to pick winners and losers. That’s the theory anyway.. Legalize It-Libertarian PartyMillennial Libertarian Party supporter (Photo source: Matthew Johnston) .“I believe that Canadians understand that any number of people can have a different point of view on these issues. What’s important to them is to know whether a prime minister will make changes or seek to make changes,” Scheer said. “And my assurances to Canadians was that as prime minister, these types of debates would not be reopened.”.Again, sounds good..Scheer is outlining what is essentially a culturally conservative and politically libertarian fusionist worldview. It’s a view held by many libertarians who, in their personal lives, adhere to traditional conservative values and believe that a free society is the best protection against infringements on the exercise of these values. There is also a school of thought in libertarianism that posits that traditional conservative values would grow in popularity with the declining influence of the state in both social and economic affairs. The paradox of this view is that libertarians would resist any attempt by government to criminalize behaviours – prostitution and drug use, for example – they themselves might agree are socially destructive. Andrew Scheer is not one of these people..Despite his desperate assurances during the election that he has no interest in pursuing a socially conservative political agenda, voters didn’t trust him, and had no reason to..The only major social reform coming out of the federal government since same-sex marriage in 2005 has been marijuana policy reform, an initiative intended to reduce the harm associated with the illicit marijuana drug trade and to end the unjust criminalization of its users. While it’s clear now that Trudeau’s legalization scheme has pleased neither the marijuana activists – who have demanded reforms for decades – nor the licensed commercial cannabis growers drowning in red tape, marijuana legalization was a good idea badly executed..You can believe both that marijuana is a social problem and that prohibition makes that problem worse within the logical confines of a culturally conservative/politically libertarian worldview. But Scheer doesn’t hold this view. Scheer is personally opposed to marijuana use and did not hesitate to attempt to “impose a particular viewpoint” on the rest of Canadians, even if that meant putting peaceful marijuana users in jail. He failed to separate his personal views from his political views and hoped nobody would remember when he provided assurances of his live-and-let-live approach to social policy.. Andrew Scheer-HeadshotConservative Leader Andrew Scheer .Since the Conservative leadership race, Scheer has led a campaign against marijuana policy reform. It started with a fundraising email sent to party supporters during the 2017 leadership contest in which Scheer warned of the Liberal “hidden agenda when it comes to illegal drugs: decriminalize them all.” And during debates on marijuana policy reform in parliament under his leadership, the Tories adopted a 1950s “Reefer Madness” hysteria to compliment their avalanche of bad social and economic arguments against drug policy reform..Only after tremendous backlash to his hinting that a government under his leadership would re-criminalize marijuana did the drug war rhetoric ease up. Not because Scheer thought his critics were right, but because he thought it politically expedient not to say anything that might destabilize a growing commercial cannabis industry..The Angus Reid Institute noted that “the vast majority of Canadians support legalizing marijuana, though they’re divided on whether using the drug is “acceptable.” In other words, the vast majority of Canadians are able to separate their personal views on marijuana from their political views. But not Scheer.. Trudeau on WE scandal: Case closed .Seeking cover under the libertarian brand didn’t work for Scheer because he had already let voters know he was no friend of social freedoms. The move lacked both credibility and authenticity – and smacked of desperation. Had Scheer ignored the manufactured media outrage over his social views and defended an authentic conservatism, he may very well have done better. At the very least, he would have been carried off the field of battle on his shield as a hero to grassroots conservatives. Instead, social conservatives now think he’s weak and progressive conservatives think he’s a liability..In the final analysis of the election loss, many Conservative partisans are insisting that it is no longer possible to elect someone who doesn’t march in Pride events or disavow his or her Christian views. This is bigoted nonsense. Scheer’s promise to keep his personal views separate from his political views was the right strategy. The problem was that voters who may be been persuaded by this argument remembered the Reefer Madness rhetoric and had no reason to trust him..Matthew Johnston is the Opinion Editor of the Western Standard. mjohnston@westernstandonline.com
