The character Tom Reagan in the Coen brothers’ film Miller’s Crossing observed that “You don’t hold elected office in this town. You run it because people think you do. They stop thinking it, you stop running it.”.It’s a fascinating observation about power and politics..Occupying the Office of the Leader of the Official Opposition gives Andrew Scheer only as much power as his caucus and the party brass are willing to yield. If these people stop thinking you’re in charge, you stop being in charge – and the grassroots members of the party matter almost not at all in this power dynamic..A handful of power brokers within the Conservative party have created an organization called Conservative Victory to force Scheer to resign as leader. If he gives in to this demand, he stops being in charge. If he doesn’t, this group will create intolerable chaos and disunity that will cause party members, who might otherwise support Scheer, to insist on a leadership change – and he stops being in charge. There is no way out for Scheer and it’s too late for him to get in front of this and claim the idea to resign was his own..There is still grassroots support for Scheer. The comments in response to a Western Standard news story concerning a #ScheerMustGo online campaign and petition were almost entirely supportive of the leader. A quick survey of social media comments on the campaign to remove Scheer also reveal a significant base of support for the leader..Many of our readers rightly point out that Scheer won the popular vote and carried himself with dignity throughout the campaign. He faced a predictable media attack designed to make the election about gay marriage, a policy that was put the bed in 2005, and abortion, which hasn’t been seriously debated in Canada since 1993 – and only then in the courts. Scheer wanted to talk about taxes and trade and Canada’s declining middle class. His campaign slogan was “It’s time for you to get ahead” – lame perhaps, but not a call to burn witches or whatever nonsense the CBC might be accusing him of advocating. But Trudeau’s media army was not going to let this economic discussion happen. Not as long as they could find any reason to resurrect decades-old policy battles about gay marriage and abortion..What’s dispiriting about some of the attacks on Scheer from senior people within the conservative movement is that they are repeating the dishonest narrative that Scheer has a hidden anti-LGBT agenda. This may serve to oust Scheer as leader, but it will hobble any and all future conservative candidates who refuse to disavow privately held religious beliefs — and it will alienate grassroots party activists who are being told by people claiming a superior understanding of politics that they are a liability to the future success of the conservative movement..Conservative party members don’t have to believe Scheer is too conservative to be electable – they don’t – or that he fumbled the ball during the campaign. They only have to believe that sacrificing the leader is the cost of peace and a requirement to move forward as a united party. The reason the attacks on Scheer are being made loudly and publicly now is because those who oppose Scheer do not want to leave the leadership review question to the riding associations and party members, any more than Democrats want to try their luck against Trump in the general election..The narrative that Scheer has a secret agenda is intended for the media, who are more than happy to seek out anyone willing to confirm their bias against conservatism generally. This group wants Scheer to resign now – and maybe he should. Not because this group is right, but because they will not stop until the party is in complete disarray, at which point the members will demand a leadership review and euthanize Scheer if he refuses to go away quietly..Kory Teneycke, a member of Conservative Victory, made the case in a CBC interview that Scheer “…should resign and run again for his job. If he’s confident that the party membership backs him, that’s the way to test that.” This is transparently disingenuous. If the members of the party vote for a leadership review it will be the beginning of a ritualistic sacrifice to exorcise the dark spirits of chaos and discord manufactured by Conservative Victory. A leadership vote that keeps Scheer in place will not satisfy those who are prepared to publicly criticize the leader – and the members of the party will no doubt understand this. CPC members don’t really get to decide if they want Scheer as leader. They only get to decide if they are prepared to accept the consequences of standing by him..This campaign against Scheer will not convince grassroots conservatives of the laughable claim that the conservative leader is a firebrand moral crusader — but it might convince them that party unity requires that he disappears..I have my own objections to the socially conservative views of many in the CPC, but they are not exclusive to Scheer and nor do they have anything to do with marching in Pride parades 50 years after same-sex relationships were decriminalized..My sense of things at this point is that the deafening silence from the Scheer camp means the campaign to replace the leader has already won — and when Scheer realizes his support in caucus and within the CPC political apparatus is gone, he’ll offer his resignation without regard for whatever support he might enjoy among party members..Whatever the outcome here, understand that CPC members are not being asked whether or not they support Andrew Scheer. They are being tested as to how much chaos and discord they can stomach.
