LYTLE: When it's time for independence, the needed leaders will come forward

In the waning hours of December 16, 1773, a group of English colonists, dressed as native Americans boarded the ship, Dartmouth, and pitched more than 300 chests of tea into Boston harbour. It made great theatre, pleasing some citizens and angering many others. King George III responded by doubling down on hated taxes. He was going to pin the tail feathers of those irresponsible rabble rousers.It was a seminal moment. The Loyal Nine had become the Sons of Liberty and people were waking up to the implications of growing colonial discontent. The most popular name that comes down to us from 1773 is that of Sam Adams. There was no George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin in the colonial independence movement. Even Sam’s soon-to-be-president cousin, John Adams, was famous, at this point, for supporting the English Crown..I think this is about where the Alberta independence movement is today. The argument that the movement doesn’t have appropriate leadership is to ignore the history of revolutionary movements. Thomas Jefferson would be unknown to history but for the courage and antics of Sam Adams.Alberta’s nascent independence movement is getting traction and those potential leaders with the most to lose are starting to pay attention and whisper to each other about their views of the events of the day. I say “the most to lose” because no one likes a vicious tax audit or a visit from the RCMP. The independence movement needs to be de-risked before exposure to “live fire” will make sense to potential leaders who might lead Alberta through the necessary and hazardous stages towards independence. .I do not know the current leaders of Alberta’s independence movement and undoubtedly some of them will emerge as legitimately capable of taking the movement to completion. But other potential leaders from the Alberta caucus of the Conservative Party, the United Conservative Party, the business community and the politically retired may also self-identify as the de-risking process proceeds. Benjamin Franklin had no desire to be hanged from the yardarm of a British warship without there at least being a reasonable path to independence. But that moment came for the unhappy colonists just as it will for disgruntled Albertans. The outcome of the independence movement is not foreordained but the risks of the process must, at least, be offset by the potential rewards of success. As it is with revolutionary movements, large construction projects also change project managers to match different personalities to the exigencies of the project as it moves from design to groundbreaking to start-up to litigation. Revolutions, like projects, need to match 'horses for courses.'All of this is based on my belief that more history is created by “the occasion drawing forth the man” than “the man creating the occasion.” Without implying a close parallel to the situation in Alberta, it is worth considering that Steve Bannon once described how the nascent “MAGA” movement grew out of the 2010 Tea Party movement. When Andrew Breitbart unexpectedly died, Bannon wanted former senator, Jeff Sessions, to become the new leader. Sessions wisely said that he was not the man but that soon enough the man would identify himself. The rest is history.I like the horses leading today’s independence course and am comfortable that as the course changes, suitable leadership, equally matched to the new problems will be drawn forth. It is a process.

LYTLE: When it's time for independence, the needed leaders will come forward

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