WHISSELL: Maybe a 'woke of the right' is not what we need?

In a Western Standard column titled Why the Conservatives keep losing, columnist Brock Eldon identified cultural issues as the chief reason the Conservatives can’t win elections anymore..ELDON: Why the Conservatives keep losing.But I don’t think that’s the biggest reason at all. There were increasingly unusual suggestions offered throughout Eldon’s writing. After reading the article several times, I’m convinced it’s so full of ideas harmful to conservatives, I’d better share just why that is. .First of all, the 2025 loss was primarily due to a fear of Trump and his economic threats.There were also more tangible issues. Trump’s tariffs affected the pocketbooks of many Canadians, especially pensioners. But, to be precise, bias against Trump also contributed because of Canada’s longstanding anti-American culture..HANNAFORD Special Edition: To win, Conservatives must take back the culture.If Poilievre’s election campaign had focused on cultural issues as Eldon suggests, the Conservatives would’ve tanked..I do, however, agree that the cultural capture of institutions by the Liberals is a reality. But, that means the fight for Canada — the responsibility — is in the hands of everyday Canadians like you and me. We need to fight for schools, churches, businesses, and every culturally influenced institution of civil society.We have failed at this task miserably.While Eldon’s explanation of the cause for our cultural conundrum seemed on track, his argument went off the rails in my view when he blamed the state for what is actually the failure of everyday Canadians.“From John Diefenbaker to Stephen Harper,” Eldon said of the Conservative Party, “they’ve governed as economic custodians, rarely touching the cultural assumptions underpinning Canadian society.”.That’s quite true, but there’s a bothersome implication here: since when did the state create culture? Since when was the state a refinery for culture?What’s Eldon saying here, exactly?Does he want Conservatives to be like the federal Liberals and try to dictate culture through the state? That’s backfired before. Look at how the woke ideology is perceived in Canada today, after Trudeau’s attempts to force it on us. How about when Erin O’Toole tried to shift the Conservatives dramatically to the left when he said, “We’re not your dad’s Conservative Party anymore?” That narrative was the beginning of the end for him.Shouldn’t culture come from the people of Canada and not the state in a representative democracy?.Eldon confusingly notes that, “the left has long understood and the right has long ignored: that politics follows or is downstream of culture, not the other way around.”Well, just like the right, he doesn’t seem to heed that concept either, or he wouldn’t have asked the state to define culture for us. That’s going in the opposite direction.Eldon further suggests that the federal Conservatives’ refusal to engage with social conservatives and populists during the election was a mistake. He believes Poilievre should have gone on the Joe Rogan podcast, and that “his campaign lacked cultural courage.” Eldon suggests the campaign should have focused on, “recovering what conservatism is for: rootedness in family, faith, and tradition.”.Alright, but in so doing Eldon asks the government to solve Canada’s culture problem. He implies a statist solution.For any conservative, that’s an entirely backwards assessment.In a free society, the preservation of culture within institutions by the people is the answer. It’s Canadian citizens who must fight for our culture within schools, churches, media, companies, etc., not the state. During that social interaction, we influence one another, who we vote for, and ultimately who wins the election. That’s the right order in a democracy.In his book, The Trouble with Canada… Still!, Bill Gairdner warned that once the state aims for control over institutions, there is a risk of creating a totalitarian system like communism or fascism. Unfortunately, Eldon’s whole solution smacks of a confusing mix of using a statist methodology to implement right-leaning culture or, as Dr. James Lindsay might call it, a Woke Right approach..Once conservatives employ neo-Marxist or postmodern tactics, they risk becoming just like the radical left — power obsessed. It’s a Machiavellian approach: it’s acceptable to use identity politics or deconstruction to achieve power (that is, to win an election,) no matter how much it divides society. For example, think about how Trudeau demonized anti-vaxxers in the 2021 election to galvanize his base.Is that what Eldon is arguing for? Radical left methodology to win it all?It’s telling that he’s entirely focused on the Conservatives (the potential state) creating a narrative to save our collective bacon.“Nations are stories we tell ourselves,” Eldon posits, “lose control of the story, and you lose the nation. The left knows this.” That’s a postmodern nightmare he’s suggesting, a social construct to re-create what Canada is through words. A narrative isn’t going to create anything good until Canadian culture has firmly established itself in our institutions.Time for people to get busy.

WHISSELL: Maybe a 'woke of the right' is not what we need?

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