Sunday night cheapshot

Sorry, but I couldn't resist. I was checking out the Wildrose Alliance Party's platform and found this gem under "Safety and Justice:"

A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a program whereby juvenile offenders could be sentenced to boot camps featuring physical labour and education.

Now that, my friends, is sure to aide greatly in the party's efforts to shed itself of the crazy rural fundamentalist image it currently has.

Comments

[eh]

Hahaha. Chain gangs of delinquent children is just what we need to get this province back on track. I wonder what their 'education' curriculum would entail.....

[Right Wing Nut Job]

It's easy to criticize. What do you propose as an alternative to the Wild Rose Alliance's platform?

[Brian Dell]

A lot of the optics problems are simply related to the fact the party is grassroots. When you don't have a stable of consultants in suits and focus groups styling your talking points and instead simply throw the entire platform up there that was created at a convention anyone could propose, speak, and vote, you are often going to get the unvarnished and unsophisticated opinion of an ordinary Albertan or two.

[jk]

Brian;

Your point is well taken, but I really think that the optics problems have more to do with the WAP's policies than the fact that it's grassroots. I would describe both the federal and provincial Green Parties as largely "grassroots," but they don't struggle with image problems the way the WAP does. Also, I think you overestimate the resources alloted to opposition caucuses/resources of the opposition parties in Alberta if you think that the Liberals and NDP have a "stable of consultants" at their disposal.

Ultimately, while I think that the grassroots nature of the WAP is admirable, grassroots or not a non-governing party is going to be judged largely by its policy. And, like I said, policy like this plays right into people's image of the WAP as extreme, fringe right-wingers.

[jk]

Right Wing Nut Job: I would propose something that I haven't seen on Jerry Springer.

Seriously though, I'm not very knowledgeable in the area of justice, but I know enough to say that shipping troubled youth off to a gulag probably isn't the best way to deal with them. Youth justice is a tricky issue, I think, because the media sensationalizes the relatively small amount of youths who commit crimes but then get "let off the hook" by the allegedly lax youth justice provisions of the province/country. As a result, parties often slip into demagoguery without actually examining what would work best. I'm going to go out on a limb, but I'm guessing this policy isn't a result of the WAP reviewing literature on the subject and determining that this is the most effective way to rehabilitate youth offenders; more likely, the logic was something along the lines of "I worked hard when I was a kid and I turned out all right, so what we need to do is put these freeloadin' punks to work."

So, I know this is kind of a cop-out, but I would support any policy that has been proven to result in the best outcomes for society and the offenders, and that wasn't just an appeal to the lowest-common-denominator's thirst for what they perceive to be justice.

[Brian Dell]

If the Liberals and NDP don't have a "stable of consultants" at their disposal then why don't I see websites built by the candidates instead of outside professionals? Name one candidate out there that is actively blogging, and thereby making statements on the record that are unfiltered. If I'm "overestimating the resources" of the NDP and Liberal parties then do the NDP and Liberal party NOT receive six figures plus worth of donations annually from unions and corporations, respectively, annually? Where does that money go? Are those parties going to give back the perks and privileges of official party status so that they are on the same level as the Wildrose Alliance?

In any case, I don't mean to indicate that I or my party is too prickly to take criticism good naturedly. I just think all sides of the story need to get out and I've accordingly given my side on my blog: briandell.blogspot.com

[eh]

Brian:

I appreciate your willingness to engage in these types of forums, and the fact that you have a blog. Dave Hancock also has a blog, which he created for the election. This blog is lacking a comments function though, so it reads more like a fluffy, feel good Tory press release (e.g. "Alberta PCs care about seniors"). Another (and better) example is David Swann's blog. However, due to electoral rules, he can't blog during the election because this activity is associated with his role as an MLA (read: publicly funded).

[jk]

Hi Brian;

With respect, it doesn't take a "stable of consultants" to build a website. I'm certainly not denying that these parties have more resources than the Wildrose-Alliance Party (owing to their established donor base), but to my knowledge both the NDP and the Liberals are pretty lean. I mean, ya, the Liberals manage to get a few hundred thousand dollars of donations a year, but the party is also about $500 000 in the hole, so it's not as if they're swimming in money.

Were it up to me, I'd like to see the elimination of corporate/union donations and have parties be given public funds based on the amount of votes they received in the previous election (like they do it federally).