Dexter disappointment

I’ve heard you in the quad, complaining about the disappointing Dexter government.
I just want you to know that it’s your fault.
Let’s not beat around the bush here: yes, I’m a registered New Democrat and no, I’m not going to tear up my party membership and launch into an anti-NDP tirade. Besides, have you ever seen an NDP membership card? It would be a pretty lame public display, let me assure you.
Am I disappointed? Yes. Frustrated? Sure. About to hop on the Liberal/Green/Marxist-Leninist/Pirate Party bandwagon? No.
And no, what you’re seeing right now, the infuriating shift to the centre-right, is not what I want.
Why? Because it’s easier to hate a buffoon than it is to hate the guy who you used to believe in.
But to buy into this hype that Dexter and his cabinet are incompetent closet-Conservatives is defeatist. The only thing more frustrating than watching Graham Steele push tired austerity measures is listening to a leftist give up on politics altogether because they’ve had it up to here (to here they say!) with Darrell Dexter. Disengagement does not breed change.
So bitch more.
The NDP has contorted itself away from its core values not because the MLAs are bourgeois scum. Far from it. I know many of the MLAs and I honestly believe that their hearts are in the right place. It’s our job to put their heads in the left place. (See what I did there?)
Bill 100 is a great example. It’s a bill that would have seen a reorganization of the union system in Nova Scotia that would have benefited thousands of workers. What did the government do? It caved to corporate interests that whined about having to respect union certification for government services that get contracted out to the private sector. Unions made themselves heard, but where was the groundswell?
Why did this happen? Because the Left is asleep at the wheel. It seems like every time the Dexter government comes out with anything moderately progressive, one part of the left-leaning community comes out in support of it, and the other part says it doesn’t go far enough. The bill goes through debate, and it gets compromised, much to the chagrin of everyone on the left.
We are the majority here, people. Let’s make the NDP compromise with our demands, rather than just staking our position, not defending it, then letting the right swoop in and take what they want. The government is operating overly cautiously; they’re not going to do something radical unless the vast majority appears to support it.
I once heard an MLA remark, in reference to the Canadian Federation of Students, that it’s no good talking to them—they’ll never support anything we do.
This is what we need to fight against. The Left is just as frustrated with the NDP as the NDP is frustrated with the Left.
And I know everyone reading this is thinking, “But the CFS is doing so much to pressure the government!” And yes, they are. And yes, they’re doing an amazing job. But that’s just one part of the puzzle; every left-leaning person living in this province needs to stand up to be counted. When it comes down to it, unfortunately, the government is going to do what’s best for the most people – so long as it’s politically expedient. By shouting “We’re here, we’re to the left on the general political spectrum, get used to it!” We can—maybe—influence the party into realizing that the voting public isn’t just seniors with a hate-on for kids on their lawn. The population cares about tuition fees, environmental regulation, workers’ rights, and all that hippie shit.
So let’s not fight. Let’s get together and talk things over. Invite an MLA over for coffee, take a party activist out for drinks (me?), go for vegetarian samosas with a communications person.
Let them know that we’re not mad, we’ve just been working a lot lately. Just stay together for the kids.