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PAGE SEVEN I alwaysI thought you . were supposed ~~ e - ~to put stuff in ---«- not g. kelt TH-E FADING 0F CONSERVATISM Forthe TuIE BISE 0F POPULISM e ihu Fo h atyear, the' daily news has rarely bee .wit.-u a story of some sort on the radical changes occurring within the communist bloc. Principally those changes have been f- - - - - - - - - - - - - - towards more economic and political freedom, and inà western e.e countries, this has been smugly heralded as the death of !,, communism. Perhaps, but in terms of practical politics the free-market economy envisioned in even the most liberal of the communist countries is stili a far cry from the capitalism -I that we know. Eastern Europe may be embracing democracy yet what fi that means depends a lot on your point of view. Democracy is a terribly overworked word. In South America, the last ten years have seen a number of countries returned to "democracy" even though the military maintains an effective veto and corruption is widely reported in elections. (I fouind'it amusing last week that at the celebration of Costa Rica's hundredth year of democracy (a remarkable feat for a Central Arnèrican country) that only - Cb, Ohile, Panama, and* Haiti were excluded fo h invitation list of the entire Western Henisphere on the grounds that- their governments were not elected democratically) "Pree" elections do not necessarily equate to demnocraçy, yet in fairness, major strides have taken place. The changes in both eastern Europe and South Anierica the rise of populiýïn. Repressed .and stifled for decades by 4 , repressive regimes which drove their countries farther, and -- farther in debt, the people have taken to the streets to demand a greater-say in how their countries are being run. A Although the standard textbook terminology of politics puts communisma at the extreme iIèft and fascism, at the extreme right, in practise the two can be remarkably similar__ Both have featured rigid central state control with negligible input from ordinary citizens. But communism is changing- the Stalinist doctrine of repression and- secrecy only worked for so long. Within communism, Stalinists represent the interests of a privileged class - they're the conservative wing of the Çommunist party and they're now under siege from an impatient population. Tlwroughout the western world, the 1980's are widely regarded as the conservative decade. The eighties began with the ascendency of the arch-conservatives, Maggie Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Reagan in the States. The '80%s were the age of Thatcherism and Reaganomics. But Ronald Reagan is gone - replaced by a far more ,5 pragmatic "conservative" who has wiÈely left most of his options open. In Britain, Margaret Thatcher is in deep trouble not only with the people but with her own party as well. Although she still has a couple of years to run in her current mandate, it is........ widely assumed the she has little hope of winning another VILLAGE 0F MYRTLE LOOKING NORTH ON KIIGHWAY 12 TO0 termn unless there's another Falkland's war. Her abrasive THRE 9TH CONCESSION, C. 1908 single-minded conservatism has run out of steam At the left of this photo la the Myrtie Temperance Hall, built in the 1850s and demohished in In most of Europe, far iight wing parties which showed -1978. At right s T. W. Brookes' General Store, demohished 'n 1967. Notice the buggy at the remarkable strepgth in the early eighties are now a spent centre of the picture in the background.. Whltby ArclveS photo foc.Mei wp- iia pcrmisclrdGen Conservatives move slowly and carefully - it's in their John Ambulance Corps. nature. Every ramification must be studied before an action is taken. In the face of numerous world crises - debt, inflation and the environment amongst others - the public is impatient for solutions. Conservatives, by definition, simply aren't the 75 TEARS AGO ones who can deliver. froni the Thursday, October 29, 1914 edition of the We are excited by the rapid changes in the communist wH1TY GAZEIT AND CHIRONICLE - world and compare those advances with relatively minor tax a Charles Albert Goofellow, publisher of the Gazette and Chronicle, and bis wife celebrated reform measures of our own government which take years to their 25th wedding anniversary on Oct. 24. implement. We look, for bold solutions to the garbage crisis a Lieut. George W. P. Every la signing up recruits to go to, the war in Europe. but wait interminably for the haîf measures which follow. e Collectoirs for the Belgian Relief Fund are going door-to-door ini Brooklin. The people are on the roll. We're impatient. We want * Married men must get written permission from their wives to join the army and go to the results. While the eighties was a decade of conservatism, the European war. nineties will be dominated by a new cycle of populism._______________________________________j M