Must Read for all Canadians - history repeats itself/ history is written by the victors

Excerpts from

A British history lesson for Canada’s Liberals

Dan Gardner can be reached at .dgardner@ottawacitizen.com



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If history repeats, we are about a decade away from ... “The Strange Death of Liberal Canada.”

The history in question is that of Britain’s Liberal party, which dominated British politics in the late 19th century, laid the foundations of the modern welfare state at the beginning of the 20th century, led Britain in the First World War ... and then collapsed. It wasn’t reduced to rubble all at once, of course, but the transition from dominance to irrelevance was swift and bewildering.

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But (the Liberal party as) government would take steps to take the rough edges off capitalism.

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but the Liberals became the party of industrial workers (and minorties/immigrants-whose favour they curried). The Liberals also enjoyed regional bases in Scotland and Wales. It was a winning combination.

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A landslide in 1906 was followed by the enactment of the new program — old age benefits, health insurance, workman’s compensation — and the extension of the franchise. More victories followed. But then came the First World War and the end of the golden age.

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(Minority governments were common in this era. So were coalitions, alliances, and a wide variety of electoral arrangements. As a Canadian reading about this history today, it’s striking just how completely it repudiates Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s claims about coalitions and how the Westminister system works.)

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It wasn’t clear what the Liberals stood for, what they believed, why they wanted to win
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In 1926, Asquith retired. Lloyd George took sole control. He had one final chance to restore the party’s fortunes and he made the most of it.

Lloyd George assembled many leading intellectuals, including John Maynard Keynes, to discuss policy. Together, they published a series of important, insightful research papers and books. In the election of 1929, the Liberals had a policy platform which was hailed at the time, and by historians ever since, as the most intellectually distinguished document of its kind.

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And if Canadian Liberals don’t see lessons in this history it won’t be long before someone writes “The Strange Death of Liberal Canada.”
Dan Gardner