The Conservatives think that these middle-class workers don’t want ambitious national programs, state-sponsored support, affirmative this or subsidized that. They just want jobs. So the government keeps taxes low, regulations few and budgets as balanced as possible. This encourages businesses to create and preserve jobs, and the people in those jobs in turn vote Conservative. But the contract is fraying. People who wouldn’t be caught dead at an Occupy encampment still wonder why the rich are so very rich, even though the companies they run close factories and move operations overseas.
With their precious poll numbers slipping enough to statistically tie with the NDP the Harperites are strobing around for maintenance options. Will they be able to win over — or at least keep — the middle class who voted for them in the last little while or are these getting increasingly alienated from the Conservatives?
- Tories Debate how Best to Keep Middle-Class Voters There is a quiet debate under way within the Conservative caucus. While not everyone — perhaps not even a majority — agrees, senior figures within the caucus are convinced the party’s future hinges on the outcome of that debate, and they believe Stephen Harper shares their concern. By John Ibbitson writing for The Globe and Mail; posted Mon 07-May-2012.
My one disagreement with the article is Ibbitson’s assertion that keeping taxes low — presumably he meant corporate ones — encourages businesses to create and preserve jobs. While it is the populist thing to say, it only works up to an extent. Past that point, the corporations just hoard the savings, anyway.
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