Who’s got all the money and who should have it?
According to the latest annual figures, the Conservative Party almost quadrupled their rivals in 2008 fund raising. More than all the other parties combined. They took in 21.2 MILLION dollars. The highest amount ever, easily outpacing the Liberals who raised just $5.9 million and the NDP who raised 5.5 million. Their treasury is clearly brimming with our cash (yes my cash is included in that pile).
Conservative Party panjandrums, and conservative Canadians generally, should figure out why that is. Canadians need to get real about what and who it is that is driving all that money and votes to the Conservative Party; and the fact that it’s not the Party alone, or its leader. In fact it might be in spite of them.
And that party needs all of it, and more, in the months and years to come, to battle the groundswell of liberalism and socialism which always appears ready to
swallow—and poop-out—this country (and increasingly, it seems, even our more enterprising and patriotic and traditional Judeo-Christian values based neighbors to the south.)
PTBC was set up to be a fierce opponent of liberalism and socialism, and an equally fierce advocate of conservatism and those real, actual, proven, traditional Canadian values; and as a strong rallying point for small-c conservative outrage and calls to action. Many of the people who stumble onto the ProudToBeCanadian website are passively encouraged to—and are bound to—migrate toward the Conservative Party web site at some point. And they are bound to respond more favorably to the CPC’s mass email and snail mail appeals, and to respond more positively to those incessant, grating, sales calls that CPC sales force make “on behalf of Stephen Harper” over the phone. And they are more likely to migrate to that Conservative Party check box when casting their ballots.
And so as if by magic (or in much the same way that healthcare is “free” in this country) throngs of Canadians—174,000 Canadian folks, according to the 2008 report—have hop-scotched the bothersome middle man and given their time and money directly to the Conservative Party. Even though we all know the CPC bank account is chockablock full of cash.
I’ve heard from “conservatives”, and liberals too, that this web site actually hurts the cause. They tell me it steers people away from the Conservative Party (to where, I’m just not sure). 
This, on the cockamamie basis that I’m “too conservative”; Or I write “outlandish” things (perhaps like “cut government spending”, or “state-owned media shouldn’t be allowed in a free country”, or like “abortion is the most disgusting thing ever thought of by humans”); Or because I contract with the likes of actual—and very successful—conservatives like Ann Coulter and post her column and others like hers, right here in Canada, where being an actual conservative goes against the sacred liberal-left fundamentalist religion to which the Conservative Party seems to fear like they (pretend to) fear God Himself; Or because I say “Rush Limbaugh” occasionally—in a positive manner! Or unlike the Conservative Party, I actually say, out loud, that “capitalism is good”. Or it’s that I chastise the Party when, as they so often have, they’ve broken with real, live, proven, successful, principled conservative philosophy (—what a “radical” and an “extremist” I am!).
Well I could say the same about the Conservative Party and their ability—their knack for—repelling voters—conservative voters. Look at their minority status and current poll numbers to see I’m right. They’ve successfully driven people away from themselves. Or engage in a brief dialogue with the folks who comment on this web site to know the level of frustration people feel with “their” Conservative party, which they sometimes refer to as the “so-called” Conservative Party, or in far ruder terms than that. The Conservative Party clearly drive conservatives and even fence-sitters away. In droves.
• The Conservative Party supports limitless, taxpayer-paid, abortion for any reason at any time in any pregnancy. (I could stop right here and still remain solidly on the side of conservative, with them on the other side).
• They support gay “marriage”.
• They increase government spending instead of decreasing it.
• They grow government instead of shrinking it.
• They procure deficit budgets.
• They gleefully entertain support for the absurd “man-made global warming” fraud.
• They even more absurdly support—very vocally and apparently on principle—state-owned, socialism-reliant and anti-conservative media, the CBC.
• They support the notion that the government should compete against its own citizens in business for profits, and in the forum of ideas (see the CBC item, above).
• They support the “human rights” commissions and their anti-freedom, anti-democratic actions.
• They support the socialist Canada Health Act and our decrepit healthcare system which bars citizens—by law—from spending their own money on their own basic health care.
• They appease Quebec to the point of embarrassment.
• They appease almost every liberal-left pet project and special interest.
• They fail to act on the ridiculously restrictive gun laws in Canada.
• They set deadlines and timetables for withdrawal and surrender to terrorists in Afghanistan, ludicrously, on a future date certain.
I think they do far more to detract Canadians from the Conservative Party—from their financial coffers and the check boxes beside their name on ballots—than I ever could. At least if I drive people away from the Conservative Party, it’s because I am a conservative, and I’m driving away those who obviously aren’t conservative. And I’ll wear that like a feather in my cap, thanks.
I spend my time and money maintaining this particular rallying point, PTBC, instead of doing all that I could do with my time and money. And at the very same time, ironically, sometimes right in the middle of a blog entry or posting a columnist’s column which invariably rallies people 
to support conservatism and/or mocks one liberal-left absurdity or another, many of the phone calls I get come from the Conservative Party asking me to once again cough up some of my money to help them and their noble cause. They don’t know who I am. They apparently know utterly nothing about me or what I do. And I don’t suppose they care one whit either.
To say that they take for granted the support they get from the real conservative base in this country, is to state the obvious, times ten. It’s actually become insulting to me.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: The Conservative Party has enough cash. And, you’re welcome. And just as you may question whether this web site—me personally—deserve financial support, the question of whether or not that Party deserves our support—of time, money, or votes, is questionable at the very best, given their demonstrably non-conservative actions and apparent principles, and their stuffed-full bank accounts. It’s time to redirect cash to those who are really making a difference and really advocating for conservatives. The effects may trickle up to the Conservative Party, or maybe somewhere else, which is exactly how it should be in a democracy.
Support ProudToBeCanadian. I’ve said it more often than I care to. But this time, I mean support us not in addition to them, but instead of them. I think that’s what it has come to.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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