Maxime Bernier On Rubin Report

Mad Max, Amash, Massie and Paul: The North American political version of the Rat Pack.

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I'm one of those rare Canadians who has been kicking around the back alleys of American libertarianism since 2003 after I discovered Reason magazine. 

It was there the idea of the individual really crystallized for me as a former 'swing' voter despite (now looking back) my classical liberal tendencies. But that was kept in check by a fog of status quo narratives I wasn't aware of. Slowly I emerged all squint eyed bruised but not beaten.

On this road to my awakening, I made numerous American friends and have since been asked to be part of their political discussion groups. I'm privy to so many interesting points of views from an eclectic bunch of individuals. From former Marines to highly successful doctors to businessmen to writers to software experts and everyone in between. They give fascinating anecdotes about life on the Mexican-American border, to government IT tales, to explanations of gun culture as it is, to the inner-workings of the ACA. 

Well-read, well-travelled; outgoing or misanthropic it doesn't matter as we come from all walks of life. But this much we all share. A passion for the sanctity of liberty we all feel is under duress at the moment in North America. 

Be it free speech, gun rights or the simple values that drive us forward like personal responsibility and accountability. We value reason and facts over narratives. 

I'm heartened, if not impressed, to see so many Canadians - like Jordan Peterson or various alt-media personalities - lending their voices on the patch to recovering the values we so cherish in our shared Western liberal heritage. 

It's interesting it's Bernier carrying the 'classical liberal' torch. Bernier is from Quebec like me and I always felt there was a libertarian impulse present among Quebecers. 

I'm from Montreal and while this province tends to be too socialistic and unions have too much power, Quebecers exhibit at its core what I believe to be a libertarian streak. It just needs a voice. 

It’s not a coincidence Quebec was one of the first private clinic practitioners (along with Alberta) in Canada, that the MEI is from here and now unfortunately defunct libertarian publication Le Quebecois Libre. 

A libertarian paper in Quebec? Voyons-donc! 

The pulse was always there and no one could bring it to life. It just needed pricking and maybe Bernie is the right 'prick' to get spark that light! 

The ultimate irony is Canada - not the United States. The spiritual home of human liberty - has the best shot at electing a libertarian. In America, Paul, Massie, and Amash are in Congress but are not likely to lead the GOP. Gary Johnson, despite his faults, made a valiant effort to push forward this agenda.

The time is right. I do not want North America to be what has become of the United Kingdom. That island meekly and embarrassingly has abandoned any self-dignity it once possessed with its preposterous assault on free speech and civil liberties. I don't want this civilization to rely on the government as a means to an end. I just don't. It's not healthy for the soul; the human spirit. 

Sure the media will smear and protect the establishment but who cares? Damn the torpedoes!

Not to toot my own horn but I've been waiting around, writing and pleading on this blog for 14 years about Galiani and Bastiat and an endless amount of issues from a classical liberal perspective. I'm not the only one of course. There are many like me all lending their small voice if anything to just be heard and counted. I sensed that our public intellectuals and the quality of our ideas had become stale. All it did was defend a intellectual machine that worked for them and no one else. It was self-serving and hopelessly without a modern and enlightening message. 

They had become lazy and pulled far too left for my taste. 

I was aware of all the players and publications on this New Liberalism if you will and like to think I played my own small part in this potential Renaissance.