Make no mistake about Jack Layton.
He was a likable guy, but a political animal to the end.
His farewell letter summed up his philosophy, both as federal NDP leader and, before that, as a leading municipal politician in Toronto.
At the core of Layton’s beliefs was his view only “progressive-minded Canadians” like himself value “equality, justice and opportunity,” and a compassionate society that “shares its benefits more fairly.”
This has always been the approach of the NDP to issues of governance: They’re on the side of the angels. Everyone else is heartless, greedy and short-sighted.
But there’s a problem with compassion when it ignores the public’s ability to pay, because then it no longer serves the interests of the public it claims to serve.
Toronto’s budget is in the mess it is today in large part because of the culture of spending cultivated by Layton and his fellow NDPers at City Hall a generation ago.
[More]
See Also:
Sandy: Stephen Lewis claimed “social democracy” for NDP in Layton eulogy
Afternoon Updates:
12:58 pm EDT, August 29th, 2011 — Solberg: Can the NDP survive without Jack?
1:01 pm EDT, August 29th, 2011 — Jonathan Kay: Why do we cry for people we never met?
Thanks for the link Jack.
“If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good. Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of finer clay than the rest of mankind?”
Frederic Bastiat in “The Law”