John Foster Dulles once said that there were two ways to
control and dominate another state. The first approach was military invasion
and occupation. This approach tends to be the messiest, most obvious and
brutal, and, hence, a last resort. The second approach is to take over the
economy of another country. This is more subtle and difficult to detect but it
is just as real for those dominated by it. A third approach that Dulles did not
mention was the cultural approach, and through such an approach the creating of
a comprador class. It is the role of the comprador class to be apologists of
the empire while living within a state the empire seeks to dominate and control
for its imperial ends.
The recent article in Walrus
(October 2004), “The Man Behind Stephen Harper, by Marci McDonald, walks
the extra mile to highlight how a few political scientists in the department of
political science at the University of Calgary have played a significant role
in bringing both Stephen Harper to power, redefined the meaning of conservatism
in Canada and brought us ever close into the orbit and gravitational field of
the USA. The Calgary School, as compradors, have done their deed well.
There is little doubt that Alberta is our most American of
provinces in Canada. Alberta is the province from which the Social Credit party
of William Aberhart and Ernest Manning emerged. Alberta is also the province
from which the Reform-Alliance party of Preston Manning, Stockwell Day and
Stephen Harper took root and flourished. Both the Social Credit and the Reform
Alliance tradition have strong American conservative republican sources. The
state is feared, regionalism is elevated and lesser taxes are held high. In
short, the rights and liberty of the individual is held high to do as seen fit
with property, possessions and the use of finances. Distributivist measures by
the government are seen as flawed and interfering with the rights of citizens.
Natural resources are for the province rather than as something to be shared
with the country as a whole.
There is little doubt that our present Conservative party is a
logical and predictable extension of the Social Credit and Reform and
Alliance line and lineage. Such a tradition, as I mentioned above, has
strong
American conservative republican tendencies. The present Conservative
party of
Canada, predictably and consciously so, has many an affinity with the
American
empire. When the Progressive Conservative party of Canada merged with
the
Reform party, the more progressive and High Tory aspects of the
Progressive
Conservative party vanished and the more republican tendencies came to
win the
day.
How, though, in the last few decades did this occur, and who
were some of the key intellectuals in Canada that assisted in this process to
make us more American both in theory and in practice? A comprador class can
exist at a variety of levels. Some are rather sophisticated, some are popular and
some are crude. The comprador class in Canada can be found in many places and
it can take many shapes and forms. Rex Murphy has played his dutiful role in
the CBC. Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel have had little patience for the notion
of the commonweal in Canada, and the role of the state in protecting such a
good. David Frum and Michael Ignatieff tend to genuflect low and defend the
empire. There are many others that could be mentioned, but the Calgary School
has done much in Alberta and Canada to play their comprador role, and, to some
extent, they have succeeded. What is the Calgary School, why are they so
popular, who are they and what are their sources? Stephen Harper is, to a great
extent, a child of the Calgary School, his intent is to move us ever closer to
the American empire and he is very much a comprador.
But, there are those back of Harper, deeper of thought and
persuasion, that have done much to convince Canadians that we should really, if
we had our wits and smarts about us, turn to the USA as our north star, mentor
and teacher.
“The Man Behind Stephen Harper” does a fine job of
connecting dots for those who have not yet done so. It is a must read for those
keen on seeing and understanding how the puzzle of the comprador class fits
together and who the different pieces in the puzzle are and why. There is
Stephen Harper. He is the political captain on the ship. But, who are the
architects of the ship and who built the ship of the Conservative party of
Canada? The
Conservative party of Canada has come a long way from the
more regional Social Credit and Reform/Alliance days. It is this national
expansion and those who have thought out such an expansion we need to see for
who they are and why. So, yes, there is Stephen Harper, and he is the best known
embodiment and activist of the comprador Calgary School in Canada. Who are the
mandarins and family compact behind him, though?
The Calgary School has both European and American roots and
sources. Three leading Europeans have done much to shape and form the Calgary
School. Those of us who spend a good deal of time teaching political theory
cannot avoid the names of Leo Strauss, Eric Voegelin and Frederick Hayek. Hayek
and Voegelin were Austrians. Hayek was a great fan of free trade, and Voegelin
was an opponent of Hitler. He fled Austria when Hitler came to power, he came
to the USA and taught there for much of his life. Leo Strauss fled Germany,
like Hannah Arendt, when Hitler came to power, and both came and settled in the
USA. The USA was seen, by these Austrian and German refugees, for different
reasons, as the great and good place. It was, was it not, the country that
defended liberty and freedom against the totalitarianism of Germany, Italy,
Japan and Communism. The Calgary School is very much indebted to those
like Strauss, Voegelin and Hayek for their inspiration, and many within the
Calgary School are well known scholars in the area of Strauss, Voegelin and
Hayek. The point to note here is that the Calgary School does not take its lead
from the indigenous Canadian tradition. They turn elsewhere for their great
good place. Such is the nature, DNA and way of the compradors. But, there is
more to the tale than this.
The Calgary School has, also, strong American roots. Again,
the comprador way comes to the fore and front stage. Tom Flanagan is well known
in Canada for his revisionist read on Louis Riel. He was also born and bred in
the USA, and he has strong American republican leanings. Barry Cooper is yet
another of the clan. He is a Canadian, but he did his graduate studies in the
USA, he did not find much support for his republican leanings at York
University, hence he turned to the political science department at the
University of Calgary. Cooper is a well known Voegelin scholar. David Bercuson,
Ted Morton and Rainer Knopff fill out the ranks quite nicely. At a more popular
level, of course, Ted and Link Byfield have played their roles in shoring up
and defending the American republican way. The comprador class in Alberta did
much to both bring Preston Manning to power and to dethrone him. Stephen Harper
was more the ideologue that served their purposes, hence he was offered the
crown he now wears.
The article by Marci McDonald has gone a long way to bring
together a tribe and clan, a line and lineage so all can see. There are others
in this family tree that McDonald has missed, though, and they should be noted
by way of conclusion. William Gairdner is a key person in this tale, and he
should not be missed. Gairdner has published many a book, but After Liberalism: Essays in Search of
Freedom, Virtue and Order (1998) is a must read. After Liberalism was edited by Gairdner, and many of the prominent
actors in the Canadian comprador and republican class walk on stage and speak
their speech. It would have helped if Marci McDonald had connected more of the
dots in Alberta (and the rest of Canada), but “The Man Behind Stephen Harper”
is a good start. Needless to say, there are many men behind Stephen Harper, and
the Calgary School is just one source. Those who have sat at the feet of
William Gairdner and Ted/Link Byfield will hear the same voice. The American
empire is the great place, and the sooner Canadians realize this and bow low to
Caesar, the better off we will be.
We do need to ask this rather simple question as this
missive winds down? Would the Canadian High Toryism of Bishops John Strachan and Charles
Inglis, Susan Sibbald or Catherine Parr Traill, Stephen Lea*censored* or Mazo de la
Roche, George Grant or Milton Acorn, Donald Creighton or Eugene Forsey (to name
but a few Canadian High Tories) be at home with the Albertan tradition of
politics and the conservative republican ideas of the Calgary School? Hardly!
It was this very liberal tradition that these women and men fought so firmly to
oppose. It is this very High Tory nationalist vision for Canada that the
compradors in Alberta and the Calgary School have attempted to obliterate and
replace with the grand narrative of American manifest destiny. It is time that
Tories and other Canadian nationalists talked back to such a betrayal of the
best of our heritage. Indeed, the time has come when the beaver must bite
back.
The sooner that Canadians realize that the Calgary
School and tribe are American republican conservatives, compradors and
apologists for the empire, the sooner we can say such a clan is not deeply
Canadian in any significant sense. Our history, at its noblest and best, has
been one of questioning and interrogating the empire. It is a sad day when we
bow low to the USA and numb our critical faculties. Such a prostration is an
insult to those who have fought long and hard to keep the True North strong and free.
rsd