It was so nice to see commenters at HotAir etc offering their congratulations on Harper’s “Conservative” majority, but…
Gerry Nichols explains it all for you:
The answer is that up until now Canadian conservatives have trusted Prime Minister Harper because, unlike any other political leader in our history, he himself emerged from the conservative movement. So Harper isn’t just another politician, he is one of us. Plus, more importantly, Harper had a good excuse for not implementing a conservative agenda: he was forced to work in a minority Parliament.
And so, in short, what kept ideological conservatives supporting the Tories was hope. Hope that Harper would one day win a majority and hope that once he had a majority he would do the right thing.
Hence, the term Stephen Hoperites. (…)
Disgruntled Stephen Hoperites might stop giving money to the Tories, stop volunteering for the Tories and ultimately stop voting for the Tories. Or, who knows? They might even start a new party to rival the Conservatives or more likely form a Tea Party-like movement.
