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We are in the midst of another election season in India, and each time a poll rolls around, I get depressed at the thought that we are about to elect criminals, corrupt populists, and members of political dynasties rather than upright, independent, reform-minded liberals.

On this occasion, laffaire Sasikala and Donald Trumps shocking win in America also weigh on the mind. As a solution, I have earlier advocated setting up a classical liberal political party in India. A young, aspiring India in the 21st century deserves a secular party that trusts markets rather than officials for economic outcomes and focuses on the reform of governance institutions. It may not win votes quickly but it would bring governance reform to centrestage and gradually prove to voters that open markets and rule-based government are the only sensible way to lift living standards and achieve shared prosperity.

Based on this reasoning, Sanjeev Sabhlok formed Swarna Bharat, a genuine liberal political party in 2013. But it has not gained widespread support. I feel guilty that I have not done enough for it; nor have my liberal friends joined it. As I think about our failure, I have come to a startling conclusion. I have realized that a party based on classical liberal principles has almost no chance of winning at the polls unless it ties itself to an identity party.

Dancing heads: Both Thatcher and Reagan were free market proponents

A populist candidate who promises subsidised electricity and food will always defeat a liberal who advocates private initiative and competition. It is hard to sell the free market at the polls because the invisible hand of the market is not visible to the voter whereas the states visible hand is only too visible. A left liberal, however, is likely to be more successful as he advocates an extensive welfare state via state intervention.

For this reason, classical liberals everywhere have chosen to join parties with cultural or social identities. In America, they went on to become liberal Republicans or conservative Democrats. In both cases, they helped to change the economic agenda of their parties.

But as a price, they had to put up with the anti-abortion Christian agenda and the gun lobby of the Republicans and the rigid, inept unions of the Democratic Party. In the UK, Margaret Thatcher tolerated Torys social ideals of traditional Englishness as a price for converting her party (and the nation) in favour of the market.

Similarly, Tony Blair taught the Labour Party to trust market outcomes rather than state intervention. Adenauer and Erhard, both classical liberals in Germany, tolerated the Protestantism of the Christian Democrats while creating the great post-war economic miracle. In a recent volume of essays, Liberalism in India, Jaithirth Rao has argued that even the most successful liberal party in history, the Whigs, who were a force in British politics for over two centuries, had a Low Church identity in contrast to High Church Tories.

In India too, many liberals support Modis vikas agenda but do not subscribe to BJPs cultural baggage of Hindutva. Modis miraculous success at the polls in 2014 was the result of a liberal appeal of maximum governance, minimum government to the aspiring young. As a result, he created space in the BJP for market liberals, and the BJP has matured into a full-fledged right-of-centre party with a clear division between an economic and a cultural right. Modi, however, is not a classical liberal like Thatcher, with ideological commitment to economic and institutional reforms. He is closer to an East Asian moderniser and he reforms on a pragmatic basis. It is still early to say if Modi will deliver, but if he wants to retain his liberal supporters, he will have to keep the cultural wing of his party under tight control. As it is, the latter is unhappy with him for not pursuing Hindutva vigorously.

I feel sad that a liberal party does not have a future in India or elsewhere. Liberalism has driven political action in the world in the past three centuries. It has won much of the political argument in the 20th century, says Barun Mitra of the Liberty Institute. It won Indias fight for freedom from colonial rule; it was responsible for the collapse of communism; and it drove Indias economic reforms. But liberals did not take credit for these reforms and hence we continue to reform by stealth. Liberals are no saints but it is a shame that emotional appeals to race, religion and caste identities still matter more to voters than rational arguments for prosperity and governance.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

See the article here:
Why classic liberals don't win elections, and populists do - Times of India (blog)

Former presidential candidate Herman Cain (R-Ga.) told Kimberly Guilfoyle that he "felt inspired" by President Trump's address to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

'Get A Life': Herman Cain Slams Critics of Seinfeld's 'Black's Life Matters' Joke

Cain: Obama Is Only Being Told What He Wants to Hear

MUST-SEE: Cain Rebuts Claim That Trump Is Running 'Segregated Campaign'

"During his speech, I heard the exploding sounds of liberals' heads exploding," Cain said. "He repeated what he said he was going to do, and he's doing what he said he was going to do."

Cain commended CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp for being able to gather together both the president and most of his team to address the public at the Maryland conference.

He said the American people did not care that Trump's vernacular was not "presidential," but that they are more concerned with Trump's agenda succeeding.

"He speaks 'Trump-Speak'. It connects with the American people," Cain said on "Hannity."

Let us know what you think in the comments and watch Herman Cain react to recent remarks by former Clinton campaign manager John Podesta HERE.

Cain: Trump Protesters Have 'Drank the Fool-Aid'

Podesta Claims 'Forces Within the FBI' Wanted Hillary to Lose

Original post:
Cain: 'I Heard Liberals' Heads Exploding' During Trump's CPAC Speech - Fox News Insider

AP

BY: Madeleine Weast February 24, 2017 2:56 pm

An alternative reality website, http://www.HillaryBeatTrump.org, has become a safe haven for liberals where they can pretend to read fake news in a world in which Hillary Clinton actually won the 2016 presidential election.

HillaryBeatTrump.org's website, along with its Twitter and Facebook accounts, promotes fake news stories, or fan fiction, that liberals wish were true.

The satirical website's banner reads, "President Hillary Rodham Clinton," with the slogan, "News from the real America, where the majority rules."

"In the midst of a Constitutional crisis, this is our response. Long live the true president, Hillary Rodham Clinton," the siteclaims in its "About Us" section.

The news categories on the website include domestic policy, celebrities, world affairs, Wall Street, and sports.

Here are five of the most ridiculous headlines from the site.

1. Rush Limbaugh impregnates Tomi Lahren, demands abortion

"Even more startling, sources close to Lahren told Page 6 that Limbaugh immediately demanded she undergo an abortion, saying it was his Constitutional right to subject her body to his every command according to the 14th amendment,'" the articlefrom Thursday read.

2. Trump says Anne Frank tragically never had the makings of a 10'

"On Wednesday, Donald Trump drew fire from American Jews after the former reality TV star assured the largely Jewish, affluent crowd that gathered at Manhattan's Central Synagogue they were lucky to be alive in America today,'" the articlefrom Wednesday said.

"Tragically, Anne Frank never had the makings of a 10,' he said."

3. Historians say Clinton's presidency is already in "all time top 5"

"In barely two months, Clinton has made headlines and warmed liberal hearts by appointing the most diverse cabinet in historyincluding the highest-ranking Muslim in government, increasing the minimum wage to $12 an hour,raising taxeson the ultra wealthy, shutting down the Dakota Access Pipeline,mandating parental leave, and welcoming Syrian immigrants," the Tuesday article read.

4. Rumor: Kellyanne Conway dating Brock Turner

"It's a man's world,' Conway reportedly whispered into Brock's left ear. I don't understand why women think they have any control over their bodies,'" the article published last weeksaid.

5. Georgia O'Keeffe to design new feminist monument for National Mall

"After rejecting 2,000 designs by leading, male-dominated architecture firms that were all oppressively phallic,' Jones said the Smithsonian finally selected an ingenious design by the late, great British feminist architect Zaha Hadid that she based on the paintings of Arizona artist Georgia O'Keeffe," the article from last week read.

Donald Trump won the 2016 election, defeating Hillary Clinton, and isthe 45th president of the United States.

More:
5 Headlines Liberals Wish Were True on Alternative Reality Website - Washington Free Beacon

Ontario Liberal MPP's were giving thanks to Premier Kathleen Wynnein the first week as the legislature returned at Queen's Park. The CBC'sOntario Political analyst says that was all part of theplan to spread some happy news as Wynne leads the party into the next election.

Fisher spoke with theCBC'sConrad Collacoabout the return to legislature work for MPP.Listen to the full interview by clicking the image at the top of the page or read an edited and abridged transcript below.

Veteran political analyst Robert Fisher delivers his insights into Ontario politics every two weeks. (CBC)

Why were Liberal MP's thanking the Premier in the legislature this week?

My political radar tells me that this is kind of part of a strategy, I think it's pretty clear if you follow provincial politics or politics anywhere that things never happen by accident so I think this was all planned.

You had the Premier being lauded for her support of the Mars project in Toronto. You had the Premier being lauded for her protection of water in the Guelph,Kitchener [and] Waterloo area, but water generally in the province. You had the Premier lauded for taking her effort to protect trade relations with the United States to the U.S. but nevertheless, you have these cabinet ministers and MPP's all thanking the Premier.

I suppose it shows, or they want to show, that it's a unified caucus and people support the Premier. It's kind of akin to, on the other side of the house, you have the opposition throwing as much mud, and they certainly did that this week, as they possibly can hoping that some will stick. For the liberals, all of these thank you's and commendations for their leader are something that they hope will stick with the Premier and be picked up by the public.

Now it will be interesting to see if that strategy develops outside of the legislature where people who don't follow Queen's park on a daily basis like I do are actually paying attention to this kind of stuff.

If the poll are any indication Kathleen Wynneis a very unpopular Premier. Is that part of why the backbenchers and ministers have been so quick to thank the Premier?

I think that's an excellent question and it truly reflects where the Premier is and where the government is at this point as a new session begins just 17 months before an election campaign. Obviously things have to change in terms of the public perception of Kathleen Wynne and so you have this kind of strategy that is out there and again, if it stretches beyond the legislature then I think it becomes part and parcel of where the liberals are going to be as they try to rekindle the kind of support the Kathleen Wynne had when she became the Liberal leader and eventually in 2014, the Liberal Premier.

Her numbers are so low now that there are even liberals who would worry that the best thing she could do in June 2018 is to hang on to a minority government.

Perhaps the biggest piece of news this week out of the legislature has been the decision to prevent power companies from cutting power in the middle of winter to people who aren't paying their bills. Why has it taken so long for the Liberals to take action on this?

Well that's the key question and I think its critically important. There was legislation that talked about stopping these winter disconnections and if I recall correctly there was something like sixty thousand disconnections in 2016 in this province and goodness knows how many during the winter of 2017.

Nevertheless, it was part of an ominous bill. The problem is that you can't, as a member of the opposition, vote for one section of a bill and against another. So when it came up for a vote it never got anywhere even though, quite frankly, this issue with the disconnects was well known and the government could have acted.

As you say, the biggest thing coming out of the legislature in terms of substantive legislation was this law that prohibits distributors from cutting off people's power when they can't pay their bills in the middle of winter, but it took a huge upset among people in the public and certainly at Queen's park this week to refocus the government's attention. It's kind of like the issues we've talked about in past weeks about hydro rates. The government seemed to be unable to understand that rates were going so high and that's why people were angry.

Now they get that part of the equation and this week in a matter of 48 hours this legislation came to the legislature from Glenn Thibeault the energy minister, was introduced, was passed, and was given royal ascent all in the space of a few hours. So it can be done and if you have a majority government, it should have been done a long time ago.

It seems from the last election quite a few observers had said that it was Tim Hudak's election to lose, and he lost it. The Premier turned it around in time for the election. What are her chances of doing the same for June 2018?

Well it's a big job there's no doubt about it. If you talk privately with the Liberals they will concede that this is a huge mountain for the Premier to climb. It's not that it's impossible to do but it's made more difficult by the fact that in 2018 as opposed to 2014, the Premier carries all of her own baggage. In 2014, it was mostly the baggage left over from Dalton McGuinty and people were prepared to acceptthat she was new and different and forgive her for past problems created by the Liberal government. This time it's all happening on her watch and so that's what makes it difficult. All that said, the Premier is an extraordinarily good campaigner and I think it's important to say that campaigns do matter, so what happens on the campaign trail when it starts is going to be critically important.

Andrea Horwath and Patrick Brown aregoing to have to earn this victory. It's not simply going to be handed to them by the electorate. They are both going to have to prove between now and 2018 that they are ready to be premier and that they have a caucus that is ready to serve as a cabinet in Ontario. So there's a lot of things at play here but Kathleen Wynne has a big job to pull off, and if she does it, I think it will go down in the annals of Ontario political history as the miracle on Queen's Park Crescent.

Do you think that Horwath and Brown have been too quick to hammer the Premier this week at Queen's Park? Are they relying too much on the Premier's current unpopularity?

Robert- I think they have been quick but I thinkthere's angst in the province that goes from the big cities to the small towns from people who are really having difficulty paying their hydro bills and want the government to do something about it. [The government] has promised over and over again, it's become their mantra actually, that help is coming, but for the opposition parties it's now a situation where they must earn the trust of the electorate and must show the electorate that they are ready to govern. It's time now to start bringing out some policies about what this government is all about.

I think Patrick Brown has shown that he's been very hard for the Liberals to hit and the best example of that happened just yesterday in the legislature when he supported, much to the surprise of the Liberals, the anti-Islamophobia resolution tabled by the Liberals. I think the government thought there was a fight coming here but Mr. Brown said, 'no this is the right thing to do and lets do it,' and that resolution was passed. It's symbolic, but I think important to show that Patrick Brown has a very flexible ideology compared to his past in Ottawa and what's going on in Parliament Hill right now on this very same issue.

The same goes for Andrea Horwath, it's a bigger climb for her because she's in third place but again it's all to show the electorate that she is ready to govern and often people have said they believe she's the best person to be Premier of Ontario but it never translates to the caucus. That's where the NDP have to mind the gap.

See the original post here:
Liberals thank Kathleen Wynne at Queen's Park but will voters? - Robert Fisher - CBC.ca

The Ontario government, facing a political backlash over soaring hydro prices, is pursuing a fundamental overhaul of the provinces electricity market in an effort to keep rates as low as possible.

The province is considering a technology-neutral bidding process to replace the current approach, in which the system operator issues contracts from specific power sources such as natural gas, wind or solar, Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault said in a speech Friday.

It is also looking at a new pricing approach that would give ratepayers options, such as whether to choose a flat rate or a time-of-use plan, in which prices fluctuate depending on off-peak or peak use, he said.

Read more: Premier Kathleen Wynne promises to win back Ontarians trust, calls high electricity prices her mistake

Related: Ontario business owners say high electricity rates are a threat to their survival

Related: Why does Ontarios electricity cost so much? A reality check

It is our governments intention to reshape the foundation of the electricity sector to ensure hydro costs are reduced for ratepayers going forward, he said in the speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa.

In an interview afterward, Mr. Thibeault said it is too early to commit to a specific market model, noting the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) is currently in consultations with the industry, consumer groups and power producers. There still needs to be a lot of work with the system operator to unleash them to find ways to make that happen, he said. If we dont evolve the system, if we dont change it, were going to run into problems again.

But he said the current model needs to change.

Allocating the precise mix of technology types has largely been arbitrary and led to suboptimal siting, uncompetitive prices and heightened community concerns, he said.

The government is also looking at additional short-term measures to provide rate relief, especially to rural customers, who have often faced higher prices than urban consumers.

Residential electricity prices have doubled in the past seven years, and Premier Kathleen Wynne is facing angry consumers and nervous industrial users across the province. With an election scheduled for 2018, the governments record on electricity prices has emerged as a key issue.

Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod said the Liberal government has mismanaged the sector for years, going back to the introduction in 2009 of the Green Energy Act, under which Ontario issued high-priced contracts for wind and solar power with the aim of building a renewable energy sector in the province.

The Liberals have to acknowledge theyve taken us down a very expensive and unsustainable path, Ms. MacLeod said after Mr. Thibeaults speech. Ontarians are going to look at this Liberal government and say, Im not better off than I was eight years ago. The true cost of the Green Energy Act is one that has been exorbitant and has a real impact on our bills.

Mr. Thibeault said critics overstate the impact of the Green Energy Act, arguing that costs soared because the province had to rebuild the system after years of neglect, all the while phasing out coal-fired power, which he claimed led to a major improvement in air quality.

The IESO has been in consultations for almost a year on how to proceed with electricity market reform. But there are concerns that the goals of the effort remain unclear.

In a letter to the system operator dated Jan. 30, Colin Anderson, who represents industrial power users, said the government talks about cost control, but the system operator has been less focused on prices as it pursues a reform plan.

IESOs restatement and endorsement of a cost-control goal would be very helpful to all stakeholders and would provide much needed direction and clarity to the discussions, wrote Mr. Anderson, president of the Association of Major Power Consumers of Ontario. He was unavailable for comment Friday.

Follow Shawn McCarthy on Twitter: @smccarthy55

Continued here:
Ontario Liberals eye electricity market overhaul to lower rates - The Globe and Mail