See You Later, Liberals

I'm going to rant and I'm not going to feel bad about it in the morning.

I've had it with the Liberal party. That's it. No more votes from me.

I have been a lifelong Liberal supporter since way back in the 1960s when I actually had the chance to shake Pierre Trudeau's hand while he was on the federal campaign trail the first time and I was about 8 years old. My family liked him. My dad apparently knew him from university. That was good enough for me at that point. Later, I began to understand what being a liberal was all about and, in every single election since then that I was eligibile to cast a vote in, I voted for the Liberal party.

I even stuck with them through Chretien, the GST and Adscam. I had hope that Paul Martin would bring some much-needed reform, but that was brought to a quick end when the NDP got into bed with the Bloc and the Conservatives to call for an early election. And, suddenly, here we are: stuck with those Conservatives.

And now, tonite, I find out that 24 Liberals joined with the Conservatives to support an additional two year mission in Afghanistan when NATO isn't even sure what the damn mission is.

I'm antiwar. Despite that, Liberals, I voted for you during the last election because I was supremely pissed off at the NDP for trying to take Martin out before he could make necessary governmental changes. I was against the Afghanistan war in the first place, so my vote was my own personal version of Sophie's Choice.

Well, that's it. I refuse to suppport a party that is so willing to blindly trust the Conservatives that they would place Canadian soldiers at risk for who knows how long under who knows what conditions without a concrete plan. If the Liberals were in favour of extending the mission, Harper told them earlier today he would only extend the mission one year if his motion failed. Wasn't that reasonable for those who still want to wage war in Afghanistan? Apparently not. No. They had to kiss Harper's butt and go for two more years of death and destruction. And leading the charge? Bill Graham. And, Liberal leadership candidates who joined him? Ignatieff and Brison. If that's the future of the party, I want absolutely nothing to do with it.

I purposely named my blog (small "l") liberal catnip when I started it this past February because, at that point, I was much more comfortable with the general term which was not related to the actual Canadian Liberal party. If Liberal sites want to take me off their rolls as a result of this rant, be my guest. I've actually had to explain to some Liberals that there is a difference between being a liberal and being a Liberal. That's been interesting.

There's not much left to say. I'm am extremely disappointed in this party that I had backed for decades on end. But, I would be a hypocrite if I continued to vote for them and if there's one thing I abhor, it's a hypocrite and I'm just not in need of self-loathing.

So, see you later, Liberals. If your party ever develops anything resembling principles again, let me know. Until then, I'll remain the independent liberal that I much prefer to be.

UPDATE: The list of Liberals who voted in favour of the motion can be found here.