Now you're sounding like me! :doh
You know - you & I have had a lot of fruitful discussions, even though I'm fairly liberal to your reasonably conservative. And that's because you're principled, as I'd like to believe I am. And I believe we're both reasonable (enough), also.
But you can see how I really abhor the Republican Party, and find them completely unapproachable. And it's not because of their supposed conservatism. It's because the Party is unprincipled. And unreasonable as well, I might add. I don't necessarily have a huge problem with conservative principles, and can find reasonable virtue in many of them; there's some conservative virtues I practice, myself. But the Republican Party is *not* conservatism. It's an infestation upon this country (IMO), hiding behind the appearances of conservatism.
Ahem, I am still coping with your defining me as a 'conservative' as even here, in liberal Canada I am considered left of center. In fact I have kind of thrown a monkey wrench into the election cycle by demanding a provincial dental plan LOL!
What we DO share is a contempt for so-called "unprincipled" or in my case outright dishonesty. The Harper Tories would have made a deal with Satan to stay in office...in fact I think they did. They were mean not just lean, and hurt a lot of people to reach arbitrary policy targets. They also intrude into Canadians lives, and while we have a reputation for being "nice" our national sport is a the only professional sport that allows bare knuckled fighting....and we do not like to be told how to live our lives.
Integral to their loss and being relegated to the political junk heap, was how they went nuts over Syrian refugees. FFS Canada has always had its doors open to the dislocated. We are taught beginning in grade one about the "Underground Railway" which for many of us DEFINES what it is to be Canadian. We are nothing if we are not safe harbor for the displaced, endangered and in harm's way.
They also hurt a lot of people with ten years of belt tightening. At one point they illegally "clawed back" $166 a month from my pension. I thought it was a "one of" case, mistakes happen. Uh, uh, 6,000 seniors were hit.
Few Americans know this, but we have had a cancer growing in our land since the 1960's. It is called "residential schools" where thousands upon thousands of native children were taken from their families and homes and sent to live in prison-like circumstances having their culture beaten out of them. There are thousands of cases of sexual abuse, and thousands of broken natives who became alcoholics and drug addicts, thousands of suicides and broken families as a result of what was done to them. [I know one man who ran away from his "school" 17 times and was beaten each time.] It has been the crazy old aunt, or the elephant in the room, so hidden and so secret even I as a journalist had no idea of the breadth of the problem nor the severity of the treatment. It has been the 'conservative' way to keep it quiet, say nothing and pay out $ where you have to.
That won't wash anymore. Trudeau made a point of making his cabinet one half women, what he hasn't made a big deal of is he has six or seven natives also in cabinet, and they are ripping the lid off, exposing the wounds, so we can begin healing.
In a closing note, I don't trust any of them, especially your side of the 49th. I don't see much difference between the parties, frankly, in platform or integrity, but like you would err on the side of a "liberal" government so would I in the belief whatever they do won't be deliberately harmful, however the solution of "Obamacare" and how that rolled out will last a long time in this reporter's memory.
What counts now is how the Republicans back away from Trump. If they follow their house leader and abandon Trump for congressional 'block seats' they will inevitably end up exactly where they started - the guys who won't let anyone do anything. If they want to remain a viable alternative they are going to have to lose a lot of what has been their core, that is of course if there is anything left after Donald is done throwing his historical tantrum.