He has managed to make getting involved in a political party at the grassroots level the hottest ticket in town, empowering his listeners to become influential political operatives.
The thing is, this only works if the *only* people willing to participate in democracy are extremist. In other words, it's not that Bannon's crew is taking over -- it's that everyone else is willing to let them speak on their behalf. Participation isn't a bug. It's a feature!
The solution is for more people to participate in the political process, even if that just means asking questions and holding officials and leaders to account.
For example, it costs $15 to buy a CPC membership and help chose the party's next leader, which determines the choices will have in the next election. That's not an onerous task. How many centre-right leaning folks who bemoan the state of Canadian conservatism have signed up? I guess we'll soon find out!
The most disturbing bit of this piece (I was already aware of what Bannon is up to) is that his podcast is #5 in Canada! Yikes! I subscribe to Paul Wells' substack and his last one ("Winning is easy. Governing is hard.") featured Poilievere's recent Youtube video on the Bank of Canada. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVJMTsfnTH0&t=1s&ab_channel=PierrePoilievre
Other than the bonuses these people are getting, which are obscene, his whole blaming the BoC for inflation is BS. Take a look at the comments. If they are not bots then we have a whole lotta MAGA-minded people here uncritically lapping up every word and PP is determined to use them just like Trump and Bannon do. Fortunately we have Elections Canada but we won't escape the backwash from the south and shouldn't be smug.
Ms. Paradis, please clarify something for me. You say that thousands have jumped onto precinct committees.
Out of curiosity, I found this: "The 2020 survey by the United States Election Assistance Commission found a total of 176,933 precincts or precinct equivalents in the United States, of which 175,441 were in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia and 1,492 were in overseas U.S. territories."
So, even if your thousands come to, say, 20,000 ... doesn't this mean about one-tenth of a person per committee on average? Not so scary.
Sorry, but US democracy is finished. Biden's agenda will remain paralysed because after November, he won't have the 60 seats in the Senate needed to overcome the filibuster. So he'll get nothing done in the last 2 years either. Voting rights have already been compromised. SCOTUS will hear a case this fall that allows state governments to overrule the voters, and declare their own elctors....as Trump wanted to do in 2020. In 2024, it will be in place. Whomever the GOP candidate is will win; regardless of the popular vote. Minority Christian Fundamentalist rule will commence and democracy in the US dies. Too many states have already gerrymandered the vote so that the results are all but predetermined...which is what all votes in the US will be; ironically, a clone of Mother Russia.
Melanie, you imply a level of negative judgement about "the [Bannon-like] chaos" of joining Canadian Electoral District Associations to bring an "action orientation" to their boards. And you follow up with the notion that there is "nothing you can do to stop it".
Melanie, this service is plain, ordinary, healthy political involvement. Canada's lack of provincial and federal leadership skills is testamony to the sleepy, do nothing EDA boards of today. We should all be (at least in this case) Steve Bannon messangers.
I gather we're supposed to be alarmed by the developments Ms. Paradis describes; but the major premise underwriting her expectation--that Bannon isn't simply exercising his democratic right to change policies he doesn't like but desires "chaos" as the prerequisite for pulling off some kind of illegitimate "heist"--would be more persuasive if accompanied by at least some proof. Those for whom jumping to such conclusions about Bannon has become a reflex would be wise to ask themselves on what foundation their convictions rest. The picture of Bannon painted by institutional media? Trying to detail here the mountain of evidence why that might be fatal to the judgment would be tedious in the extreme--all I can say as a retired reference librarian is that those simply aren't trustworthy information sources.
In any event, there's no need to rely on them: listen to Bannon in his own words and make up your own mind what his aims and motives are. You may discover they add up to a more coherent and humane--and definitely more plausible--set of aspirations than the default assumption Ms. Paradis apparently attributes to her article's readers (she may be right, but that's not necessarily positive news for democracy, or for that matter for beneficial information diffusion):
Incidentally, it should go without saying that tampering with ballots isn't the sole way to steal an election: slanted news coverage is far more efficient and makes such tampering unnecessary. And there's nothing particularly nefarious about trying to influence public policy by means of grassroots organizing: leftist activists have been doing exactly that for decades. Bannon is probably right to warn that any attempt by conservatives to take a turn at bat risks provoking a hostile reaction from those accustomed to seeing only their own hitters march to the plate.
Melanie - interesting article, but it seems like it's an excerpt from a much longer interesting essay? I was just getting settled in, and it abruptly ended! Please tell me this is the first of a series?
Somehow the people who I imagine Bannon wants to recruit are not the sort who would sign on for a 2 year, voluntary, no-pay, commitment. He sure wouldn't.
The job sounds very important and if done correctly it could be effective. This is a Dem site explaining it:
I think just walking in and being polite to the GOP already there isn't enough. And again, no pay.
Checked out Bannon's War Room. He plays the straight man quite well. Alex Jones of InfoWars has a new "movie" "Alex's War". Gee, what's that going to be about? It's a combo War Room/Info Wars interview. Jones is grovelling in delight and Bannon sits back and accepts the accolades. B says J is one of the great thinkers going back to the revolutionary generation. AJ has a new book with an original title, "The Great Reset (the war for the world).
I know people wallow and lap up this stuff. They buy the books and hats and t-shirts and flags. They believe. But I still do not understand why. It's a dark night of tyranny, Bannon is a political prisoner. But the real problem and it's been a problem for a while is transhumanism, our brains in robotic bodies. The demi-gods of Davos are taking over the tech and taking over everyone. Can you say slaves?
So the people who are buying Jones' book are also going to donate their time and energy as precinct committee persons?
The Right, the GOP, the republicans, and SCOTUS, are a big worry. But I'm thinking they'll implode soon. At least I hope so.
HA! Jones calls Bannon "sir"!
I've spent too many years listening to these ... people ... or whatever they are. Jones since 9/11 and Bannon slide into our consciousness long before Trump. But Trump has burrowed into every New Yorker's brain like a weird old uncle no one wants at Thanksgiving way back. Jones, Trump, Bannon, Stone, Tucker, Assange, etc. are all being prosecuted even tho they are all innocent of any misdeeds. And they are all doing it for the people before they turned into transhumans or androids or robot bodies with brains!
Reading through the comments I'm not sure if people understand the threat that Bannon poses. He's highly intelligent, effective and likely insane. His goals aren't lower taxes and trimming some regulations but the destruction of the administrative state. If you don't understand what that means - that's good because it means you are NOT insane. He wants to burn down all of government. He's not particularly clear about what he's going to replace it with because he doesn't care.
The great documentary maker, Errol Morris, did a film on Bannon called "American Dharma". It's worth seeing because it is completely weird. In the Q&A after one screening someone asked Morris "What does Bannon mean by x, y and z?" Morris responded that he had no idea. "I just think he's crazy."
As far as recruiting people to work on elections, it is not at all about civic responsibility. The whole purpose is to have people on the inside who can cheat! If there's an honest poll worker getting in your way then call in the Proud Boys and the Republican sheriffs! If you think this is not going to work you haven't been watching the January 6th hearings. Poll workers have already received all kinds of death threats and had to leave their homes. The Republican poll worker from Arizona who stood with the Constitution was just sanctioned by the Arizona Republican Party. They're punishing him for being honest! You don't hear any Republicans speaking out against that because, if they do, they will lose their funding and will get the same death threats. Many honest Republicans are not running again rather than stand up to this. Mitch McConnell seems fine with all of it. People forget why Richard Nixon was not impeached. He was headed there but the Republican Party forced him to resign because he was making them look bad. Right now the Republican Party is more like a crime syndicate. None of this bodes well for the future of American democracy.
We may have more secure election laws and practices but having a failed democracy with nuclear weapons on our border is not going to be a good thing. Pipelines from the Great Lakes to Arizona anyone? Will PM Poilievre stand up to them? It would be funny if it wasn't so chilling.
I’m not sure I agree with this analysis. Trump already brought the fringe to light and most Americans didn’t like what they saw, including many from his own party. Most Americans are moderates, like Canadians, with a more pronounced divisiveness between the 2 extremes. Bannon does not appeal to the average American, who’s main concern is providing for their family, ensuring their kids get a decent education, and have adequate healthcare coverage in the event they get sick. Perhaps if Bannon shared these priorities it might be a game changer; appealing to fringe ideology won’t have the desired effect.
An enlightening article that also helped to place this American political phenomenon into perspective. Thank God for those Canadians who, in their wisdom, made the supervision of elections a non-partisan affair.
Isn’t what Bannon is promoting is what the NDP have been doing for decades at the municipal level and now the Woke are doing in civil society? The body that regulates lawyers in Ontario was taken over by Progressives, for example, local associations too. It happened because they were exercised. So good for Bannon. He’s getting people to participate in the Democratic process. I suggest the antidote, if you don’t like his medicine, is to do the same
The thing is, this only works if the *only* people willing to participate in democracy are extremist. In other words, it's not that Bannon's crew is taking over -- it's that everyone else is willing to let them speak on their behalf. Participation isn't a bug. It's a feature!
The solution is for more people to participate in the political process, even if that just means asking questions and holding officials and leaders to account.
For example, it costs $15 to buy a CPC membership and help chose the party's next leader, which determines the choices will have in the next election. That's not an onerous task. How many centre-right leaning folks who bemoan the state of Canadian conservatism have signed up? I guess we'll soon find out!
Good heavens! Imagine that! An actual grassroots movement to wrest power away from professional party insiders! We can't have that!
Fortunately, in Canada, power is securely in the hands of the bureaucrats and can't be pulled away from them by the people! Phew!
The most disturbing bit of this piece (I was already aware of what Bannon is up to) is that his podcast is #5 in Canada! Yikes! I subscribe to Paul Wells' substack and his last one ("Winning is easy. Governing is hard.") featured Poilievere's recent Youtube video on the Bank of Canada. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVJMTsfnTH0&t=1s&ab_channel=PierrePoilievre
Other than the bonuses these people are getting, which are obscene, his whole blaming the BoC for inflation is BS. Take a look at the comments. If they are not bots then we have a whole lotta MAGA-minded people here uncritically lapping up every word and PP is determined to use them just like Trump and Bannon do. Fortunately we have Elections Canada but we won't escape the backwash from the south and shouldn't be smug.
Ms. Paradis, please clarify something for me. You say that thousands have jumped onto precinct committees.
Out of curiosity, I found this: "The 2020 survey by the United States Election Assistance Commission found a total of 176,933 precincts or precinct equivalents in the United States, of which 175,441 were in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia and 1,492 were in overseas U.S. territories."
So, even if your thousands come to, say, 20,000 ... doesn't this mean about one-tenth of a person per committee on average? Not so scary.
This is an excellent analysis. The US political system's own processes are being used by Bannon to take it over. Similar organization can prevent it.
Sorry, but US democracy is finished. Biden's agenda will remain paralysed because after November, he won't have the 60 seats in the Senate needed to overcome the filibuster. So he'll get nothing done in the last 2 years either. Voting rights have already been compromised. SCOTUS will hear a case this fall that allows state governments to overrule the voters, and declare their own elctors....as Trump wanted to do in 2020. In 2024, it will be in place. Whomever the GOP candidate is will win; regardless of the popular vote. Minority Christian Fundamentalist rule will commence and democracy in the US dies. Too many states have already gerrymandered the vote so that the results are all but predetermined...which is what all votes in the US will be; ironically, a clone of Mother Russia.
Melanie, you imply a level of negative judgement about "the [Bannon-like] chaos" of joining Canadian Electoral District Associations to bring an "action orientation" to their boards. And you follow up with the notion that there is "nothing you can do to stop it".
Melanie, this service is plain, ordinary, healthy political involvement. Canada's lack of provincial and federal leadership skills is testamony to the sleepy, do nothing EDA boards of today. We should all be (at least in this case) Steve Bannon messangers.
I gather we're supposed to be alarmed by the developments Ms. Paradis describes; but the major premise underwriting her expectation--that Bannon isn't simply exercising his democratic right to change policies he doesn't like but desires "chaos" as the prerequisite for pulling off some kind of illegitimate "heist"--would be more persuasive if accompanied by at least some proof. Those for whom jumping to such conclusions about Bannon has become a reflex would be wise to ask themselves on what foundation their convictions rest. The picture of Bannon painted by institutional media? Trying to detail here the mountain of evidence why that might be fatal to the judgment would be tedious in the extreme--all I can say as a retired reference librarian is that those simply aren't trustworthy information sources.
In any event, there's no need to rely on them: listen to Bannon in his own words and make up your own mind what his aims and motives are. You may discover they add up to a more coherent and humane--and definitely more plausible--set of aspirations than the default assumption Ms. Paradis apparently attributes to her article's readers (she may be right, but that's not necessarily positive news for democracy, or for that matter for beneficial information diffusion):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AtOw-xyMo8
Incidentally, it should go without saying that tampering with ballots isn't the sole way to steal an election: slanted news coverage is far more efficient and makes such tampering unnecessary. And there's nothing particularly nefarious about trying to influence public policy by means of grassroots organizing: leftist activists have been doing exactly that for decades. Bannon is probably right to warn that any attempt by conservatives to take a turn at bat risks provoking a hostile reaction from those accustomed to seeing only their own hitters march to the plate.
Excited to witness the same takeover of the CPC up here.
Seriously Terry? Ask the Afghans we left behind. Or try to get a passport. Try being a woman in the armed forces. Or how about sport Canada.? Even you Toronto Star is not so sure. https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2022/07/25/we-dont-trust-you-whether-its-rogers-or-the-rcmp-facing-questions-the-liberals-are-in-the-hot-seat.html
Melanie - interesting article, but it seems like it's an excerpt from a much longer interesting essay? I was just getting settled in, and it abruptly ended! Please tell me this is the first of a series?
Somehow the people who I imagine Bannon wants to recruit are not the sort who would sign on for a 2 year, voluntary, no-pay, commitment. He sure wouldn't.
The job sounds very important and if done correctly it could be effective. This is a Dem site explaining it:
https://dpo.org/get-involved/precinct-committee-persons/
And a Republican site:https://oregon.gop/become-a-pcp/
I think just walking in and being polite to the GOP already there isn't enough. And again, no pay.
Checked out Bannon's War Room. He plays the straight man quite well. Alex Jones of InfoWars has a new "movie" "Alex's War". Gee, what's that going to be about? It's a combo War Room/Info Wars interview. Jones is grovelling in delight and Bannon sits back and accepts the accolades. B says J is one of the great thinkers going back to the revolutionary generation. AJ has a new book with an original title, "The Great Reset (the war for the world).
I know people wallow and lap up this stuff. They buy the books and hats and t-shirts and flags. They believe. But I still do not understand why. It's a dark night of tyranny, Bannon is a political prisoner. But the real problem and it's been a problem for a while is transhumanism, our brains in robotic bodies. The demi-gods of Davos are taking over the tech and taking over everyone. Can you say slaves?
So the people who are buying Jones' book are also going to donate their time and energy as precinct committee persons?
I think there is a longer interview between these two (very serious men) at the War Room but I'm leaving it til tomorrow. https://beforeitsnews.com/prophecy/2022/07/media-bombshell-steve-bannon-talks-great-reset-with-alex-jones-2532486.html Alex's nostrums and potions are available too of course.
The Right, the GOP, the republicans, and SCOTUS, are a big worry. But I'm thinking they'll implode soon. At least I hope so.
HA! Jones calls Bannon "sir"!
I've spent too many years listening to these ... people ... or whatever they are. Jones since 9/11 and Bannon slide into our consciousness long before Trump. But Trump has burrowed into every New Yorker's brain like a weird old uncle no one wants at Thanksgiving way back. Jones, Trump, Bannon, Stone, Tucker, Assange, etc. are all being prosecuted even tho they are all innocent of any misdeeds. And they are all doing it for the people before they turned into transhumans or androids or robot bodies with brains!
I say follow the money.
Reading through the comments I'm not sure if people understand the threat that Bannon poses. He's highly intelligent, effective and likely insane. His goals aren't lower taxes and trimming some regulations but the destruction of the administrative state. If you don't understand what that means - that's good because it means you are NOT insane. He wants to burn down all of government. He's not particularly clear about what he's going to replace it with because he doesn't care.
The great documentary maker, Errol Morris, did a film on Bannon called "American Dharma". It's worth seeing because it is completely weird. In the Q&A after one screening someone asked Morris "What does Bannon mean by x, y and z?" Morris responded that he had no idea. "I just think he's crazy."
https://youtu.be/bTLIBwH8Ex4
There's an excellent article in a recent issue of Atlantic magazine on Bannon. Well worth the read if only because he has such a significant audience. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/07/steve-bannon-war-room-democracy-threat/638443/
As far as recruiting people to work on elections, it is not at all about civic responsibility. The whole purpose is to have people on the inside who can cheat! If there's an honest poll worker getting in your way then call in the Proud Boys and the Republican sheriffs! If you think this is not going to work you haven't been watching the January 6th hearings. Poll workers have already received all kinds of death threats and had to leave their homes. The Republican poll worker from Arizona who stood with the Constitution was just sanctioned by the Arizona Republican Party. They're punishing him for being honest! You don't hear any Republicans speaking out against that because, if they do, they will lose their funding and will get the same death threats. Many honest Republicans are not running again rather than stand up to this. Mitch McConnell seems fine with all of it. People forget why Richard Nixon was not impeached. He was headed there but the Republican Party forced him to resign because he was making them look bad. Right now the Republican Party is more like a crime syndicate. None of this bodes well for the future of American democracy.
We may have more secure election laws and practices but having a failed democracy with nuclear weapons on our border is not going to be a good thing. Pipelines from the Great Lakes to Arizona anyone? Will PM Poilievre stand up to them? It would be funny if it wasn't so chilling.
I’m not sure I agree with this analysis. Trump already brought the fringe to light and most Americans didn’t like what they saw, including many from his own party. Most Americans are moderates, like Canadians, with a more pronounced divisiveness between the 2 extremes. Bannon does not appeal to the average American, who’s main concern is providing for their family, ensuring their kids get a decent education, and have adequate healthcare coverage in the event they get sick. Perhaps if Bannon shared these priorities it might be a game changer; appealing to fringe ideology won’t have the desired effect.
An enlightening article that also helped to place this American political phenomenon into perspective. Thank God for those Canadians who, in their wisdom, made the supervision of elections a non-partisan affair.
Isn’t what Bannon is promoting is what the NDP have been doing for decades at the municipal level and now the Woke are doing in civil society? The body that regulates lawyers in Ontario was taken over by Progressives, for example, local associations too. It happened because they were exercised. So good for Bannon. He’s getting people to participate in the Democratic process. I suggest the antidote, if you don’t like his medicine, is to do the same