THE CONSERVATIVE HIPSTERS

I was having a conversation about the madness that is Toronto City Council with a friend a few days ago and I mentioned to him something that I am concerned about.

I left Toronto largely in part because I was unwilling to trade off the benefits of living in a large city for allowing the local government to constantly invade my life, tell me what I can and can't do and tax me out of existence. Then then told me about his trip to Alberta a few weeks ago where he constantly ran into ex-Ontarians who had come to Alberta because it was the "last refuge of common sense" left.

I am concerned that conservatives (small and large C) are essentially leaving the civic battlefield in almost every aspect of everyday life because they are just too tired to fight anymore. And I don't mean the activists - I know there are many warriors on the right who battle lefties, write letters, post blogs, etc. I mean the common sense majority and those who are generally right wing in their outlook on life.

As my friend and I discussed, we are all too busy with everyday life - we work hard at our jobs, we are often raising two, three maybe even four kids and we are active in our communities through church, school, sports or charity work.

Conversely, those on the left of the spectrum also admittedly work hard; but they are often engaged in activist pursuits with government or politics. They are the ones sitting on committees, running for Council, writing policies and making presentations to elected officials. Not to generalize, but allow me to generalize: these folks often have no kids (or possibly one), technically savvy, extremely passionate and generally younger.

Now, a part of me says to the winner goes the spoils - they work at it, so they should get a starring role in shaping government. But I'm more concerned over how less and less people on the right side have the ability or stamina to "fight" these policies and ideas.

As we all know, politics is not family friendly - meetings are often during the day in urban/suburban settings and it take a lot of effort just to stay abreast of the issues. Compound that with the fact that those on the right/centre-right often feel like a lone voice because others are too busy living their lives and don't show up to voice their opinion.

I'm worried that this is an ongoing trend as people struggle everyday trying to live their lives, make a decent living and provide for themselves and support their loved ones. Oh, and maybe have a little fun along the way.

We just need to remember that while we're at the bantam hockey game cheering on our kid, the other side is in the Council committee room explaining to elected officials why this new tax on you will be good for the underprivileged.

And, of course, the fact that no one is there to oppose it illustrates it has wide support in the community.

Silence implies consent, after all.