Quixotic Kevin has tells us about the Empty Vessel problem for the Reformatories:
Tilting at Windmills - Conservative Electoral Strategy II: On Empty Vessels: Empty Vessels don't win. They don't win because they don't give voters any real reason to support them, and so those voters are easily scared off or lured away. Empty Vessels don't attract voter loyalty.
To defeat an incumbent, a party has to present an agenda for change.
A party that wants to alter the terms of debate will focus on
convincing people of the correctness of its views. A party that wants
to win will try to craft an agenda that appeals to enough voters to
elect a majority of candidates across the country. The first is active
and the second reactive, but they both try to encourage a positive
attachment to the party's message.If voters don't know how you're going to change things, why would they bother voting for you instead of the incumbent? That is one of the key problems of the Conservative Party today--it has no campaign message other than "vote for us because we're less corrupt, really, you can trust us because we've never been in power".
And to this I would have to say, "Yes and no." The problem lies with the Reform legacy. Even if they came out with a plan, people would suspect it. And even when they do come up with a plan, the Reform legacy shines through, as Skippy the Amazing Wonderdog effectively points out. That Stephen Harper is their leader doesn't help them. And just take a look at the roll call of the Blogging Tories: where Girl on the Right reflects on her choice in toilet paper. Among other things.
Of course, not everyone reads blogs. But enough do to notice and spread the meme. And as we found out in the last election, they can't help but have wingnut eruptions every so often...I mean, statistically speaking, it's quite difficult to stop; they have so many!
So they can try to fill that vessel with whatever they like. But the problem is, everyone suspects that that vessel really is already full. And by the looks of it, they're probably right. So the best they can do is pretend to have an Empty Vessel. And that doesn't work. They'd do better if they could even show that they actually have an Empty Vessel. The Liberals can run on an Empty Vessel. But it doesn't seem in the cards for the Reformatories. And that's a shame, because we really need an electable alternative to the Liberals by about now.
O irony of ironies: the Progressive Conservative Party would have done better about now. If it weren't, of course, for the Reform legacy blocking them in the West... Which is, of course, the point.
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