It has become fashionable among many groups of progressives to attack the growth of the Wildrose Alliance as a scary oil-sector conspiracy or an evil paleoconservative movement. This sentiment was highlighted in two recent blog posts by Reboot Alberta co-founder Ken Chapman (here and here).

You can disagree with the Wildrose Alliance, their policies, and their politics – to disagree and debate is healthy in a democracy – but playing the “be afraid of the hidden agenda card” reeks of old school politics.

These kind of old school politically-charged accusations defeat the purpose of what I was trying to achieve by participating in groups like Reboot Alberta, which were created to foster “a new kind of politics.” I disagree with many of the policies of the Wildrose Alliance, but I respect that we live in a democratic society.

Progressive-thinking Albertans need to wake up and realize that elements of the Wildrose Alliance pose a threat to how we want our province to be shaped in the future, but if we respond by using the same old style political tactics, then we are no healthier a democracy. Nothing will have changed.

Let’s not fall into the old style political trap of name-calling and character-assasination. Let’s pick up our game and prove that we can define our politics not through cheap-shots, but that politics can actually be based on integrity, honesty, accountability, and transparency.