Monday, August 23, 2010

Time for a New England manifesto

Yesterday in Elections a chance for New England? I mused about the possibilities that the current political imbroglio offered to gain a greater focus on New England needs. I extended this a little this morning in  Northern Daily Leader: Second-term support a must. AE1279-60-New-State-Flag-2

Just to provide a context for the discussion, this photo shows then New England New State Movement campaign director Ulrich Ellis raising the New England flag.

Since my first post, there has been email traffic on the best way of getting the independents to support the new state cause, including constitutional change to make the creation of new states easier.

We know that Bob Katter is a new stater, we think that Tony Windsor is, but we are not sure about Rob  Oakeshott.

There has also been discussion about the best way of using the current opportunity to get a focus on New England issues over and beyond new states. The difficulty we face here is that the independents need more than generalities if they are to work beyond, indeed within, their electorates. A further difficulty is that the erosion that has taken place in the idea of New England since the Movement went down in 1967 means that thinking has fragmented to the very local.

We need to put forward something to the independents something that will help them articulate a broader view. I have written a fair bit on this, but I wondered what you think.

What would you like to see included in a broader New England manifesto? We need a campaign document that will not just guide the independents, but also provide a platform across the broader North.  

2 comments:

John Caling said...

Hi Jim,

When you say "Just to provide a context for the discussion, this photo shows then New England New State Movement campaign director Ulrich Ellis raiding the New England flag."

He was responsible for the flag old mate. Ulrich had no reason to do a "Dawn Frazer" and raid it!!

Sorry Jim, couldn't resist a little warped humour directed your error.

JC

Jim Belshaw said...

I thought that I had corrected that error John. Apparently not! Now done. I did laugh, though.