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| NDP candidate Cyprien Okana, who just arrived from Africa, is running in the riding of Moncton Northwest. He describes himself as an advocate for diversity and social justice. |
No doubt many of you were shocked to learn that I have "crossed the floor" and joined the ranks of the "enemy".
I think that I owe you an explanation. I think that I should explain why I crossed the moral Rubicon, and the long journey I took to reach that decision.
I was an NDP member for 15 years until, but by the ripe old age of 33, I lost my faith, and left the herd. The consequences were brutal.
When you embrace an ideology, you eventually realize that this ideology comes with a social network. And if you become sufficiently devoted to the cause, that social network eventually becomes your family. Your tribe. Your cocoon. So breaking with the NDP—or any other religious cult—is as gut wrenching and challenging as the resolution of an alcoholic to stop drinking. When an alcoholic stops drinking, he leaves his friends at the beer parlour behind. Cigarette smokers who stop smoking suffer the same kind of withdrawal symptoms. When they quit smoking, they not only go through a withdrawal from nicotine, but from the circle of smokers in the office building who gather together outside the building to smoke during breaks. A life time Jehovah's Witness who is 'disfellowshipped', or rather, a JW who wilfully departs from the congregation, offers another example of the trauma that tribal drop-outs go through.
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