During Harper’s time as VP of the National Citizens Coalition, then president David Somerville summed up the organizations philosophy thus:  “The fact of the matter is, we have stood since 1967 for more freedom through less government and we have promoted that philosophy in a number of different ways, through (public advocacy of) privatization, tax cuts, spending cuts and opposing gag laws. We’ve been consistent for almost 30 years.” 

In 2003 paper Harper took Somerville’s reasoning a step further. 

“In this environment, serious conservative parties simply cannot shy away from values questions. On a wide range of public-policy questions, including foreign affairs and defence, criminal justice and corrections, family and child care, and healthcare and social services, social values are increasingly the really big issues.

Take taxation, for example. There are real limits to tax-cutting if conservatives cannot dispute anything about how or why a government actually does what it does. If conservatives accept all legislated social liberalism with balanced budgets and corporate grants - as do some in the business community - then there really are no differences between a conservative and a Paul Martin.”  http://www.ccicinc.org/politicalaffairs/0601 03.html" title="http://www.ccicinc.org/politicalaffairs/0601 03.html" target="_blank"http://www.ccicinc.org/politi... 

 

In other words, whereas, many people look at the States and see an unbridgeable divide between small government libertarians and the religious right, who favor government interference, Harper sees no such incompatibility.  Yes, “conservatism has been in trouble in recent years”.  However according to Harper, “It is critical we realize that this breakdown is not a fundamental incompatibility between ‘neo-cons’ and ‘theo-cons,’   For Harper, the spread of social conservatism undermines the legitimacy of public programs and government bodies making it politically possible for these bodies to be reduced or better yet done away with.  For this reason being a true red meat libertarian, “to paraphrase Ted Byfield, means not just worrying about what the state costs, but also worrying about what the state values.”

Using wing nut conservatism as a weapon, just how far does Harper want to go? 

2004 "We must aim to make [Canada] a lower tax jurisdiction than the United States."