The practical stakes are real. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in his 2003 Civitas speech, argued that real gains are always measured and incremental. Saying, “we must realize that real gains are inevitably incremental. This, in my experience, is harder for social conservatives than for economic conservatives. The explicitly moral orientation of social conservatives makes it difficult for many to accept the incremental approach. Yet, in democratic politics, any other approach will certainly fail. We should never accept the standard of just being ‘better than the Liberals’ — people who advocate that standard seldom achieve it — but conservatives should be satisfied if the agenda is moving in the right direction, even if slowly.”