While contemplating the electoral wreckage of the Ontario Liberal Party, one can't help but draw parallels to the Roman Empire.

Just as Rome once dominated its world, so too did Ontario Liberals once dominate provincial politics; just as Rome ultimately collapsed, so too did the Ontario Liberals; just as there are lots of theories explaining Rome's fall, so too do theories abound explaining the recent Liberal apocalypse.

For instance, one such theory currently popular with Canada's ruling class elites, suggests the Liberal Party's demise wasn't its fault at all; it was the fault of voters.

According to this view, Ontario voters were too stupid, too ungrateful, too sexist and too homophobic to appreciate the brilliant leadership of Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne.

In other words, just like Rome, the Ontario Liberal Party fell to barbarians.

And there are lots of other theories out there to explain the decline and fall of the Liberal Party: voter fatigue with the Liberal brand; residual anger over hydro rate increases; Wynne's own personal unpopularity.

But none explain why the Liberals were so badly wiped out on Election Night, why they went from holding 55 seats in the Ontario legislature, to a mere seven, the worst drubbing since General Custer took on the Sioux.

So I'd like to add my own theory to the mix, one which explains why the Liberals not only lost, but why they nearly suffered a total annihilation.

Here it is: the Liberals faced an enemy they simply couldn't defeat.

What do I mean by that?

Well, the Liberal Party's fighting doctrine, its basic tactics and its overall strategy were all geared toward combatting what I'd call a "classic conservative" opponent.

In other words, the Liberals knew how to battle and beat conservatives like Stephen Harper, or Tim Hudak, or Patrick Brown, all men who more or less fit the traditional "Tory" mold.

But, as we all know, in the Ontario election they ended up facing a different sort of conservative — Doug Ford, who espoused populism, a political ideology not seen before in these parts.

And at first, facing such an unknown enemy probably didn't seem like too much of a problem for Wynne's strategic planners.

After all, Ford was an amateur and his ragtag hordes of "Ford Nation", with their unsophisticated populist notions, were surely no match for the Liberal party's vaunted Election War Machine.

All they needed to do was compare Ford to US president Donald Trump, and the race would be over.

And that's what they tried but it didn't work.

In fact, nothing in the Liberal arsenal worked.

Everything they threw at Ford bounced off him like a tennis ball.

So by the end of the campaign, the once mighty and proud (some might say "arrogant") Liberal Party was reduced to basically begging for votes.

What all this shows, in my view anyway, is that when it comes to battling populism, the Liberals have no clue.

By the way, they're not alone in that regard.  All over the world, centre-left, "progressive" political parties, like the Ontario Liberals, have been unable to stem the ever-rising populist tide.

And this does not bode well for the Ontario Liberal Party's future.

In fact, I'd even argue the Liberals are now trapped in a political dead-end.

Think about it: if going forward the starring actors on Ontario's political stage are a populist right and a socialist left, where does that leave the middle of the road, pro-establishment, Liberals?

On the one hand, the Liberals can't "out left" the "left", (its Bay Street donors won't allow it) on the other, as the recent election proved, they haven't yet figured out how to combat right-wing populism.

So yeah, things look bleak for the Liberals.

Oh well, as the ancient Romans could tell you, no empire lasts forever.

Photo Credit: Jeff Burney, Loonie Politics