A Pathway to Prosperity, Sanity and Long-term Security
I have been a swinging voter my whole life. I was a bit young to appreciate Gough Whitlam, and I remember the feelings of instability around me when Harold Holt went missing. I realised then, the impact of a leader.
My parents came off the land and were Country Party voters, now The Nationals. When I was in college, I learned how bad and nasty the Liberals and Nationals were because they didn’t care about people. All they were interested in was big business and making the rich richer.
But, as I grew older, I also recognized the influence of powerful trade unions on the Labor Party and saw how some of their decisions were skewed and not necessarily for the collective good of the country.
Recently I heard Mike Tyson quote John Kennedy Junior who said to him, “Mike I have met many, many great men. But very few of them were good men.” When I look back over Politics in Australia, I realise there were so many aspiring to greatness, but how many could I define as being good people.
I guess the people I think of who I might define as “Good People”, demonstrated time and again that they have a deep love for the country and wanted to extend their efforts toward the very best interests of the entire country, and not seeking personal glory or some sort of “team victory” for their side.
Attention and Power
I guess, due to its very nature, Politics will attract people who like a lot of attention, and it will repel people who are not comfortable with too much attention. I like attention. I don’t need it, but I do like it. Others need it, in fact, they crave it, even demand it.
So, I guess, someone who craves attention may not be so great in politics, because much of what they will do will be about them, and not about their constituents or the nation.
Power is grossly misunderstood by most. When working in a community, or as a group, power can destroy communication, cohesion, and cooperation. If a single person is given power, such as a CEO, then it must be used responsibly. It is not a license to dominate and control.
Politicians have a lot of power. They can garner support within their ranks for an idea and create laws that impact entire societies. But something is often forgotten. Their position is one of service to the people. It is not a position of power and dominion.
In recent decades, we have seen political parties win office and then set about serving the interests of powerful groups like big corporations or powerful trade unions. This is not “governing for the people”.
But alas, I guess we are all a little guilty of self interest at times. Further, we are also guilty of dropping our political responsibilities by staying away from political campaign events, avoiding writing to our local members, and leaving it all up to TV Journalists to ask the question on our behalf, which they rarely do anymore.
We witnessed what happened during the pandemic. State Governments right across Australia, took a position of dominating and ruling, taking complete control of society, locking people down, closing schools and businesses, and taking a raft of measures that made little sense and still don’t. Historically, viral pandemics have been the launching pad for control seeking tyrannical governments. The Third Reich’s grip on [power commenced with a successful campaign against tuberculosis.
Labor Governments in Victoria, WA and Queensland, the Governments that are meant to be the carers of the downtrodden and unfortunate, threw all compassion out the window and convicted thousands of elderly people to die alone, isolated from their families.
We experienced politicians, who have their own families, become crazed lunatics, inflicting their harsh rule on families everywhere, and to this day, nobody can produce any sound medical rationale for so many of the decisions they made.
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." Lord Acton (British Politician and Historian)
Understanding The Australian Political Landscape
In Australia, under our Westminster System of Politics, we have two major parties, The Australian Labor Party (ALP) and The Liberal Party. Smaller parties are The National Party and more recently The Greens. Formerly influential parties like The Democrats seemed to lose their way and have lost significance. There are a variety of smaller parties that tend to position themselves at some point on the political spectrum, or behind a particular cause.
Politics can be Left or Right. At the extreme right end, everything is about freedom of enterprise and personal freedoms, with limited government and as few laws as possible. This is the home of the pure, free market economy and people living their life as they choose.
The challenge to this state is dishonesty and bad intentions. People with more power are free to abuse those with less power. Those with limitations may get lost in the mix and without the compassionate care of groups like churches and charities, they may perish. For a system like this to work, people need to be trusted to have a strong moral code and deep sense of what is right. A lust for profit can certainly get in the way.
At the extreme left, the aim is for everyone to be equal and to have equal opportunity and leaders have the role of working to keep things that way. They then govern from a sense of collectivism, “We know what is best, so we will decide, and you will follow”. The aim appears to be some ultimate form of compassion and community. This presents an almost utopian Garden of Eden, where everyone is happy and content. But it fails because there is no incentive for people to work hard and produce extra, to ensure that others have what they need. Leaders get to feel powerful and enjoy being part of the “ruling class”.
With little incentive to create any form of personal gain, creativity is dampened and the evolution of existence we see with new inventions, plentiful supplies of food and other essentials, and exciting opportunities, is dampened. Food shortages and a scarcity of essential resources have become commonplace.
In modern societies, under continual Leftist rule, we tend to see economies becoming burdened with debt as spending on social programs balloons to unmanageable levels.
On the other hand, modern societies under continued Right-wing rule tend to see an expansion in corporate wealth and a lowering of social support systems.
The Right are considered Conservatives, motivated more from the viewpoint of the rational mind. The Left are considered Liberals, driven by Social Causes and inclusion and acceptance of everyone.
It makes me wonder if the Liberal Party needs to change its name.
Within each party, you will find politicians who tend to stand somewhere along the scale from Right to Left. For example, the Labor party has The Right, the Centre, The Centre Left and the Socialist Left. The Liberals have the large “L” Liberals who tend to be much more to the right, and the small “l” Liberals, leaning more to the left.
The National Party lean consistently toward the far right and tend to represent regional Australia, citing family values and optimising agriculture.
The Greens are the “flag bearers” for the environment and tend to see big business as the enemy. Hence, they tend to be left leaning and naturally more aligned with Labor.
One of the amazing ironies of all this is that the more left leaning Labor people tend to advocate for all people to be able to live freely in their self-expression, including their sexual preferences, gender identification and political outlooks.
On the other hand, the more right leaning conservatives believe that all people should live with complete freedom of choice. Yet, the parties stand at “polar opposites” over their views on what are “acceptable” freedoms.
It seems that on the Liberal Party end, the attitude can be harsh, like “No Gay Marriage”. It however tends to be more a case of “You are free to live as you choose, but please do not infringe on my life”.
On the Labor Party End, it can be extreme like “You must accept all trans gender rights, including trans women using women’s change rooms, or else”, to more moderate views like “you should not discriminate against any person”.
And of course, both sides can be impacted when politicians with strong religious allegiances work their way into positions of influence within their parties.
Fascism and Power
Fascism is a state where Governments, Big Corporations and Big Media combine their resources to assert a collective control over a society. We have seen it in Australia where it often became obvious through his media outlets that Rupert Murdoch wanted to see a change in Government in an Australian State or Federally.
In recent years, however, we seem to have witnessed an incredible marriage between Governments, Big Corporates and Big Media. In Australia right now, it seems that the Left side of Politics is enjoying a wonderful courtship with Big Media.
The problem with this of course is that the media do not challenge the government and hold them to task, so the average citizen has no genuine clue of any wrong doings or perverted use of power, and think their government is doing a great job. Re-election is easier and whatever benefits the media corporations are extracting from the situation continue.
Right now, it seems the left side of politics in Australia is the darling of the bigger media outlets. It has been the opposite in the past.
But as citizens we need to understand that this is Fascism. We are living under Fascist rule. That should concern us. Of course, we are being told that only good is being done, but in Victoria for example, the state is being crushed underneath crippling debt and nobody seems to be paying much attention at all.
If we look across at the US, just three years into a Left Leaning Government and the printing of money has gone to never-before-seen levels to the point where the US Dollar, as the world’s Reserve Currency, may lose its status.
Do we even know where all that money has gone?
Where Are We At?
Right now, as the world seeks to navigate its way out of the catastrophe of the pandemic, we face many mounting issues, and it seems to be the environment is on the top of the list.
This is a topic that scares me, not because I believe the world is going to end, but because there seems to be a rampant drive into a thunderous dead end.
Let me explain. The narrative going round is that atmospheric carbon rises are leading to global warming and disastrous climate change, and that this carbon rise is because of industries created by white men for obscene profits, and there are just too many people on the planet.
Would you really like to pick that one apart?
I will put my hand up and say that we do need to care for mother nature. There is a lot we can do and perhaps, from where I sit, we can get much better at farming, and stop pouring destructive chemicals into the soil. Because of the machinery we have available, we no longer need to plough the soil, which would eliminate one of the biggest contributors to atmospheric carbon we know of.
Let’s look at the things nobody discusses. Since 1980, the planet is 15% greener. That is right. Plant life on the edge of the more arid regions of the globe do not have to open their pores as much to breathe, so they lose less water. The result is more greenery in more arid areas. Planet earth, like humans, adapts to change and to stress.
Things are not as bad as many make out. The employment of fossil fuels has been instrumental in raising billions of people out of poverty as it is, for those in third world countries, the starting point of industrial enterprise.
One of the biggest causes of child illness and deaths in third-world countries is poisoning from burning wood and dung indoors for heating and cooking. Natural gas eliminates that problem.
I remember when I was a teenager, Global Cooling was the thing that frightened us. When did that shift? Experts were predicting a new “Ice Age”.
As a result of the predictions of Environmental Armageddon, Australian Governments are turning their backs on Coal as an energy source, one of our richest natural resources, and closing down our Coal Fired Power Stations.
There are more than 2400 Coal Fired Power Stations in the world, in 79 countries. Currently, India is building, or planning to build 370 new coal fired power stations, and China, many more than that. Vietnam and Indonesia also have huge expansion plans. And guess where they will import much of their coal from? Australia of course.
So, we will not burn our coal here to keep our electricity affordable, but we are happy to sell it overseas.
From a political perspective the Left are driving a global environmental agenda. And most Australians seem to be on board. Why wouldn’t they? Most people have good intentions. But people are not being given the entire view.
For example, every Electric Vehicle battery requires 15kg of Cobalt. 74% of the world’s cobalt comes from brutal, murderous slavery. That is just not ok.
If the world’s renewable energy plans were to manifest, we would need four times as much copper as is currently available and mineable. Do we just “skip over” that point.
These are real problems that are being ignored as politicians don their Marvel Suits and march forward to be anointed the world’s environmental superhero saviors.
But people are being controlled by an unrelenting message of fear, guilt and shame on the terrible western humans who have destroyed the environment.
But the harsh and brutal reality is that this winter, many Australians will be pushed back into poverty by the rapidly rising cost of energy. Many of these will be the loyal voters from the Labor heartland. I keep scratching my head about that.
The Environment Narrative has become so dominant that people dare not speak against it for fear of being labeled a climate denier. It is funny in our democracy, that you are not allowed a viewpoint if it does not align with the accepted narrative of the ruling class.
The same is happening with the Transgender movement, DEI and ESG. It is as if the elite class has decided, so you cannot question.
This sort of cancel culture does not seem to occur under a conservative government as they value and genuinely honor free speech. Opposing viewpoints generate curiosity, learning and discovery.
And I am not saying The Labor Party is bad. Some of the best Labor Governments of our time have been “right learning”. The Hawk and Keating governments were fine examples.
What is The Solution?
We need to take a breath. We need some rational thought. Closing down Coal is premature. The world is not anywhere near ready for full scale renewables.
We also need to take a breath on supporting gender transitioning. It is being held at sane levels in Australia at present, but if the activists get there way, the change could be frightening. In North America, 15-year-old girls are undergoing radical double mastectomies. I personally think that is beyond insane. Especially when you consider that kids cannot vote till they are 18 and in some places, are not allowed to drink alcohol till they are 21.
We do not hang people anymore because we cannot eliminate the risk of executing an innocent person. So how can we suddenly be so sure that a young woman will not change her mind when she matures a little more. WE no longer allow the tail docking of dogs because it is considered so brutal.
On the other hand, we must take a look at the issue of gigantic corporations that have become wealthier and bigger than governments. They have a great deal of power and can manipulate many things. Just take the huge international equity funds who, by their very size and strategic share ownership can control multiple corporations to bring about a collective effort that produces a desired result.
Perhaps we also could take a look at how the share market influences corporate activity and drives a compulsive push for profit over stability, wage fairness and genuine care for employees.
I would argue that we need a new leadership that inspires virtuous behaviors among citizens and invites greater levels of personal responsibility and selflessness.
Further, I would like to see a government that works to lift people out of poverty, which may include giving the wealthy end of town the incentive to develop enterprises with the poorer end of town to help them gain a foothold to build upon.
I like the conservative philosophy or freedom of enterprise and freedom of personal choice. But I would like to see it coupled with some stated values toward conscientiousness, compassion, empathy, honesty and care.
Can we rebuild our economy on a higher plane of values? Can we inspire everyone to seek to do the right thing, and to call people out and help them get back on track when they fail to be responsible?
We need laws to govern business enterprises. However, we may not need new laws as our current laws of contract, and our common law, are very effective. We also need a court or tribunal system that can handle complaints expediently.
I’d also like to see our efforts go toward supporting all people to find their way to being productive in the world. This contributes not just to the economy, but to all people gaining greater self-acceptance, self-confidence, and a deeper level of fulfillment.
I would not be so foolhardy as to argue for a perfect society. But I do believe in the power of small to medium sized businesses being able to contribute mightily to communities, employment, and the healthy expansion of societies. A government that fully supports small to medium enterprises is perhaps needed more than ever.
Reigning in debt is also crucial and this can perhaps be achieved by significantly reducing the size of Government. I also believe that we could slash so many costs by collectively expanding the education of people in many areas including health, nutrition, and disease prevention.
Further, we can inspire more service-oriented attitudes in communities, to have people reach with care to their neighbors as needed, to be more mindful of domestic violence situations and to be more supportive of the work of police in these sensitive areas. What would happen if more people picked up the slack with disaffected youth and got them more involved in areas where they have personal interest.
People are willing and able to do good, and a lot of it. They just need inspiration and guidance from leaders.
We can also save money by dismantling the surveillance systems that seem to have crept into our world in the past decade. And perhaps governments can demand a refund from Pfizer for the disastrous vaccination program we spent billions on.
But all of this must be done with care and compassion. People may well need a nudge, but it can be done with loving care and respect.
So, I conclude that after having been a swinging voter for years, with a tendency to vote liberal over conservative, I now see myself as a compassionate conservative.