Mar 092011
 

The idiocy surrounding the Carbon Price ‘debate’ has reached such extremes I hold grave fears for the Australian Way.


I was brought up to believe that government acts on behalf of the entire electorate in order to provide the greatest good for the greatest number. Government as we see it today has long forgotten that creed, and now seems to seek only to counter the futility of an opposition collective – not just the Parliamentary opposition but also those incited by its fear campaigns – which threatens democracy as we understand it.
Following the August 2010 election, I wasn’t terribly concerned that we wound up with a minority government. These events have occurred before and society rolled on without dissolving into incivility and rancour, yet this time, it appears Australian society is deeply divided into three categories. The extreme conservative element that willingly parrots whatever conservatism tells it to; the socially democratic, who like me, want only for government to do what is right not just for the here & now, but for the future of our nation & generations to come; and those who are fed up to the back teeth with bigoted ridicule being hurled by one of the other categories against the other.
We have a government which was duly elected by a democratic process. It’s government by a loose coalition of Labor, Greens and Independents. Loose because there is no binding tripartite agreement requiring the three elements to work cohesively as one. Negotiation is the name of the game, as ALL political process ought to be in the interests of ALL Australians. My political ‘team’ didn’t win in August. I’m not unduly upset or filled with bile & vitriol. Neither am I particularly concerned that my way of life will be changed inordinately and forever by any policy this tripartite collective may or may not bring about. Let’s be realistic and agree that Australian political cycles are short – some say too short – and nothing is carved in stone until the Governor-General signs off. So, I have to ask, why is the conservative extreme so spitefully arrogant, so vehemently irrational in its approach to everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, our democratically elected Government seeks to achieve? The answer is very simple. Because there is a man in charge of the major conservative alliance in this country who feels personally cheated, hard done by and harbours a grudge against all & sundry who didn’t vote for him in August 2010.
We know from news sources that Tony Abbott openly told Independents he was forced into negotiations with, that he was prepared to do anything to become Prime Minister. Allocate unheard of sums of money for partisan causes, agree to similarly partisan legislation even to the point of embracing Climate Change reform just so he could move into The Lodge. He failed to buy his way into power and now is attempting to corrupt his way into power. He is deliberately perverting the democracy built up by our predecessors in a vain attempt to get what he personally feels he’s entitled to. A ‘People’s Revolt’, indeed! Inciting popular revolt amounts to sedition in some cultures, but ours is more protective of the right to free speech, but surely that free speech goes two ways? Currently, it seems to only run one way, the way of the disrupters, the denialists, the nay-sayers and refuse-niks. Challenge any of these types to validate their stance and you’ll wind up with these people jumping down your virtual throat, resorting to illogic, abuse and denigration of the worst kind I’ve seen outside of dedicated ideological supremacist organisations.
On this very poorly handled issue of carbon pricing as a prelude to an emissions trading scheme, we see rabid activist groups like Menzies House encouraging mobs to roll up at the PM’s electoral office this coming Saturday to protest against something that hasn’t been detailed, not explained well to the populace and blown out of all proportion by ideologically-oriented opposers of anything the Government proposes. The Government is at fault for it’s terrible handling of the matter, however I see no validation for conservative extremists to gather their hordes, only to be further incited into what could very well devolve into violence.
On the opposite side of the ledger, I note the non-conservative forces doing precisely the same thing. I’m at a loss as to think that’s a good thing, or simply an exacerbation of a scenario which will eventually lead to warring parties of extremist froot-loops moving against each other’s gatherings for an all-out slug-fest. To be sure, there are fools and reprobates on both sides of the ledger, although in my experience, the percentage of such types on the conservative side far & away out number those on the non-conservative side.
This type of thing, constructed on fantasy, poor or no information and bugger all hard fact can only lead to a denigration of what I call the Australian Way. Politicians have no right to incite mobs. That is not what we, the voters, put them in a position of responsibility for. They are elected to argue a cause and produce alternatives, not incite potential riots. If this Saturday goes the way I fear it may, the entire fault can be laid at the feet of one federal opposition leader. A perverse part of me hopes that the worst does happen, so that a ‘kinder, gentler polity’ can arise from the ashes of his demise. The man is dangerous, there is no other way to describe his Machiavellian tactics in exciting the vehement rage I’ve experienced in social media, radio & television fueled by ignorance and arrogance. He must be removed by more responsible people within his own political party, and if civil unrest resulting in destruction of property or worse, personal injury as a result of his jackboot tactics, works as a mechanism for his end, then I say so be it.
Abbott has rolled the dice. He is the lone crap shooter who The Rolling Stones claim is all ‘sixes and sevens and nines’ but I reckon he’s just full of snake-eyes.

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