I wonder if his hubris would ever allow Scott Morrison to recognise himself from that description?
Silly me! Of course it wouldn’t!
Just as Trump has a rusted on ‘base’, which lets him feel he is universally worshipped – except by the foolish few who believe ‘fake’ news – so, too, has the Coalition enabled Morrison to believe he is doing a good job of managing the economy, the country and our place in the world.
One of the major problems we have today is a refusal by so many to recognise that we really are all – in a global context – in it together.
And we all have two major problems to negotiate – COVID-19 and Global Warming.
In Europe, over the period most significantly affected by WWII, whichever side any particular country was on, supporting their government through a massive war effort was the sole concern of each nation. And their governments had to balance the needs of the war effort against providing sufficient support for those at ‘home’.
Personal needs had to be put on one side in order to allow all necessary resources to be available to stay on course for victory.
Sadly, only one side in a war can ‘win’, but efforts by the USA to help Germany, in particular, and to some extent its allies, to rebuild after the war, made it less likely that there would be any comeback attempts, as there had been after WWI.
No one society can ever expect to live in total harmony, so it is not surprising that the countries in the European Union experience friction and disagreement from time to time.
However, there is a high degree of agreement between the members of that Union as to how they need to deal with both major problems.
In Australia, Victoria has been the State which has had the most severe second wave of the pandemic to deal with – and in part that situation has arisen because modern societies are less cohesive than is really necessary to deal with a crisis.
Personal rights might be important, but not when insistence on freedom to act at will puts the lives of other members of society at risk!
Rights and responsibilities go hand in hand for anyone who wishes to remain an accepted member of society.
For sure, mistakes were made in handling that second wave, but praise is flowing in from outside the country for the success that Daniel Andrews has achieved.
Of course – politics blinds antagonists, and, just as the Coalition rubbished the way Labor dealt with the GFC (although it did not stop them from going down a similar path to deal with the current crisis!), so too the Coalition are still criticising the Victorian Premier’s actions, in contrast with the rest of the world.
One thing which has gone badly wrong in Australia has been having someone so stubborn and self-opinionated as Morrison in the role of PM at this stage in our history.
By preventing Parliament from meeting – ostensibly because of social distancing – and choosing his own ‘executive’, selected from too narrow a field, he has succeeded in creating his own power base which is totally resistant to input from others.
A petty tyrant would best describe him!
The government’s agenda is his agenda and his ‘vision’ – apart from aiming to hold the reins of power as hard and as long as he can – is so limited that we are going to lose lives for reasons other than the pandemic if he is not reined in!
Yet look at how small his majority actually is!
He refuses to be involved in developing an appropriately constructed and powered body to deal with corruption and abuse of power – why? – because he wants to be totally in charge.
How much do we hear of any other government Minister these days?
Barnaby Joyce made a pathetic attempt recently to raise his head above the parapet, but he made little or no impact.
Despite his earnest hopes and desires, Clive Palmer is no part of the government, but his dishonest campaign against Labor makes him a useful weapon for Morrison when it comes to State elections.
That man is a crook and the sooner he is off the scene the better!
With such a high level of unemployment, with so many enterprises out of business, and with the continuing threat of another wave of COVID if we do not closely guard against importing it, the only thing the government should be concentrating on is keeping people alive, fed, housed and job-ready when an opportunity presents itself.
Stop throwing money at businesses rather than the unemployed.
Look at all the Job Keeper funds which have been paid out as bonuses and dividends, rather than helping to keep desperate people in work!!
What is going to happen about people paying rent if they have no income?
What is going to happen when banks start foreclosing because people are having to choose whether to eat or pay the mortgage?
Have you noticed that food prices are going up?
Have you also noticed that the government is in cahoots with employers, to use every opportunity to keep a tight cap on wages and conditions?
Why cannot the government members get their heads round the fact that median income has been about $60,000 pa for those able to find a job, that many families are lucky if one member has a job, and child-minding costs are now out of reach for many, which means looking for a job for many is not even an option?
Pressures to return to ‘normal’ come from a cloud cuckoo land mentality, because we no longer have a normal.
Ignorance about statistics is such that people do not really understand that if ‘median’ income is $60,000, that means half the adult population receives LESS than $60,000 per year!
Think hard about that one!
There are quite a few very wealthy people who want for nothing.
And there are a great many far from wealthy people who lack for basic needs!
Does the government really care?
Have you noticed any pigs in full flight lately?
Until we can make the government do its job honestly and compassionately – am I asking for the impossible? – ‘normal’ will remain a shambolic mess for most of the population.
What do we want?
ICAC!!
How do we want it!
With real teeth!
When do we want it?
NOW!!
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