Does love have a place in politics? It should have.
For those on the left it has been a depressing year; losing an election that was there for the taking. A disaster no one expected.
Those on the right rejoiced at their unexpected good fortune in the belief that it was the way things should be anyway.
And in but a few days we begin another year. The end of a decade. One in which, well politically speaking at least, our country has little to be proud of.
Earlier in the week I started writing about just how much baggage this government would carry with it from this year to the next but the weight of it got to me and I gave up.
I felt in the mood to give the conservatives a right and proper end of year serve. But it really wasn’t what I wanted to convey to the reader.
People of faith pray for outcomes in expectation that they will be answered (if they are not then it is God’s will) and I make no judgement on their purpose.
People of little or no faith live in a world where the word “hope” substitutes for prayer. That by action or persuasion we hope that things will become better, or at least improve.
However, as I write I’m not in the least bit confident that this will occur.
Then as my fingers labour over my thoughts, they turn to how little love there is in our politics and what I really want to convey to the reader are not thoughts of romantic love or erotic love but other loves within us all.
Let me explain.
Would it be a little too much to expect – even hope – that this government might show a little more compassion, even love toward the elderly, those who cannot find work, or those who simply need more?
Could the government we elected – headed by a man of faith who confesses that God is love – find it is his heart to do something about the lack of it shown to the asylum seekers left on Manus and Nauru? Don’t leave the heavy work to God all the time.
Will those Ministers who share his faith with him, who confess love as the central tenant of it, do more for the lost who walk our streets, those who hunger for food and love, or or lodgings?
Will those who confess that they walk in the shoes of Jesus and those who don’t, reconsider their decisions involving, climate change, ethics, education, morality, law, medicine, population, infrastructure, water, what we can grow and many other complex issues in the knowledge that the changes they legislate will have a lasting effect on our children and their children?
My fervent hope is that love, kindness and compassion is considered in their deliberations. May your God bless you in this?
I would also hope – as I’m sure you would pray – for far less lying by all politicians given that truth is one of the commandments unto all. That its restoration be hastily elevated to its former standing.
And so it goes for what we see on our televisions, the demonstrable hatred toward each other that you show in Question Time. Please eliminate it now, urgently.
What I ‘m trying to tell you is that a true democracy cannot exist without a love for all the things that it exists for.
Love is a democratic outcome of all the thoughts that humble us. Debate in our place of democracy is not of necessity about winning or taking down one’s opponent. It is an exchange of facts, ideas and principles. Or in its purist form it is simply the art of persuasion
By this I mean that love shames us when we seek to act without principles, but love honours dignity and mutual respect for our opponents.
Love softens hearts that want outrage, violence, bossing, bullying and sometimes love cannot be spoken, only shown
There is such a widespread disillusionment with how politics is practiced in our country that people feel powerless. That their vote means very little and they are not participants in our democracy. The absence of love one to the other eventually ends the way it has.
My thought for the day
Ask yourself this: Does the political culture we have make you feel good about your country? Is there not room for a little love?
Further thoughts
Be generous with your praise and considerate with your criticism.
The art of logical reasoning and persuasion is wasted on those with enraged voice, eyes closed and ears blocked.
To those who think they can win a debate by being loud and crass I say, “be quiet.” To those who think they can win with a perceived superior intellect I say, “be humble.” Discourse requires civility in order to produce reasoned outcomes.
We have so much to learn from people we disagree with that it’s a wonder we don’t do it more often.
Having the ability to admit that you are wrong is an absolute prerequisite to discernment and knowledge.
Humility is the basis of all intellectual advancement. However, it is truth that that enables human progress.
In our humanity – the concoction of who we are – the most important ingredient is hope. Together with love they make the perfect recipe.
May I take this opportunity to wish all the readers of The AIM a thoughtful festive season? One that is full of hope, thought and love.
See you all in 2020.
Love, JL.
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Return to home pageSome worthy thoughts for the summer solstice and approaching new year.
Anger and hatred can be a self-perpetuating negative feedback loop.
This one shall hereon try to be a bit more considered and less confrontational in my communicative discourse..
Blessings reciprocated with many thanks, Mr Lord,
A thoughtful analysis JL which brings to mind the success won by AP in Queensland terminating the Campbell Newman disaster. AP & Co spent the Newman dark ages in the electorates talking to Australian voters, listening to their concerns and giving them hope that a Qld Labor government would return to the egalitarian principles that we expect in Australian politics. The results of this strategy speak for themselves.
Whether Qld Labor policies presently suit Australian voters is probably yet to be determined. Adani, and more importantly the less publicised mining aspirations of Aunty Gina combined with the short-sighted “me first” thinking of the largely under-educated Queensland bogans in a MSM dominated by News Ltd fake news and pro-foreign development squawkings will make a return to ANZAC egalitarianism difficult.
Certainly the Qld Lazy Nasty People Opposition have no shining light personalities and fewer policies for improving the life of Australian voters, rather each party member hoping to hitch a ride on the corporate gravy train of self-enrichment.
Uhm … and being pedantic ….. the decade is completed at midnight on 31 December 2020 rather than 31 December 2019. Basic Mathematics shows that any starting point is considered zero, with “one’ (1) being one counting unit along the axis AWAY from zero. So “two” is one more unit away from zero, and so on until the final unit of the decade is from nine (9) to ten (10).
The misconception that 2019 ends the decade was begun as a commercial exercise to sell the turn of the century parties and celebrations …..a year early!!
Merry Christmas and may 2020 be another productive thoughtful year of discerning journalism.
The only good thing that I can see from this year is that Labor escaped the economic landmines set by the fascists. Now they must navigate their own path, a path they made themselves.
And we can sit back and watch as they masturbate about #BullshitBoy’s latest stuff up.
The stupidity and idiocy of this mob are continually on show for us, and #Smoko is carries all the blame himself.
The #LiarFromTheShire has shown he has no empathy nor judgement, he is a spoilt little brat and runs away to sulk. What an immature, lying, self-centered brat, with no redeeming features.
Maybe the little prick should have another nick – #Sulkmo
Such a thin skinned, entitled little bludger is he.
Some of the tenets taught to me by the church, were Forgiveness, Charity, Truth and Love thy neighbour. That’s only 3 and these so-called Christens have rewritten the gospels to espouse, Intimidation, Abuse, Lies, Hatred and Greed.
There is NOT a single christian among them, least of all #ShoutyMcShoutface.
The Village Idiots are nothing more than a cohort of liars, cheats and thieves! They are truly the party of the ANTICHRIST!
Love is NOT in the vocabulary. A pox on their houses!!
NEC, John got it right. Common misconception.
How can you expect such bitter and twisted sociopaths as we have in Govt. to be capable of any kind of empathy or altruism?
Robodebt Minister Stuart Robert is still waging his eliminationist war against Social Welfare recipients.
Apparently he, Stuart Robert, believes the early 1990’s recession was something the Labor Party deliberately inflicted upon the Nation. Many poorly educated people still think that because Keating used the phrase “The recession we had to have…..” that he was announcing a new economic plan, and not simply reflecting upon the inevitable aftermath of the 1987 Stock Market crash.
Very uplifting and a thoughtful discourse.
My own thoughts for what they worth and stated recently on the Drum, are that for us to succeed as a nation and to win the huge battles we face, we must recognise the talents and capabilities of every individual and the contribution they can make to society. We must enable each individual to perform at tleast heir highest possible level and by doing so, make the highest possible contribution to our Nation.
Every citizen needs to be valued and to feel part of society, our schools must have the welfare of the student as its highest priority and the worst schools need the best teachers. As the highly successful principal of a school for disruptive students of a Melbourne school said, each child must be taught as an individual as we need to build the skills our children will need to cope in this highly challenging world where they will be faced with problems that threaten the existence of the race. We must make the very most of each person and stop demonising those who the conservatives deem to have failed and to be a burden on society.
Government cannot be responsible for individual behaviour but must take responsibility for social services and stop outsourcing them to “service providers” whose objctive objective is profit. At every step of the way, our political leaders should be asking how a new policy will benefit the people and the nation. Government is there to serve the people, not vested interests or donors.
As Hilary Cottom says in her book “Radical Change”, we are now longer in a world of churning out students to man factories or to fill professions, such as the law, medicine, that will be impacted by AI, robotics and new medical technologies.
We must rebuild our sense of community and reconnect with nature so it’s value is recognised and respected. This should start to address growing and serious issues such as loneliness and chronic health issues for which there are no “cures” but adaptiion and resilience.
God bless you – John Lord and i totally get your Xmas wrap up for the year , and your sound reasons
As we head into 2020 ..
yes ,A little more reflection and humbleness and measured responses with respect is vital .
Great wisdom , John ..
Another John from the bible . Has this to say to further Confirm you, John Lord and your message ..
John ; 3 :16 – For God so loved the world .. ( .Me ,you and every nation and people .) That he gave his only be gotten son – JESUS ,that who ever so believes in him , shall not perish ,But have ever lasting life ! ..
Jesus is the reason for the season .. Not Santa or Symbals or paganism !!!
Peace N Good will to all , May, Faith – Hope n Love- Abound ,
May blinded spiritual eyes be opened ,,that they me see the hope of the gospel message – The Saviour and Son of God .
The Lord Jesus Christ !!! ………………………………………………………………………………………
BC- AD – un-disputed Historical proof that he is real !! – BC- AD ,If it is not . History says -before Christ and after death !!
Food for thought !!!!!
Love is not a word conservatives understand. They cannot see the love between kirby and van vloten or christ and his men or between women. Their concept stops with barnaby and vicki.
How good is your intellectual advancement and truth? The intelligence ascribed to ‘voters’ in many of posts give them the truth based on their growth and experience and capacities for thinking, reasoning, relating, judging, conceptualizing which leads them to vote. Their truth, lord, not yours.
ps
the pedant is not wearing undies that should muffle his/her voice
the queensland workers had a reason to fear labor and the greens but nec’s idiots colleagues voted for joyce, without any coercion..
jan 1 is the start and is 1 ergo there is no year 0 and y2k was 2000
pps
hitchhikers puts god into perspective and epicurus is on the money.
“Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
pps the compliments of the season to all the xmas lovers me I think father xmas sums up australia she does the lifting he gets the milk and bikkies,
I was raised as an Anglican, I attended a school run by Sisters of the Church (nice ones) and until I was nearly an adult I hadn’t given it a lot of considered thought. It seemed the natural way of things.
Now ? I am not sure.
But I cannot believe in the same god of the PM, or the same god of those who kill innocents to prove their devotion, or who amass great wealth on the backs of the poor in the name of their chosen leader. None of these is a god I would want to know. And I am pretty sure that any self respecting god wouldn’t want to know them either.
I prefer your thoughts about hope and love. I take my direction, my catechism for life from an old piece of prose that fits for just about anyone – Desiderata. I recommend everyone reads it, I try to on a regular basis to see where I am going wrong.
” ..with all its sham drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy ”
Thanks for your good wishes JL, the same back to you. We have to keep on trying because I do believe LOVE conquers all.
Much food for thought there John. Love in politics. It seems all major parties have difficulty with that concept, none more so than the LNP. I guess it comes back to the simple fact that people are products of their environments and many of the faces we see in Parliament today likely got off to pretty ordinary start in terms of having empathetic role-models early on.
Anyone can change of course, I’ll leave it at that.
It is probably hard to impossible for most people to get their head around the idea of love operating through political action, but one person who is living it out in real time is 2020 US Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, who says “Turning love into a political force is not a pipe dream; it is simply a choice. These are extraordinary times and we have it within us to respond to them in extraordinary ways.”
https://www.marianne2020.com/
As a parting gift for Xmas bushfire season, can I recommended this award winning documentary by Matthias Hancke:
Overcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUbP7dMVoww
god made man and from him he made women not the best start, eh girls with man giving life? HE quickly passed it on to you but kept the intellectual property.
My blood boils:a little joey, victim of the fires, was shown this morning and the women oohed and ahhed over HIM isn’t HE lucky isn’t HE cute etc always HE. Why???
Wake up girls we men are conning you and it is time to take the stage.
There must be something in Pankhurst worth reviving or Sabine??
ps nec AD/BC??? no ZERO the muslims wouldn’t be around for another 6 centuries so couldn’t shared it yet.
Thanks John Lord for all your enjoyable posts for 2019 and look forward to 2020 hoping you will continue to making me feel that there are others out there that feel the way I do. The aimn network of writers continues to brighten my day in the current dark political landscape.
Mohammed didn’t die on the cross ,, or any other false God or prophet !
Thats why their name is not recorded in History- LIke Jesus ..BC AD ,,, As for Muslims being recorded 6 centuries later ..so be it ..
History is history ,, The Bible is the Bible ..
Peace n good will to all at this season ..
If you don’t believe , Then dont’ celebrate Xmas- blindly ,
Jesus is the reason for the season !!
Or go back to where you came from !!!- If you don’t like this country !!!………………………………
wow jano the cross is easter holidays and without muslim’s zero we would be adding not multiplying
ps the jew god and the muslim god and your jesus are one and the same just a sop to simpletons who cannot understand the moebius strip.
Personally the idea of a rainbow serpent sits better than a virgin birth.
wam ,,, if you cant stomach the bible ,, is that my fault …the facts are the facts ,,, BC and Ad ..
Before christ and after death of christ ,,, BC – AD ..what are you jiving at ?
The bible history is real ….BC AD ,,,what is your jive – or point at this point of time …
No other false God died on the cross ..only Jesus ,,,
who else claimed to be the Son of God ? There is none, clown …so wake up !! ..
Dont try bring Xmas into dis -respute ..all because it dont suit your agenda or Belief ,,,God bless you wam …
go spoil some ones else party ,,,,The bible and Jesus will stand the test of time …long after negative comments posted …
Only Jesus saves !!! If you dont believe ,,, may one day ,,you do ,,,
The Bible is free ..go drink it and absorb it ,,,Find the Author ,,,Amen ,,
QED
dear oh dear jano don’t try to read my arrogant post it is aimed at explaining why nec is a pedant, deliberately ignorant of why labor lost in qld and why, in an attempt at a joke, there is no year zero, the muslims gave it to europeans 1000 years after jesus
As for the bible is is written by men for men instituting the god of the bible as the same god as jews, xstians and muslims.
Good luck in your belief in the segment selected by the men of your religion but try to have some rational thought rather than just believe the boys of the pulpit or the microphone(how free are they??)
ps
have you heard of:
mobius strip???
Epicurus???
Rainbow serpent or are you stuck on eve’s apple enticing snake???
Are you old enough to remember the controversy of Y2K?? I guess nec is?
NEC – Well spotted on the decade. There was no Year 0!
JL – there is always room for love, but we have run out of room for tolerance for the policy-less numskulls on the government benches.
Cheers any way ,,,Wam … I misunderstood your post ,i was reading it with a bit too much red wine ,and lack of sleep .. And i dont know what NEC is ..
Stay safe from the fires and have a safe and happy new years ,,,cheers from wollongong !!!
Jano,
Ethanolic befuddlement is a common side-effect when people confuse fermented grape juice with eucharistic sacrament.
To avoid this, always transubstantiate your tipples prior to the quaff.
Jano, according to your reckoning Jesus had a gap year, actually 33 years approximately. Born in the year 1 A D .
‘B C’ are the years Before Christ.
A D is actually Anno Domini (Latin for ‘in the year of the Lord’, no John not you).
Jesus was estimated to have been crucified at the age of 33 approximately.
I am an atheist but I think that Jesus of Nazareth led an exemplary life which could well be an example to us, and should be especially to people like our Prime Minister.
Thanks for your insights Bruce white and Corvus Boreus ,,, All the best for the new years ,,,