Imperial Fruit: Bananas, Costs and Climate Change

The curved course of the ubiquitous banana has often been the peel…

The problems with a principled stand

In the past couple of weeks, the conservative parties have retained government…

Government approves Santos Barossa pipeline and sea dumping

The Australia Institute Media Release Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s Department has approved a…

If The Jackboots Actually Fit …

By Jane Salmon If The Jackboots Actually Fit … Why Does Labor Keep…

Distinctions Without Difference: The Security Council on Gaza…

The UN Security Council presents one of the great contradictions of power…

How the supermarkets lost their way in Oz

By Callen Sorensen Karklis Many Australians are heard saying that they’re feeling the…

Purgatorial Torments: Assange and the UK High Court

What is it about British justice that has a certain rankness to…

Why A Punch In The Face May Be…

Now I'm not one who believes in violence as a solution to…

«
»
Facebook

Labor/Democrat/Green: Conservatives in bunny suits.

By James Moylan

Who is to blame for Trump? This seems to be the abiding obsession of our journalistic class.

If you are a right wing journalist then it is apparent that Trump was elected because of a backlash against political correctness and a yearning within the huddled masses to be able to open their own small business, purchase six flat screen televisions, and an investment property. If you are a middle of the road journalist then it is obvious that the huddled masses were duped by fake news and all the right wing journalists. And while it would be nice to know what all the left wing journalists in Australia might think; unfortunately it seems that he is still on holidays.

The unfortunate truth never seems to get a look-in. It is not allowed to get a look-in. If the real reasons why we are electing such a disparate group of no-hopers to power were even hinted at by a member of our mainstream press then they would likely, very soon, no longer be a member of the mainstream press. The sad truth is that our journalistic class are just puppets and mouthpieces for our corporate rulers. So of course the election of Trump, Abbott, Turnbull etc. is proposed as being inexplicable. The truth cannot be uttered for fear of rocking the boat, endangering a growing pile of super, and the ability to purchase yet another investment property. How could a journalist possibly afford to send their kiddies to a decent private school if they were unemployed?

Yet the answer to this question is as simple as it is depressing. The primary reason that Trump, Abbott, Turnbull, and the rest of the corporate shucks get elected, and continue to get elected, is because they are genuine. They might be right wing pricks bordering on fascistic, but at least they are not talking out of one side of their mouths. The huddled masses may be ill-educated but they are not stupid. They can spot a phoney a mile away. And the so-called progressive politicians in all the western world countries are as phoney as a three dollar bill.

The reality of politics in the modern western world is that it is a game that is played according to a rule-book created and enforced by the moneyed classes. You don’t get a look-in as a Labor or Democrat politician unless you are willing to toe the ‘party line’ and also happen to have a big wad of cash hanging out of your back pocket. So our political and social discourse is one that is shaped by and directed toward salving the sensibilities of the big end of town. Heads they win – tails you lose. Every time.

In Australia we are provided with a choice between tax cuts for the rich or tax cuts for the upper middle class and the rich. Most of the past election campaign in Australia was devoted to discussing how much of a largesse those with more than a million dollars in super should be allowed. Or how big a tax cut should we provide those investing in housing. We were, once again, provided with a ‘choice’ between unabashed laissez-faire capitalism or slightly ashamed laissez-faire capitalism. A choice between honest arseholes or lying arseholes.

All our politicians continue to talk as if they are economists, not politicians. They all uniformly propose that we live in an ‘economy’ – not a society. The right-wingers talk about how we have to slash government services brutally while the ‘progressives’ talk about how we have to limit government services carefully. They all talk with an economist’s accent and with one eye on the pile of corporate donations stacked in the corner of their party room.

All the so-called ‘progressive’ politicians use exactly the same terms, talk about exactly the same things, in exactly the same ways, as our right-wing politicians. They are simply right-wing corporatists wearing bunny suits. In reality the only way that you can tell the difference between a right wing and a ’left-wing’ politician in our country is by noting that all the bunny suits the ‘left-wingers’ are wearing have a pretty little heart stitched onto one sleeve. It comes with the uniform.

When was the last time that you hear ANY mainstream politician in our country talk about the need to address the spiralling inequities within our society by increasing the taxes imposed on the richest? Or by increasing corporate taxes? Or about socialising essential services? Or removing the ownership of our mining resources from the hands of a few absurdly rich mongrels and returning them to the bulk of the population? Or maybe outlawing the manifold monopolies that have sprung throughout our economy? Or reducing the power and influence of the corporate press?

The so-called ‘progressive’ politicians in our country, and across the western world, have been utterly captured by the big end of town. The Labor Party, like the Democrats in the US, have been bought by the corporations and are now run as a wholly owned subsidiary of the right wing political parties. They can only talk about the same concerns that are of interest to the right-wingers, using right-wing language, and employing right-wing sensibilities. The only difference between a left-winger and a right-winger is the speed with which they are willing to see the poor and disaffected within society getting screwed. We no longer live in a Common-wealth. Australia has morphed into a Corporate-wealth. And everyone else, and the planet, be damned.

When I was a child the ‘economy’ was seen to be an aspect of our society. We all perceived Australia as being an egalitarian state that was based on the idea of a ‘fair go’ for all. However the society has now become an ‘economy’. Where once bank managers were seen to be paper shufflers and akin to insurance salesmen; they are now the rulers of the universe. Where once houses were conceived as being a form of shelter; they are now investments. Government was once upon a time believed to be a way of ensuring that we had a healthy society, not as a means of ensuring that we have a healthy environment for overseas investors. Our mining industry was perceived as being licensed by the state to extract our resources on our behalf; not as a means of enabling rich opportunists and overseas corporations to extract personal wealth. Electricity, water, local services, and government services were once appreciated as being essential services run by attention to providing an equality of universal service; not as an opportunity for the corporate classes to gouge the poor, build a portfolio, and retire early.

Why did Abbott, Turnbull, and Trump get elected? It’s simple. They are genuine arseholes – not hypocritical arseholes. Why do we see One Nation prospering and the Greens becoming a fading dream? Because One Nation are genuine monsters and the Greens are hypocritical monsters. The problem is not that the public is electing the wrong people but rather that we are provided only with a choice between a wide selection of cookie cutter arseholes. When provided with a forced option of voting for either Tweedle-distressing or Tweedle-disgusting; we choose the one who seems to be lying the least. It does not mean that the public are deliberately electing the wrong people – it is simply a symptom of only having a broad selection of either genuine, or hypocritical, arseholes to choose from.

More significantly, the majority of the population now know of no other option, For thirty years our corporately owned press has ‘educated’ the community to believe that they live in an ‘economy’. And that nothing else matters. That the essential job of a politician is to make sure that the piles of cash are neatly stacked and that every aspect of every social relationship is both economically efficient and profitable. That there are only two sorts of Aussies; lifters and leaners.

The sad truth is that the money-men seem to have won. They bought the press, then our politicians. Thus enabling them to force their agenda onto the whole of our society. Now it is the only agenda that the population even understands. So while it is true that we continue to elect no-hopers and sly pricks to our parliaments; it is a bit of a stretch to blame it on the population at large.

No political candidate who is not a corporate shill can ever get elected because they will simply be ignored, or demonised by the corporate press. The word ‘socialist’ is now universally equated in our social discourse with ‘terrorist’. Anyone who stands up and suggests that perhaps we might not need to beat the poor so hard, or so often, is described as being ‘naïve’, or dangerous. So the public have become distressed and disaffected while at the same time being utterly unable to even recognise anyone who might actually have their best interests at heart. At least the older Aussies can remember what it means to live in a society. All the younger generation knows is a dog-eat-dog economy. So when they elect the biggest and meanest dog it is not necessarily their fault.

Unfortunately, understanding the nature of our problem does not assist in solving the problem. We are still stuck with an economy where once we had a society. We are still ruled by rabid dogs instead of citizens. And the majority of the population still remain ignorant of what a ‘community’ might even look like. The only way I can see that we will be able to tunnel our way out from under this giant pile of excrement is to revolutionise our mainstream media. And that seems as likely as seeing an honest and socially responsible citizen getting elected to any of our parliaments – in other words; pigs might fly.

 

57 comments

Login here Register here
  1. Jaquix

    Fabulous article James Moylan. Lots to absorb. Needs to be read several times, I think so Ive printed it off for that purpose. Not sure where the “image” came from, but it contains that classic error of spelling You’re as Your.

  2. James Moylan

    Thanks Jaquix,
    Knowing your own limitations is always a good start so I don’t post directly to the site as I often get a bit overexcited and potentially derogatory (and I am a qualified lawyer!!!) so I send my articles off to the editorial staff and they post them alongside a graphic of their choosing. Usually they are spot on but the editor in question is in the middle of a kerfuffle with the NBN so I think we can all cut him a break.
    [just as I posted this response he fixed the mistake!! They really are a conscientious bunch at AIM.]

  3. Michael Taylor

    That was my fault, Jaquix. I have replaced it.

    Thanks for picking that up. ?

  4. Michael Taylor

    Don’t get me started on the NBN. ?

    I had it connected yesterday. It lasted five minutes. They stuffed up. They will fix. Eventually. I think.

    My temperamental WiFi unit has the same level of reliability: 0.0015/10.

  5. Wayne Turner

    NOT phoney – Clearly NOT true. Abbott – LIED to get – “No cuts to….”. Turnbull – Says one thing when he’s NOT leader,then does another leader of party. Trump – LIES to get in – Then back tracks when he gets in ie: “Wants to unite the country”.After he demonized anyone NOT white and male.NOTHING geninue about them,and all hypocrites.

    Finally,a big reason Trump got in is because of America’s flawed,illogical and undemocratic electoral college system.Clinton got close to 3 million more votes than Trump.Yet the person with LESS votes will be president. Undemocratic States of America.

  6. silkworm

    “Why do we see One Nation prospering and the Greens becoming a fading dream? Because One Nation are genuine monsters and the Greens are hypocritical monsters.”

    What the fv<k are you talking about?

  7. wam

    nice fantasy james we ‘never had an economy’ as long as there was:
    a defined education path. worker up to grade 10 – apprentices 10 exams into 11 bank johnnies average matric uni above ave
    services employed Australians and were ours
    then society bubbled along with the bouncing ball in the sat arvo pictures.
    When wars were seen on the TV, the bubbles burst and journalists stopped writing from facts and experiences and began producing opinions ,often skewed by figures and certainly driven by editors,
    Soon the media was disguising facts to fit the political purpose and inventing diversionary tactics to keep the public from looking too closely at the food in the media trough. We swallowed because it was coated with sweetness of national need. As this became less effective it became necessary to dig deep into the sour sounding incomprehensible maths of money. Nobody in my circuit can explain why every news finishes with an acronym that has gone from 5749.63 to 5750.00??? But it represents the fear so easily raised by the right and unexplained by the left.

  8. Glenn K

    hmmm….well….yes….I agree with this article. I arrived in Australia 31 years ago as a naive university graduate. I LOVED the egalitarian and socialist attitude of the average Aussie and saw it everywhere. And when I write “socialist” I mean people believing in a society and the social good. Loved it so much I stayed. This year I’m leaving, moving to France to be closer to my wife’s family. I will be sad to leave, but on the other hand the Aussie-land I fell in love has changed in a kind of ugly way. The one big thing which I remain puzzled by is how so many working class and struggling Aussies continue to vote against their own interests in electing parasitic lying politicians to represent them – parasites who seek to destroy the fair-go and egalitarian ideal. Can’t figure that one out. Of course, the corporate ownership of our MSM explains a lot of it – but not all of it.
    I’ve come to the conclusion that only a massive and painful recession will be the required tonic to turn this place back to something fair. Rioting in the streets so to speak. Of course, that could backfire and again the poor become the target. I hope not.
    Will be interesting to see how this Centrelink debt hammering of the poor pans out. Will most people be outraged or just not give a stuff about the half a million or so poor people being beaten on by the LNP???

  9. Wayne Turner

    One Nation genuine lol – Like Paul Hanson’s claiming to NOT rort her FEDERAL entitlements,even though she is travelling around on our expense for a STATE election.Plus that genuine trip to the Great Barrier Reef – NOT.

    Sadly,this is one of the worst articles I have seen on this web site.Claiming the right are “genuine arseholes” is simply NOT true – See my previous post for examples of that.This article would have been far better if it just claimed that Labor/Democrats/Greens were NOT genuine with what they say and do,but to claim the right are is laughable,and FACTUALLY WRONG.

  10. James Moylan

    Mr Turner,
    I find you comment largely incomprehensible.
    I call the right wing ‘genuine arseholes’ and you take umbrage?
    I would have thought that ‘genuine arseholes’ is a perfect description of one nation. And the LNP.
    I didn’t bother extrapolating on the degree of their ugliness because I would not have thought it was required.
    ‘Genuine arseholes’ is meant to imply that they are honest, upstanding, individuals?
    You think I am honouring them when I use such a description?
    It was an offhand remark in an article devoted to a critique of the so-called ‘left’ in our Australian mainstream politics.
    I am pretty sure that it is no use criticising the right wing because they will not change.
    I did not say that the right are genuine – I said they were genuine arseholes.
    What part of the phrase ‘genuine arseholes’ is unambiguous?
    At least honour my writing with at lest the same level of comprehension that would be provided by a 3rd grade reader.

  11. James Moylan

    silkworm,
    What part of the Greens agenda is progressive?
    They pretend to be ‘progressive’ yet refuse to advocate on behalf of progressive values.
    They do not discuss the redistribution of wealth nor advocate for it.
    They consider that cannabis should remain illegal.
    They are in favour of tax cuts for the rich investor (at every stage of the debate).
    They are outright scared to use the word ‘socialist’.
    They refuse to advocate on behalf of socialising essential services, or the mining industry, or dare to stick their head above the pack if it might mean that they endanger their own entitled positions.
    They are run by a middle-class doctor who has a nice little holiday home tucked away in the hills and who talks a little like an economist in a coffee shop.
    Yes one nation are a bunch of genuine monsters who are horrific in every sense of the word.
    But can’t we at least expect that a group of politicians who call themselves ‘the Greens’ might actually be more interested in fighting on behalf of progressive values instead of fighting to get their snouts further embedded in the trough?
    I ran the HEMP Party for a while and was stabbed in the back by the Greens when they accepted our preferences but then refused to even advocate on behalf of decriminalisation of cannabis (I am no longer associated with the HEMP Party but the Greens are still against decriminalisation).
    What part of ‘hypocritical monsters’ is not a good description?

    wam
    If I understood your comment I might respond

    (Time to get back to work)

  12. Roswell

    I think it’s a very good article. James, I do like the way you write.

  13. Jexpat

    James: suffice to say, you’re incorrect about many of the bullet points above, and it appears that the source of the ‘monster’ characterisation is some personal grudge.

    For example:

    http://greens.org.au/policies/drugs-substance-abuse-addiction

    1. The response by all levels of government to drug and other substance use is best addressed within a health and social framework.
      9. The individual use of illegal drugs should not fall within the criminal framework.
    2. The current punitive approach to drug use has failed to stop illicit drugs use.

    See also NSW Greens:

    https://nsw.greens.org.au/policies/nsw/drug-regulation-and-harm-minimisation

    1. Ensure there are no criminal sanctions for personal drug use and the possession of associated implements.

    41. Remove all criminal sanctions for the possession and use of personal quantities of cannabis, including the cultivation of a small number of cannabis plants for personal use.

    1. Establish an independent drug regulatory authority to develop evidence-based and continuously evaluated policies and programs for safer drug use. The authority is to be governed by an advisory committee made up of independent experts, and ensuring that the best policies are developed as new drugs and drug use behaviours emerge. The scope of policies determined by this authority can include the development of a legal regulated supply of drugs managed by this authority, starting with the supply of cannabis.

    For my money, I’m fully on board the Oregon approach: http://www.oregon.gov/olcc/marijuana/pages/default.aspx

    Oregon Marijuana Legalization Gets Boost From Cops

    Oregon on track to collect $43 million in pot taxes this year

  14. Wayne Turner

    I still stand by all my points,and James you clearly can’t handle people that disagree with you,and your incorrect article.Plus,great points Jexpat,and all true.

  15. silkworm

    “What part of the Greens agenda is progressive?”

    Um, all of it?

    “They do not discuss the redistribution of wealth nor advocate for it.”

    Redistribution of wealth is achieved by progressive taxation, and that means taxing the rich more, which the Greens certainly do advocate.

    “I ran the HEMP Party for a while and was stabbed in the back by the Greens… ”

    How many years ago was this? I think you’ll find that the Greens are the most progressive of the major parties when it comes to both medical and recreational cannabis.

  16. keerti

    Having been briefly involved with the greens during the last election , and watched the antics to shut down Sarah. I can only agree. They are just another bunch of lying wankers

  17. Fee

    I’m of an age I remember when the financial report was not part of the news report. Yes they were simpler times but as James says we once had a society that cared for it’s neighbours, knew the people who lived in the street & banks weren’t the avaricious entities they have now become, they were Govt institutions not profit oriented piranhas!
    Politicians were conviction politicians, actually in it to contribute to society, to make the world a more equitable place. We haven’t had new acts passed that are to benefit society but everything is now to regulate society. I acknowledge, the NBN as originally envisaged & the NDIS are exceptions to this but look at those rotting carcasses that they have become!

  18. guest

    James, you need to get someone to edit more closely. Try “It simple”and “lifter’s and leaner’s”.

    As well, your writing is full of derogatory name-calling. That kind of talk did not get Hillary very far with her reference to “deplorables”.

    Then you say that we can tell the difference between Labor and Coalition because Labor has little hearts on its bunny uniform. I would suggest it is the heart which makes all the difference in distinguishing Labor from the Coalition. Furthermore, if you were not able to pick the difference between Labor and Coalition policies at the election and now as well, then you have not been paying attention.

    As for your rosey glasses view of Oz politics 30 years ago, it is just a cloud cuckoo land fantasy.

    In the end, it was just a rant written very quickly, I would say – too much repetitive bile and vague generalisations.

  19. James Moylan

    Mr Turner
    “you clearly can’t handle people that disagree with you and your incorrect article”
    Thank you for the laugh. I have spent a lifetime putting forth ideas and inviting criticism.
    So I can certainly handle ‘people that disagree’ and actually invite such a situation.
    In fact, it was in the vague hope that you might furnish some sort of an identifiable argument that I spent so long in formulating a comment in response to your initial vague, ill-defined, and rather childish submission.
    I will not make that mistake again beyond penning these few words.
    But please feel free to engage in further ad hominem forms of advice if you wish.
    They do not damage my arguments nor tarnish my gargantuan ego – in fact rather the opposite is the case.

    silkworm
    “that means taxing the rich more, which the Greens certainly do advocate”
    the policy position of the Greens is that the tax rates should stay exactly where they are (or at least that is what their policy statement said at the last election – look it up).
    Additionally: I think you need to also look up the policies of the Greens regarding cannabis – this most ‘progressive’ of parties very deliberately refused to endorse the decriminalisation of cannabis during the last election. In fact, the great leader stood up before a whole conference of medical cannabis activists in Tamworth last year and said as much to loud booing from the audience. I was part of the audience so what should I believe – your vague assertions or my own lying ears and eyes?

    (I really should be writing a thesis and not playing silly buggers but never let it be said that I will not strike at a dangled bait)

  20. corvus boreus

    Part of the reason for the recently demonstrated drop in the electoral appeal of the Greens would be that, on top of making some serious blunders and rather unpalatable compromises, they have also decided, in the time-honored manner of the left, to officially schism into discordant factions.

  21. Trish Corry

    I think the premise of your entire article fails and this is a very simplistic view of a complex problem. A counter-argument to your main points can be demonstrated through an actual example/supporting evidence (which appears to be absent in your article for your main argument). As you are really making a huge call that the Right Wing are genuine ie: wear their hearts on their sleeves and really push conservatism / neo-liberalism / nationalism and the left wing are not genuine. I disagree. I would like to see some concrete examples of genuine versus non genuine, rather than emotive phrasing. I say this, because I think this a very important topic for discussion.

    The right wing liberal / nationalists are genuine in reiterating the concerns of the people, however, they are not genuine in their solutions.

    When the voters saw the genuine solutions and the genuine values from Abbott and from Newman in Queensland being implemented: they rejected this with anger and disgust.

    I wrote an article a little while back for both major parties to wear their hearts on their sleeves and start really espousing the underpinning values of their parties, so we can have a true battle of ideas. My article discussed that neither side are really promoting very vocally the underpinning values of their parties.

    I do understand what you are getting at; but I do not think the fault is purely because the left are not genuine enough. I agree they could espouse their values much, much more.

    However, the right is more appealing because they reiterate people’s concerns. Whether they have a workable solution or not is irrelevant. They just want their concerns validated. My next article is around this topic, so your article is timely. I am viewing a similar situation as you, but through an inter-group contact/conflict / social psychology lens.

    If the right wing campaigned on their genuine underpinning ideology and values, they would be hard pressed to get a look in.

    Do you think the Liberals would get in if they championed their actual genuine underpinning values?

    We are a party who are formed to stand against the party of the workers. We oppose anything which may place the worker in any position of bargaining power over business owners. We always aim to keep workers subordinate and as a prosperous economy relies on business being able to utilize labour as cheap as possible.

    We believe that the free market solves everything and we believe that mass privatization with a dual or user pays system for public services will enhance the economy.

    We are against regulations such as minimum wage, Penalty rates and government intervention in conditions and wages of labour and this should be freely negotiated.

    We do not believe in government intervention in the social or private sphere and we believe everyone was born with the same opportunities in life and it is the individual’s responsibility to make their way in the world. Government intervention only makes individuals weak and unable to achieve to their potential.

    These are just few examples. I won’t even get into providing One Nation / Nationalists examples that are non-genuine.

    There are other assumptions within your article that I also do disagree with, but I won’t raise them at this time.

  22. Jexpat

    James Moylan wrote: (I really should be writing a thesis and not playing silly buggers but never let it be said that I will not strike at a dangled bait)

    If you’re expecting passing marks, said thesis will be more accurately referenced than your diatribes above.

  23. James Moylan

    (damn the thesis – this is far more fun)

    Trish,
    I agree with almost all of what you say but I do not believe that the ‘left’ in Australia is genuine nor is it genuinely progressive. That was the particular thrust of my commentary – and as it was a commentary I did not see fit to supply any degree of fine definition for my assertions.
    I do agree that I am guilty of allowing readability and alliteration to get in the way of making my point regarding the nature of the campaigning by the right wingers. When I called them ‘genuine arseholes’ I was doing so simply to provide a distinction – as I noted in a comment above, I do not think that they are ‘genuine’ in any sense of the word – only genuine arseholes. However I stand by all of my comments regarding the nature of the so-called progressive parties in Australia. They look like pale imitations of the right wingers – not like any sort of a genuine alternative. I agree that I provide a simplistic view of a complex problem, nor do I provide any workable solutions as I am unable to formulate any beyond what I am doing right now and above.

    Thank you for your considered response.

    Jextpat,
    I recently completed a double degree in law and social studies (BA, LLB) and achieved first division honours in law – indicating that I completed the whole double degree and honours at a distinction average (GPA 5.94). I am currently a doctoral research fellow at SCU studying the teaching of the economic analysis of contract law. My supervisors seem to be quite happy with my work; How do my results stack up against yours?

  24. stephentardrew

    Spot on James a classic no exit. Damned if you do damned if you don’t. Choice the great neoliberal illusion.

  25. Kaye Lee

    Regarding the failings of the MSM, I think we, the people, must share in some blame there. People would much rather read about scandals than tax reform.

    I grew up in the best time. A child in the 60s painting peace symbols in fluro colours and playing Peter Paul and Mary songs on the piano singing loudly. A teenager and early 20s during the 70s marching in anti-war protests and making speeches about women’s rights. Gough Whitlam came to my school and didn’t just pontificate – he took questions from the kids at the assembly and answered them frankly. The Liberal Party paid for me to go to Canberra to see parliament in action and to meet several politicians personally. (I still have the letter they sent me afterwards on paper embossed with the coat of arms telling me I would be a leader of the future). The referendum on allowing aboriginals to actually be counted as people was passed overwhelmingly.

    It was a time when we felt we could make a difference and we did. We changed things.

    And then Hawke and Keating shifted the focus and the rest is history – but not history like we made when people still gave a shit about others. Greed now rules and we are all the poorer for it.

  26. Carol Taylor

    James and “And while it would be nice to know what all the left wing journalists in Australia might think; unfortunately it seems that he is still on holidays.”.

    Shouldn’t that be “she” is still on holidays? ?

  27. Carol Taylor

    On spotting a phoney: which is why Turnbull is starting to make Tony Abbott look good. Bring back Tony is now looking not nearly as ridiculous as it once did. Everything about Turnbull speaks of “phoney” from his back-pedalling on reform, his faux concern (even faux being something that rarely surfaces these days) and his attitude that taking selfies equates with popularity.

  28. keerti

    I suspect that this “argument” proves one thing…that none of us can really pin down what our political parties are standing for…the liberals as suggested are much nearer to fascism than most people realise. They are busy redistributing wealth to the rich at the expence of the poor. La bore are out of touch with the lower classes that used to be their support base and enthralled to the wrong headed view of economics that “guides” the present mob.. The greens are busy trying to add another couple of windmills and solar power stations while they happily ignore the fact that we have reached 405ppm of CO2. In time the resulting temperature increase will in time raise the level of oceans past a sustainable level for most, if not all, coastal cities. The baby boomers, I suspect, were the last really politically engaged generation.,somewhere along the way many/most of us realised that we have been fighting an unwinable battle. Like Quixote charging windmills largely to no avail. Political fixes and theories come and go, but we like the proverbial lemming make our way blindly toward the cliffs…We’ve likely run out of time and there is, with trump’s inaugeration, little hope. Without massive, co-ordinated effort our environment , our economy and indeed our very survival. Parties are almost irrelevant to the majority so lets just throw a dart at the board….

  29. Wayne Turner

    “initial vague, ill-defined, and rather childish submission.
    I will not make that mistake again beyond penning these few words.
    But please feel free to engage in further ad hominem forms of advice if you wish.” – Hypcritical and “projecting”.

    If you could NOT understand my initial post,than you as the reader is the problem.My post was perfectly clear.As I pointed out the right are NOT “genuine arseholes” – Arseholes yes,but NOT genuine when they LIE to get in.And often continue to LIE when in.

  30. nurses1968

    Jexpat, Wayne Turner
    I agree with some of your comments.
    Sometimes academics with a couple of letters after their names try to claim moral superiority when usually they would never have done a real days work in their lives and think they best know what is right for us common old workers.
    Surprise, most times they wouldn’t know reality if it bit them on the arse

  31. Roswell

    Nurses, what a load of crap. But then you’ve been known to talk shit.

  32. Kaye Lee

    It is a strange world now. Socialism is a dirty word rather than an aspirational goal. Education brands you as a latte-sipping elite who wouldn’t have a clue about the real world….apparently.

    My jobs whilst studying at uni included working every holidays on a factory production line, every Friday night as a bookmaker’s clerk at the trots, and waitress and barmaid on weekends.

    But what would I know.

  33. Carol Taylor

    Nurses, what an odd thing to say, as nurses likewise have little letters after their name. Unless you’re not really one. Isn’t it amazing how quickly people make assumptions about others, you have no idea what James has done in his life nor the effort he has made to get where he is today. Not everyone is lazy, spends their time watching daytime television and being envious of those who have shown enough initiative to commit themselves to years of study.

  34. Michael Taylor

    In future I might sign off as Michael Taylor, BA, BA (Hons), Dip of Gov.

    But nah. People might think I’m lazy and not worldly enough.

  35. Roswell

    How come everybody is better at expressing themselves than I am? Didn’t they teach me anything at uni?

    Dr Sir Roswell, B Sc.

  36. corvus boreus

    nurses,
    I thoroughly agree, the lettered learning of advanced education is totally over-rated.
    Obtaining degrees through the rigors of intellectual discipline is the hallmark of the habitually lazy, and inevitably leads to the recipients of such never actually working, being entirely ignorant of reality, and making sweeping generalizations about others.
    Personally, I prefer my doctoring to be conducted without the abstract complications of any degrees or other medical qualifications, and my nursing to be of the non-registered variety.

    By the way, as delayed praise for a previous contribution, I thoroughly enjoyed obtaining the benefits of your instinctual thoughts and practical wisdom regarding the quantities of water present on Earth at the time of the big bang.

  37. Jordan Grant

    James,

    Sorry but you’re a loony. Have you actually read any of the greens policies? They have consistently argued for a federal ICAC, a buffet rule for wealthy individuals and corporations, increased taxes on the wealthy, reduction of federal subsidies to mining and fossil fuel interests, increases to welfare, massive expansion of Medicare to name but a few. They have even alluded to some modern monetary theory policies (which the MSM would crucify them for)

    To equate them with one nation is so ridiculous it’s beyond a joke. You may have missed it but they are currently grappling with whether to completely overthrow capitalism or just to try and pursue a Nordic model, versus literally every other party that wants some version of the status quo. Grow up!

  38. Kaye Lee

    Michael, he was being facetious

  39. Michael Taylor

    Thanks Kaye. I removed my comment … in time I hope.

  40. Carol Taylor

    Jordan, it was a good response until you added Grow up! Beginning with a comment such as you’re a loony is likewise unhelpful. A decided detraction from an otherwise valid comment. I’m afraid your obscenity has to be deleted as we would like to keep our rating rather than having the site become restricted access.

  41. Kaye Lee

    I have had to do likewise many times 🙂

  42. Kaye Lee

    We are all guilty of generalising but I truly feel for the unemployed. I glibly reel off all the part time jobs I had and then think to myself how much easier it was to get a job in those days. I had to knock back work because there just weren’t enough hours in the day. Nowadays the unemployed are stigmatised as being lazy. I have had several family members find themselves unemployed at times and I have watched their soul-destroying struggle as they desperately try to find anything that pays let alone something that would be personally rewarding or commensurate with their qualifications. We need less judgement of each other and more pulling together. The solutions are there if we can find the politicians with the courage to enact them – and that does NOT include Pauline Hanson. Having spent some time on her facebook page in the last couple of days, I am astonished by the number of people who think she offers solutions. Ban the burqa is about all you can expect from Pauline. Has anyone ever seen a woman in Australia wearing a burqa? I haven’t.

  43. harshmind

    Well written rant, Mr Moylan, and your frustration is shared by many. You only have to look at Labor’s meekness on refugee camps to see morality doesn’t earn points as long as Murdoch dictate the rules of play.

    The only hope is that this iteration of the pendulum swing to the right is shown to be of no more benefit than the last. As you hint, revolution in one form or another may be the only hope.

  44. nurses1968

    Carol Taylor,
    You missed the point completel yThe comment
    James MoylanJanuary 19, 2017 at 5:34 pm
    was used as a put down of a commenter using qualifications as some form of superiority.
    I dare say many on this site also are qualified but don’t find it necessary to use as part of a put down
    Dr Sir Roswell, B Sc
    Michael Taylor, BA, BA (Hons), Dip of Gov.
    proved the point in their following comments as I had never seen their need to use qualifications as a tool in a discussion before

  45. Jexpat

    James: just a couple of pieces of free advice.

    The first is: lots of folks can ‘smell a grifter’ -and this ability is more often a function of experience and insight than formal education. Thus- ever as alway they get some sorts get caught out;

    The second is: people touting credentials eventually run into folks who have both formal education and professional experience. When that happens, the question arises: how to proceed?

    My preferences in most situations like this are to allow the person an opportuntiy to “walk some things back” rather than escalate.

  46. corvus boreus

    Joining the dots (9:26 + 9:28) , I might assume that the specimen of sarcasm submitted by me at 8:35pm was initially viewed by MT as being symptomatic of a serious case of solemn stultitiam, but subsequently diagnosed by KL as merely exhibiting non-serious signs of facetious manifestation (a relatively benign carrier of flippant intent).
    If such as I assume to be so is so, then I blame any misunderstandings on the glandular organs responsible for my sense of the ridiculous, which have become hyper-sensitized and over-stimulated since my traumatic humourectomy.

  47. James Moylan

    now now, don’t fight everyone.
    I can see that there are a few misconceptions about who I am

    for your information
    I never finished high school
    was a skid row alchie from age 14 until 27
    I have spent time in five wing at Parramatta on remand
    worked as a labourer on the rails on the north west plains
    lived in the longrass in Darwin for a few years
    gave up drinking and worked my way through uni the first time
    then went north to map the heritage gold fields and raise a family all while working as a sugar train driver
    entered Uni the second time at age 50 to have another shot at trying to be an academic
    I am proud of my Uni results because they were hard earned and not the result of having a silver spoon stuck up my arse
    I have lived a very hard life so when I got admitted to the legal profession a couple of years ago it was one of the proudest days of my family’s life

    enough seeing who can piss the highest

    But I must say that I am more than a little pissed off at being called some sort of a silver tail by someone who could likely buy and sell me fifteen times over
    yes Jexpat I undoubtedly effed up an interview during the WA election campaign but it was because I had been up for three days flying around Australia working to try and advance change in our country and had walked straight off a plane, into a protest action in front of the parliament building, and then was slandered by a News Ltd journalist
    Why would I walk anything back – I don’t even know your name and if I googled it would I find anything?

    I doubt it.

    time for bed I think

  48. Michael Taylor

    You should be proud, too, James. In my opinion what you have achieved is inspirational. I know that you’re not out to win respect, but you have won mine.

    Corvus, yes I did misunderstand. My apologies.

  49. Michael Taylor

    Well I guess we’ve learnt something today. Never judge a person you don’t know. Most times you will judge him or her wrongly.

  50. Carol Taylor

    James, it is with good reason that your family are proud of you. We are too.

  51. Jexpat

    James:

    Now, you and I both know that… how to say… your CV, such as you yourself have promoted at one and another -at various times and places- includes a bit more than what you’ve posted above.

    Look, it’s challenging- it’s a cool thing, to go back to uni and get credentials as a mature aged student, but hey, this bit you’ve ben trying to stir up in -what state is it, Queensland, New South Wales, WA? SA? Tassie? s… well, not so cool. Whether with the HEMP Party or the Renewable Energy Party. Or here and now.

    As to your having been slandered -well, that’s an archaic usage which wouldn’t even, back in the day, been the correct legal term of art for the circumstances you’ve described.

    Which leads us to this: You’ve held yourself out on this site as admitted to legal practice as a solicitor in Queensland.

    Yet, you don’t seem to appear on the Registry. Could be that’s just another database problem- we seem to rife with those at present.

  52. John L

    It looks like people are reading their own comprehensions into the article, finding offense at something, then getting their knickers in a twist. Great article…it gels with how I feel about the whole disgusting scenario. Labour haven’t been left wing in 40 yrs and the Greens are a centrist party over here, at best. And yes……when DID the financial report become a central part of news broadcasts! And when exactly did society become “the economy”!

  53. corvus boreus

    Michael Taylor,
    Thanks, but it’s all good here.
    I didn’t get to read your initial response, but I imagine it probably wasn’t too savage in the broader context of internet rebukes.
    Besides, I shouldn’t be surprised if things get a bit muddy when I start stirring.

    In all honesty, although I reckon the gratuitous addition of learned letters and titles to a name can be a bit like pinning on a bravery medal for a walk to the shops, I also believe that the general disparagement of academia is the domain of the ignoramus.

    For the record, I possess no such letters to sprinkle in adornment, my tertiary qualifications are trade level only.

  54. seaworks

    It is obvious why we will never have a fair, democratic and equal society by these comments.
    So many have their own axe to grind and there is never any consensus..
    The ONLY way to fix our society is to stop all donations/bribes for political purposes.

  55. stephengb2014

    James, I get your point but I believe that our current situation is delliberate and calculated.
    I refer to
    Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. Who was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
    In 1971, he drafted the Powell Memorandum, a confidential memorandum for the US Chamber of Commerce that proposed a road map to defend and advance the free enterprise system against perceived socialist, communist, and fascist cultural trends.
    The result became “The Neoliberal Agenda”, which by 1980 took the western world down the path to where we are now.

    Perhaps you could read up and comment in a future article?

  56. totaram

    Stephengb2014: You have hit the nail on the head. The underpinning of the “neoliberal agenda” is neoliberal macro-economic myths and the attendant economic policies: “govt. budget surpluses”, and tax-cuts for the wealthy “job creators” to “stimulate growth”. Since there is nothing left for govt. to spend this means cuts to all forms of the welfare state, in particular leading to privatisation of all essential services and higher unemployment. This last item drives down wages and ensures an increasing share of profits to the rich. Isn’t that what has been happening for the last 30 years or so?

    Until Labor and the Greens reject this as false economics, based on the flawed notion of a govt. budget which is like a household budget, they cannot really follow policies which are very different from what the Coalition espouse. Look at the successful fiscal stimulus of the Rudd govt. which kept us out of recession post GFC, and look at how the coalition used it to demonise Labor about the “debt and deficit”. Labor could not fight back but tacitly acknowledged this was true when Wayne Swan “promised a surplus”! How different things might have turned out if Labor had stuck to their guns and pointed out that govt. deficits are not a problem? That private sector debt at more than 150% of GDP is the real problem? That this debt cannot be paid down unless the govt. runs deficits?
    That all companies borrow for investment, and so should the govt.?

    (I won’t mention the fact that govt. debt is not really debt at all – that is in the too hard basket!)

  57. stephengb2014

    Yes Totaram totaly agree

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 2 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, text, archive, code, other. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here

Return to home page