By Sean Crawley
Dear Prime Minister,
It’s pretty clear that you and your side of politics believe that any form of taxation or welfare destroys people’s aspirations. I speak for myself while suspecting I am not alone, especially since at the last federal election more people voted for Labor and the Greens than voted for your so-called broad-church coalition of neo-liberal/conservative/National parties.
I have lots of aspirations. One of these I can phrase in your very own faux fair dinkum Ozzie parlance. It is: A fair go so we can all have a go. It looks a lot like your mantra: A fair go for those who have a go, but it is quite different, and the type of society that would emanate from my philosophy would be quite different from the one you are currently legislating into existence.
If you’re having trouble understanding the difference, let me use this horticultural analogy. One gardener, let’s call him Bluey, sows a field of wildflower seeds. The other gardener, let’s call her Cerise, does the same. Bluey likes to keep a tight rein on his gardening budget so he waits until the seeds sprout before he decides which plants will get water, mulch and fertiliser. Cerise has already fertilised and mulched the soil and she regularly waters the whole field. It doesn’t take long before some of the wildflowers in Bluey’s patch sprout and grow tall and strong. Bluey gives them lots of water and all the fertiliser they need, he mulches around them and sings their praises. “Why look at this tall strong blue flower, it is clearly having a go. It deserves to be well looked after.” After some time, Bluey’s field contains a smattering of tall thriving blue flowers. “Look how they reach for the sky, they will be an inspiration for all the other flowers who are not so tall or strong. Oh, what a good gardener am I.”
Cerise’s garden has blue flowers as well, but they don’t stand out like the ones in Bluey’s garden because they are surrounded by a multi-coloured blanket of floral delights. By feeding, watering and tending to the whole field each species of flower can thrive and blossom.
Not all flowers aspire to be the tallest.
Scott, I believe that the brand of aspiration you and your adherents claim that socially progressive political parties wish to destroy, is the aspiration that drives some people to become wealthy by winning at the brutal game of capitalism.
I don’t aspire to be wealthy, but I do aspire. I aspire to live in a society that is well-watered and fertilised, a society where every person is looked after so they can thrive in a multi-coloured field of wild and unique humans.
Call me a socialist if you will. Yes, a small red flower, that for a long time now has been wrongly accused of being something that it is not. I am not a communist, I am not a soldier of class warfare. I am not envious of the rich and influential. I aspire for things other than money and power. I aspire for peace and equality and for our human society to tread a whole lot more lightly on the planet and all its life forms.
Scomo, you have been elected to serve all the peoples of Australia. Please understand that not all of us aspire to get ahead of the pack to be tall poppies in the corporate world that is destroying the planet with its dogged pursuit of growth and profits. Welfare and taxation are the water and fertiliser for a healthy society. Most of us would prefer to live in Cerise’s garden, not Bluey’s.
Fair dinkum,
Sean
This article was originally published on wake up and smell the humans.
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