There are not just two certainties in life – there are actually at least three, and the third is one that conservatives try to ignore.
Yes – number one is death, which is inevitable, and the only options we have are to preserve life as long as possible by avoiding accidents and looking after our health as far as we are able. This has been a high priority in recent times, with national government negligence in caring for our elderly having to be held responsible for many unnecessary deaths in that cohort.
Number two – taxes – are usually viewed in the wrong light, as, rather than being a burden, rightly balanced they provide a means of ensuring that essential services are provided for rich and poor alike, and people whose circumstances are less favourable can be offered assistance to make life bearable. Disability and disadvantage can be lifelong situations, and those subject to them should be assisted as far as possible to enjoy a better quality of life.
So what is number three?
CHANGE!
Every parent is aware of change from the moment a child is born. Change in the child her/himself, change in the priorities and degrees of freedom in the parents’ lives and change in the very way they regard a multitude of situations in the world around them.
And you do not need to be a parent – simply look at the world around you and think about what has changed – physically or in attitudes – in your own lifetime.
Knowledge leads inevitably to change.
We now have the opportunity to accept that age-old prejudices have no foundation.
Members of the LGBTIQ community, as well as conjoined twins, are not evil, to be shunned or punished for their difference, nor are those in the latter category either evil or, conversely, manifestations of a reborn god. They simply demonstrate the fact that the development of a foetus before birth does not always lead to a clearly gendered, single human being.
We have science to thank for so much of our expended knowledge, so that it is a source of constant puzzlement that governments pick and choose between which scientific evidence they promote and which they refuse to accept.
Additionally, perhaps it is because Australia is an island that we seem to be unable to think globally.
At least – SOME of us do – but interest groups like the fossil fuel lobby and the CFMEU have taken control of the ‘right’ and ‘left’ of politics while the majority of Australians – who are urgently seeking action on global warming – are being held hostage, as Australia rapidly becomes a pariah in the eyes of the developed world, most of which has accepted the need for action on climate change – AND IS TAKING THAT ACTION!!!.
GLOBAL WARMING IS A FACT!
CLIMATE CHANGE IS INCREASINGLY MAKING ITSELF FELT!
PEOPLE ARE DYING IN CONSEQUENCE, WHILE DROUGHTS, FLOODS, FIRES AND STORMS ARE RAVAGING THE ENVIRONMENT.
BIODIVERSITY IS UNDER ATTACK.
OUR CHILDREN’S FUTURE IS BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY BLINKERED GROUPS FOR WHOM MONEY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN DEVELOPING THE POTENTIAL OF A CHILD.
THIS IS NOT ALARMIST TALK.
Yes – the Australian Premiers can congratulate themselves that, despite unhelpful interference from the Coalition government, Australia is one of the top countries in the world in terms of subduing the COVID-19 pandemic.
We have, of necessity, damaged our economy in the process, but which is least desirable – having a government in debt, or filling our hospitals and morgues with the dying and the dead?
Interest rates are low. Selling government bonds to provide funds to save people’s lives should take priority over pushing people into penury when there are too few jobs for everyone to be in employment.
If you really want to feed the economy, the solution is simple – make sure people have money to spend on more than the bare essentials!!
We really do need an effective Universal Basic Income.
We really do need government to recognise that the states and territories need much more support in providing – urgently – social housing and priority infrastructure.
We really do need a humane and compassionate approach to government, not a future seen through $ eyes.
We have genuine refugees who have – for at least seven years in many cases – I repeat – FOR 7 YEARS – been treated less humanely than are murderers held in prisons to protect society.
I do not know whether to laugh or cry when I hear people like Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton, Stuart Robert, Josh Frydenberg, et al talk about Australian values – as if they shared with the rest of us what they regard as ‘values’.
Robodebt, the cashless welfare card, support for private school education while public schools are starved of funds, undervaluation of the range of vital caring services, predominantly performed by females and refusal to set ideology aside and accept scientifically based evidence.
These are clear evidence that the values they waffle on about are not ones we would even consider sharing!
We have criticised the alternative facts and conspiracy theories which are alive and well in the USA, but we are far from immune from their thrall, and our refusal to deal properly with inevitable change is leading to inevitable problems – both in Australia and between other developed countries and us.
Just as there is a high level of co-dependency among all the elements of our environment, so there is also a co-dependency between the multitude of nations on this planet.
If we continue on a selfish path that ignores the needs of those less highly valued by the ideologues, most of us face a bleak future.
I don’t give a fig about a life after death – but I care one hell of a lot about the future of my 4 great grandchildren, all presently under 10 years old – as well as all the other children all round the world whose lives will be affected disastrously if we do not act on global warming – starting NOW!
[textblock style=”7″]
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
[/textblock]
