Could it be that in 2016 we’ve seen the nuts let go on the wheels of democracy? The democratic model is being questioned around the world as vital decisions are being blocked for selfish party political gain.
It is 60 years since Sir John Glubb wrote “Fate of Empires”. He listed 11 empires lasting an average of 250 years. Glubb concluded their decline was marked by: defensiveness, pessimism, materialism, frivolity, an influx of foreigners, the welfare state and a weakening of religion.
It comes from “too long a period of wealth and power, selfishness, love of money, the loss of a sense of duty”. Western democracies reflect this in spades, as well as income inequality.
Friends ask “where are we going? Australia has no positive direction”. History would suggest a move to a form of dictatorship, like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the Phillippine’s Rodrigo Duterte, or Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdagon. We don’t know how far Donald Trump will take America, but he is indicating a firm hand as he picks a team with little in common with the Bush/Clinton Washington free trade, multinational, establishment – an establishment slavishly copied by Canberra.
The debate over the backpacker tax in Canberra is the low point in Australia’s political history. The tribal selfishness and general pettish stupidity hasn’t been equalled. The only positive to emerge is the move to erect a steel fence around Parliament House. The fence should be extended to include buildings housing portfolio bureaucracies – particularly Foreign Affairs and Trade and The Productivity Commission. Any gates should have formalin footbaths to ensure the idiocy endemic to the inhabitants is not spread to the general community. Their free trade mantra has already seen Howard and Vaile’s US Free Trade Agreement trade balance move 250 per cent to the US, which ACIL predicted at the time. Now, we are faced with US beef being imported in 2017.
The annual windfarm subsidy of one million dollars per turbine paid to foreign multinationals is further insanity. Australia has one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium and earthquake free landscapes. Commonsense would see us move to nuclear power like France.
Not a dam has been built on our drought prone land since 1980. Assistance to agriculture has ceased. Talk of the advantages of indigenous “agriculture” is increasing while our population reaches 50 times that for which their system catered. Citified, academic lunacy abounds.
The Press Gallery gate should be locked and the water supply rationed. This may focus their minds on the wisdom of diversion of water to the environment. This gallery is responsible for much of our mess. They see themselves and their pollsters as directors of a Parliamentary sporting match. They ridicule Independent members, who have to think and justify their vote, as opposed to Whip directed “nodders” of major parties.
