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The Forum > Article Comments > It’s the economy, stupid - or is it? > Comments

It’s the economy, stupid - or is it? : Comments

By Roger Smith, published 27/6/2006

Beazley must find a new language that resonates with voters.

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BB Part One

Federal Labor has been lost pretty well ever since Bob Hawke slipped to the right of the Liberals to bring in economic rationalism, a right-wing concept if ever there was one. Doing deals with Big Biz, formerly the natural enemy of Labor didn’t seem to worry the unions at the time because unionism has proven through history that it can be right-wing or left-wing as shown with Hitler’s National Volk and as proven with Communism when workers backed the hammer and sickle.

So until Labor develops the guts to go back to its grass-roots, which incidently is far away from Marxist Communism, which can develop a bureaucracy as tough as Stalin used when he slaughtered or banished over half the Soviet’s agrarian socialists, who as Socialist Revolutionaries were instrumental in helping Lenin and Stalin get into power. So Stalin also banished and killed worker’s groups if they did not come to order, just as Howard now in a right-wing social concept is closing down the rights and
priveleges that workers once treasured.

Labor has got into a mess similar to the US Democrats, proven by Kerry during the last US election when instead of being totally against the illegal attack on Iraq, as more than two thirds of his Democrats were, he reckoned he could do better than Bush by sending more troops in. We see almost the same thing here with foolish Kevin Rudd horning in on present Federal Government policy on North Korea, saying Labor could do better. Certainly there are other ways, Mr Rudd, just ask one or two social scientists
Posted by bushbred, Tuesday, 27 June 2006 4:49:47 PM
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BB Part Two

Much better could be done for the Middle-East also Mr Rudd, particularly by not aping Mr Howard.

To give a different concept about democracy for the Islamic Middle East, it was interesting to read in last week’s Guardian newspaper an article on Iran focusing on a rebellious woman Shirin Ebadi who though earnestly wanting democracy for Iran, certainly does not want the American version of democracy. as she emphasises. What developed her disgust of America, was during the very short Iranian Mossadegh regime in the early 1950s, when the Americans accused the regime of being Communist, but mainly apparently as a ruse to take over the oilwells, just recently nationlised.

Ebadi now a prominent Iranian judge, says openly that if she had her wish it would be that nature had simply blessed Iran with unlimited potable water, rather than the oil which has had both Britain and America barging in and telling a litany of lies about liberty and justice.

The Guardian also reports about Iranian leader Armardinejad having revved up his counter-offensive against the US with his successful meeting with Russia and China in Shanghai. Already called the Shanghai Cooperative Organisation, from a social science point of view, it is believed this would be part of the answer for what our world now needs, to counter this increasingly greedy but though idiotic English-speaking neo-imperialistic group telling more lies about bringing freedom to both Iraq and Iran and still with corporate camp followers
Posted by bushbred, Tuesday, 27 June 2006 5:11:52 PM
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Well, it will be fascinating to see what political scenarios emerge from the wreckage of Peak Oil - you know, when oil's $100 a barrel and $2 a litre (the latter recently predicted by the Chair of Queensland's Oil Vulnerability Task Force, Andrew McNamara). Weird isn't it, what "The Courier Mail" doesn't have on its front page:-

www.kimspages.org/event.htm
Posted by KimB, Tuesday, 27 June 2006 11:50:47 PM
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Whoops, clickable link here:-

http://www.kimspages.org/event.htm
Posted by KimB, Tuesday, 27 June 2006 11:53:15 PM
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Labor and Liberal so much alike, in fact only minutely different. The Libs clearly dominate the economic-rationalist growth-paradigm position. Labor is clearly a poor second choice, as it gives every indication that it will govern in just same manner, essentially. Even with the IR outrage, the GST and ‘children overboard’, the populace still sees Howard as by far the better bet.

Meanwhile, there is the most blatant gaping hole in Australia’s political spectrum, just crying out to be filled. This is the sustainability platform. The Greens and Democrats just don’t do it any justice at all, but if Labor was to see fit to entertain this paradigm, then I reckon they would be on a winner.

With glaring issues like rapidly rising fuel prices with the ominous prediction that they are never going to come down again, water-supply issues in our cities, and many others, a strong but still largely latent concern about the terribly unsustainable track that that we are on has developed. This is highly evident in forums such as OLO.

This would take Labor back to its roots, in protecting the rights of workers and indeed the whole community in an ongoing manner, and standing up to the bullying of big business and vested-interest profit-driven policies.

We desperately need to make the switch away from the future-destroying continuous growth mentality and onto a stable sustainability-based footing. The door is wide open for Labor to take it on, and gain a support base big enough to win in it power if it did it properly
Posted by Ludwig, Wednesday, 28 June 2006 10:18:11 AM
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The Labor party has betrayed the Australian people by becoming a completely useless 'opposition' when more than ever we need an alternative to the Howard government.
It has been a long, slow and stupid descent caused mostly by an obsession with minorities and their issues. Not only were they destined to become a minority party by placing ridiculous emphasis on aboriginal, feminist, and homosexual issues but they completely cooked their gooses by deriding anyone with a more balanced viewpoint as racists, misogynists or homophobes, thus alienating so many decent Australians who had compassionate attitudes but weren't so wholly engulfed by matters that only really applied to a few percent of the populace.
Allowing the Labor Party to be colonised by feminists and others with narrow but driven agendas inevitably destroyed the Labor Party's credibility and left the stage wide open for Howard who's 'greed is good' message was much easier to understand than the convoluted and dubious assertions of the 'culture-cops'.
Combined with an almost total lack of talent the Labor Party painted themselves into a corner that they wll probably never get themselves out of despite the desperate need for so many Australians to get rid of Howard.
Posted by citizen, Wednesday, 28 June 2006 5:30:17 PM
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I couldn't agree more, Roger.
There was a time when Beazley may have stood for something, but now, with one eye on his discontented party and the other on TV cameras and opinion polls, we can only expect more vacillation and puffery.
By the way, it was interesting for me to read an old biography on Tony Blair recently. It was striking just how similar the situation in Australia today is to Britain when Blair was starting out. Similarly immense challenges and glorious opportunities exist for the right Beazley replacement. Although she's been tarnished a little, my money is on Julia Gillard. She reads like the cheeky, articulate, bright-eyed young Blair who gradually learnt to make his message clear and palatable through humour, common sense and clever appeal. Like Blair, Julia or another genuine reformer (that rules out Kevin Rudd) will sweep the elections and go on to divert or bisociate entrenched powers for the better.
Posted by CamRuss, Monday, 17 July 2006 11:21:39 AM
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