The war on drugs and typical of right wing control freaks, has been going on now for over eighty years and costing more American lives than WW11! Moreover, it has resulted in (private enterprise) American prisons bulging at the seams, mostly with small time drug dealers/addicts?

Not only has the war on drugs failed to stem the flow, but has created the MR Bigs, the ice epidemic, orphans and fatherless families in the millions!

When confronted with these undeniable facts, their only recourse is to throw even more money and sacrificial personal at the problem, to underline as nothing else can, in view of history, the absolute paucity of their thinking, humanity and rationality!
Alan B.

"Right wing zealots" eh, Everald? Do you take notice of anything that is going on? Do you not know that the Liberal Party 'of Menzies' is lead by a complete Leftist? That many Liberal politicians are behind extreme-left social engineering and 'marriage' for homosexuals?

Everald, get somebody to attach two different coloured bands to your wrists: say, blue on the right side, and red on the left side. That way you might get to realise which is which.

Everald Compton has a long history of writing OLO articles remarkable for their blithering idiocy. This one is no different.

With nary a nod to logic, history, domestic or international politics, Compton seems to think that political parties in Australia, the US and UK are identical and interchangeable, fitting some fantasy variation on what he thinks Menzies created. Just check the examples he cites in his article.

Consider his swipe at George W. Bush, for example, whom he blames for the rise of Islamic State. Yet Bush was long gone from US politics before IS arose to fill the vacuum created by Obama's announcement that he would withdraw US forces from Iraq long before Iraq was stable enough to survive. And IS duly filled the vacuum with levels of sub-human barbarity not seen in the past 200 years at least.

Far from being dominated by the right, under Turnbull the Liberal Party has been dragged to the left. The Liberal Party is in danger of collapse because, under Turnbull's "leadership" - remembering that the Libs dumped him as opposition leader because of his unhinged and unchanged view that "we're all progressive parties now" - in policy and programs, it is almost indistinguishable from Labor and the Greens.

Take Hunt's loopy left wing environmental posturing, for example, which has given us a new carbon trading regime, despite the costs and failures of similar schemes and in total absence of any definable benefit to Australia. Or Turnbull's own gay-left posturing on "marriage" while ignoring the very real and present consequences of left wing authoritarian ideology embodied in 18C. Would Menzies have tolerated either? Not bloody likely.

People who have held the same political, economic and social values since the Menzies era are now being vilified by the likes of Compton and GetUp as "extreme right" and the creepy Green Left as "moderate" - the mob who have brought us the Safe Schools program, for example. By your friends we know you, Everald.

While Compton regards himself as competent to comment on current politics, he is giving geriatrics a bad name.

Everard is not noted for accuracy or insight, but particularly, he has failed to notice that the Labor party primary vote has shrunk to record lows.

Hasbeen,

I agree with most of your comments, however I wouldn't place Menzies 'way right of Abbott'. Our recently deposed leader is probably as socially conservative and economically illiterate as Menzies. It's difficult to assess his politics as he and his government were beneficiaries of the long post-war boom, until 1961 when they thoroughly stuffed the economy and nearly lost office as they so thoroughly deserved. Menzies was also extremely lucky to be faced with a monumentally incompetent Opposition. He was not the master politician that the LNP myth makers would like us to believe.

mac,

I am wondering what Menzies would have done in this situation.

The Speaker of the House began screaming abuse at the opposition, and the Parliament nearly erupted into a riot.

But throughout this, the Prime Minister sat there and played with his spyphone, and made no attempt to silence or control his own Speaker of the House.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/christopher-pyne-and-the-parliamentary-art-of-talking-through-his-paper-hat-20160831-gr5d64.html

I sense the Prime Minister is just a figurehead, and does not have any real influence or control over his political party.

However, we have had about 6 Prime Ministers in 7 years, and none of them seem to have any real influence or control over their political parties.

I saw throw out political parties.