A couple of things, first the life wasn't meant to be easy, the quote was incomplete and read in full states. Life wasn' meant to be easy, but rather, delightful.

John Howard, a fiscal illiterate, was the worst thing that happened to the liberal party. An iron-willed Autocrat full of more none core promises than a fishmonger garbage can? Started the self-destruct towards the right, the mad monk, his greatest admirer, swung it even further as the alt-right attempts to destroy the fair go egalitarian Australia of our past. Along with every element of cooperative capitalism that marked it!

The difference between now and the aforementioned when. Today pollies are career pollies straight out of uni and the unions. And debate as if they were still there! Moreover, bring no real world real life or character building struggle street experience with them.

Had either of the last crop of revolving door "Leaders" been thoroughly tested by real an enduring hardship!? Today's Australia would be a very different place, with MSR thorium nuclear power building and expanding our industrial/agricultural capacity. Housing would have gotten progressively even more affordable and all tertiary education would have remained free or at least means tested, so all who had the intellectual capacity to learn and become part of an even more prosperous future, were helped to do so!

The only real goal of today's pollie is to win a mindless often juvenile debate and or win power at any cost! regardless of where that takes the nation. Imagine if you can The Phillippines were in far better shape economically than a similarly populated, war-torn Japan, post WW11.

One embraced cooperative capitalism and social credit. the other Americanize, dog eat dog capitalism. One went on to become the second largest economy until she too adopted dog eat dog American style capitalism and has arguably been losing ground ever since and every which way?

The far better resourced Phillippines a case study in how to wreck an economy and forever divide a nation.
Alan B.

We went downhill after people who experienced WW2 left the stage. The Depression and the War produced tough people with guts. Now, all we have is spoilt, self-serving marshmallows.

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT ON THE MONEY AND A TOP CALL! ttbn.
Alan B.

Alan,

By empirical evidence, Howard was far more competent than any Labor counterpart.

Empirical evidence SM? hahahahahahohohohoheeheeheehawhaw hohohoho Oh my aching ribs.

One almost has to go back as far as Curtain, Chiefly and a pragmatic Bob Menzies to find not only competence but the future vision not seen since. Menzies wept when Chiefly died, And demonstrates, not just rare respect but the bipartisan pragmatic politics that were back then, the order of the day and that politically opposed persons could still be the very best of mates! And so typically Australian!

As ttbn has alluded to, because these folks had their characters hammered on the anvil of hardship and conflict. Conflict, that among other things allowed us to be one people striving for common purpose and under the very able stewardship of a single Parliament. Given the others were suspended for the duration!

Oh for just one year of similar circumstances and a chance to make it a permanent feature of a now never as before, divided nation!

The difference between now an then couldn't be more stark or revealing. And as shown by undeniable historical records! We went from a period of unprecedented prosperity as the third wealthiest nation on the planet and a creditor one at that! To now down around No.30 and still descending at increasing velocity.

In recent years we went from a prosperous economy with a viable manufacturing arm providing most of the employment. And just because we had a pragmatic energy policy, nothing else! Save the future vision of Curtin and Chiefly, plus the hard-headed pragmatism of Bob Menzies. And to be fair, we've not seen the like since!

Today our economy is artificially propped up by quite massively over-inflated house prices and little else. And our economically infantile reliance on services borders on the insane. As does a debt-funded hollowed out recovery.

Another GFC and we are basically buggered. And because the kiddywinks and diddums running the show, are consumed with internal conflict, point scoring, mindless partisan party politics and little else! God help my poor bugger country!
Alan B.