James Wrote “Positive Politics is about emphasising and fostering the positive strengths and virtues”

Seems an excellent idea to me.

James parents had the “one life, live it” attitude, the self-reliance and resolve associated with but one side of the "left-right" divide.

Mirroring James parents example, I would here insert a quotation

“We want a society where people are free to make choices, to make mistakes, to be generous and compassionate. “

It does not get more “positive” than that.

The second part of the quotation addresses the political environment in which such ideals can flourish –

“This is what we mean by a moral society; not a society where the state is responsible for everything, and no one is responsible for the state.”

James’ parents took the risk and were rewarded appropriately, instead fo expecting “the state” to feather bed and underwrite every aspect of their lives.

Doubtless James parents held for their children the following aspiration -

“Let our children grow tall, and some taller than others if they have it in them to do so.”

So let us all walk our own path.

Assured, that path is one previously trod by people who shared such ideals and produced such inspirational “quotes” as I have used, courtesy of Margaret Thatcher.

James, there is a strong theme of positivity and happiness in the 14 articles you have posted on OLO in the last 12 months. That’s good. But dare I say it…. of course this is what we should be striving for. As far as a desire for positive politics goes, well, …..it goes without saying.

But just exactly what ‘positive politics’ means or how we would achieve it is not elucidated in your article. The closest you come is; “Positive Politics is about emphasising and fostering the positive strengths and virtues inherent in all Australians”, which is enormously vague. I don’t want to be too critical, because it is all a lovely concept, but it lacks substance.

I agree that the concepts of left and right are highly confused. They lost any meaning for me a long time ago. You write; “Both Right and Left are loyal to the status quo.” But it is not at all clear how ‘positive politics’ would replace these concepts or steer us away from the status quo and onto the “most effective path to progress”.

How would you envisage us developing positive politics in such a cynical world, full of lies, half-truths, non-core promises, and hardcore pre-election promises that just get ignored post-election…where the real power is vested in big business, not government…and where we collectively seem hell-bent on never-ending continuous growth despite glaringly obvious massive fractures appearing in our resource base - the essential support mechanism for this growth??

You know what is vastly more important:- tough pragmatic politics with a very strong emphasis on the enormous looming threats to the very coherence of our economy, political system and society. The government needs to immediately engage an entirely different gear in order to minimise the forthcoming peak oil upheaval. This is what I would call positive politics.

Well, I suppose those supporting this sort of semantic waffle, will be reveling in its confused say nothing content. There will be no change, we live in a political duopoly dictatorship, supported and controlled by the legal fraternity. You can see that in the way legislation is formed and enacted, how justice is determined and by the groveling support for economic stupidity.

Positive politics, would be the removal of donations and public financial support for political parties. It would also mean making politicians responsible for whatever they say in the form of statuary declarations, policy intent and promise, as well as public statements.

Positive politics would be the removal of financial support for any company not owned by citizens of this country.

Positive politics would also mean making senior beaurucrats fully responsible for the implementation and actions of their departments.

It would also mean bringing the political system into this age and establishing referendum voting on most issues relating to trade, health, defence, social, immigration and religious issues, using electronic methods. We are a well informed society capable of making decisions for ourselves regarding direction and polices. The problem is that the ruling elite have no desire to give the people power over their lives, as it would expose them what they really are, programmed semantic nothings.

None of this will happen as anyone with any reasonable policies that would enhance the social system and put control of policy direction in the hands of the people, are destroyed before they even start.

Until we have a totally new political system different from those presently in use throughout the world, we can only look forward to more social and environmental grief.

Change will only come after a total society collapse, as can be seen throughout history. When the bureaucracy, religion and the elite have ultimate power, everything collapses.

Unfortunately positive politics either doesn't exist or is never practised.

Those that identify themselves with the various labels would be well advised to think about what those labels mean to them as they sure as hell don't mean much to the rest of us.

Our governments have been marching to the right for years now and it seems the only interest is in how many Howard Government policies that Labor give a tick to. In recent times I'm sure I've only heard a quiet "Agree" from Labor. So why would they change? People still vote for one or the other.

James - as a person who has become heavily interested in local politics - from the ratepayer's side - I can appreciate your article. Australians are the most heavily 'personally' rule-governed nation in the world and we are fast developing a working mentality that sees us give more and more of our time and energy to our jobs, and less to our personal lives and aspirations.

This leaves us at the mercy of governments with manipulative agendas that discriminate against the community at large. How many of us have suddenly realized that we can no longer do 'this' or 'that', without submitting an application and having it passed in triplicate. That we can't go 'here' or 'there' without the necessary permit, pass or authority.

I say bring on a form of government that actually listens and acts on our behalf first - after all, we pay their wages, don't we?

Maybe the citizens of this fine country should look more closely at this Wage Restructuring Bill and work out how we can use it to our advantage in refining our government bodies and making them more efficient!!

Interesting article. Until recently (until I started using this forum) I had personally never identified myself, nor anyone else, on the scales of left and right - although most people would identify me as the former. I suppose it is something very easy to fall into - the labelling that reduces a human to a mere word. I draw on my professional approach:

I am a 28 year old male early childhood teacher in regional Queensland. I believe wholeheartedly in the benefits of education. While I hold my own opinions (and take action upon them outside of work) I give children a variety of means to express themselves and develop their own sets of values and beliefs. I don't think it is too productive to identify the students I teach as right or left, particularly at a young age where they are highly impressionable – I identify them as human beings who have the ability to contribute greatly to our country and world.

Education is the answer.