A great well balanced article.

Thanks for affording the reader some non drum beating propoganda for a change.

well said realist

Dream on dreamer,in your imagination, the Australian population probably didn't vote Howard's government in four times, the Labor Party under Kim then Mark rose higher and higher [as did the everything under Keating] in a sort of ascending balloon. Until like that bloke who flew so high he melted, the balloon popped and down, down down ,you woke up and realised it was all.....in your dreams.

Right on, Realist. We can provide our own propaganda.

Iraq's a success. Latham was misunderstood. Woohoo!

Problem with Howards party speech last week. The logo at the head of the speech ran "Strong Directions" for "Mainstream".

Ouch!

Have I ever felt so rejected....?

My problem from here in Cooktown Cape York is; aside from a very small section of the business sector and generally the Regional Mangers/Officials of visiting fly-in's... Cape York has no mainstream. We are all mostly in some way different... as in "various and assorted" in both our joint needs, wants and vision of beliefs!

What does this say for other populations in this so called multi-cultural Australia.

Another trigger came at the end of the Howard speech when he said something like... 'we as Australians have good social cohesion".In my view, we will never be open to others, be they rural Australians, or the urban fringe while we have a Federal Government or any other that denies the diversity of differences.

I want reform everywhere, in health, in community development, in regional development. I want opportunity through an Australian Nation that respects the value of "community engagement" through Civic Participation.

At present I feel we are cultivating a system that divides Australians into a mob of "US and Them".

Why we don’t vote for Howard?

1 From one who is a historian with a strong knowledge of history and philosophy, Howard seems to have survived more by knack than knowledge.

2. Similar to Menzis in his admiration for Britain, Howard feels he is on a sure thing to follow the big league, the composition of the US of A.

3. Howard’s knack is shown by his sensing the feelings of the average Australian, which while seeing the need for migration, would preferably have white emigration than coloured, as proven by the amount of white South Africans who have migrated here, many of then undoubtly aparthaidistic. Also many white Rhodesians seem to have been given choice over other African coloureds, not necessarily Rhodesian.

4. In winning his second election, Howard gained considerably by Pauline Hansen’s downfall, her backers far too right-wing to vote for either Labor, Greens, or Democrats.

5. Globalisation and the acme of the Big Biz, actually a 1920s saying but really suiting the return to the free-market and economic rationalism in the late 1970s. Since that time, though Bob Hawke did introduce economic rationalism, the writing was on the economic wall for right-wing factions to take over. To be sure, we still have state Labor governments, but though some social scientists are saying that the change in the minds of our youngsters since the beginnings of the dot.com craze, is producing an increasingly moronic public, others say that the voters may really see the need for a voting balance between Federal and State

Part Two

6. Howard has also gained tremendously by the corporatisation of the news media, Rupert Murdoch, in particular, now so sure of himself, he can openly support Big Biz politics and economics, Howard gaining tremendously, as have the Republicans in the US.

7. The influence of the Howard Government on our media, was shown concerning the tragic weakening of our import Bio-Security owing to the liberalising of our trade laws through the Howard-managed bi-lateral trade deal.
The very fact that a shipment of Brazilian foot aand mouth suspected carcase meat was landed in NSW later having to be disposed of , but the news though pushed by George Negus through SBS Dateline, was very quickly hushed up by the Howard Government. Indeed., cattle and sheep farmers were both angry and astonished that such vital news was kept from the general public.

If it is true that the Howard government has been managing media cover-ups similar to the very successful Nixon government before it was exposed, then maybe our Howard government through breaking Bio-Security laws may go the same way. Then we could have the worry of a very weak party such as our present Federal Opposition in government

Some governments excel at setting a vision for their country. The US Kennedy administration in the US, the Lange-Douglas government in NZ and the Hawke-Keating government in Australia are examples.

Others provide little in the way of a vision of enduring value but excel at keeping themselves in office. The current US Republican administration's efforts seem firmly set towards that end; the Muldoon government in New Zealand and the Menzies and Howard governments in Australia do too.

On the one hand, ask what you can do for your country; on the other, ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country can do for you.

Whether this diagnosis holds water will be tested by whether the government succeeding Howard, of whatever complexion, enjoys as great benefits from Howard-Costello economic and social advances as Howard-Costello have enjoyed these last 10 years from those of Hawke-Keating.

This analysis of the reasons for Howard's success is another sign that most authors make up a story to explain away the Howard legacy as due to either luck, deviousness or some strange combination of unpredicatably effective personality (Such as being boring!) or ideological characteristics. In essence, they don't know why but University lecturers are loathed to admit that. So, we are assailed by article after article of "analyses" which are the taxpayer funded "musings" of those who live in a very cloistered environment.

Its very strange that the Left don't see that most Australians
1. Don't want anyone just lobbing on the doorstep of the country and walking in.
2. Know that fundamental Islam is a danger to our safety.
3. Want a sound economic future for their children.

John Howard does. Its that simple.Ask Occam.

It's spelled "ocker".

Men I know, some who have suicided from equitable injustice.
Men should never be HAD by this system, where by starting a "long term", 2 year relationships, a female partner benefits-
BY custody of children, father gets 1 night p.w. so mother uses CSA for a full benefit, as they don't recognise CONTACT time, only bed time
BY Loosing ones retirement Superannuation, in CASH {no tax, or waiting till 65} in a de-facto relationship.
By forfiting more than half of ones assets
"No-fault" divorce policy were introduced, to make Judges judgements far easier and lawyers wealthier, irrespective of circumstances and ethics
Domestic violence orders are an easy way for police to remove hubby / partner, irrespective of false allegations
The best interest of the children is a verbal tool for judges, to give mothers custody, citing past precedents
No accountability by Hospitals / Doctors when a child is born, rather, a legislation preventing DNA testing to provide father early PROOF, allowing a mother to 'choose'.
Legislations erode Christian fundamentals of the 10 Commandments
by stealing { the children, one's soul and life savings}
by condoning adultery, with no repercussion, only reward
by killing a unborn child with a "passed bill" for a abortion pill
by putting money and profit before ethics and concern for others.
Do people still swear on the Bible in Court, isn't this hypocrisy?

Where "Every picture tells a story", has the Government's album got only 1 picture of a mother and child holding a C$A letter, in it? and why as teenagers, they face execution, Bali style, thanks to the Federal Police.
Single mums and isolated / separated dad's are a direct result of Government giving in to feminists ideology.
Will the growing dependant use of anti-depressants, tell politicians there is no joy in over legislation today's busy life.
Immediate legislation of "a possible terrorist threat", overrides the reality that some parents are being sent over the edge, suicide and murder suicide, rather than accept unscrupulous policies and injustices in the "System".
The 'bosses’ Court forces good men to be servile to the Govt's BAD System

Huh?

What Justice

What thread are you on?

The article fails to mention Howards most consistent trait. It therefore can not be said to be balanced. Howard is a dissembling liar.

I tend to get kinda emotional when discussing this topic. This from a contributor to SMH Letters 7/3/6...

"I hate government for, and by, the wealthy. I hate nepotism, cronyism and the triumph of grey men. I hate xenophobia. I hate the "free" market and greed and their bastard child, economic rationalism. I hate small-mindedness, dishonesty, dissembling and mediocrity. I hate hypocrisy. I hate hate. Does this make me a "Howard-hater?

Only if he represents those things, I suppose. Does he?"

Couldn't have said it better myself.

The year 2040: John Howard's obituary has appeared in the few surviving illicit websites.

Mr Howard was the longest-serving PM in Australia's history.

Australia's old-fashioned ideals of the fair go, tolerance and mateship were cleverly trumpeted by successive Howard governments over the years but they were able to reform the reality. Discounting majority foreign ownership, 90% of all assets in Australia are now owned by the most meritorious 3%.

Howard was admired for his skilful use of wedge politics. Honed initially on an inept Opposition, it was increasingly widened to divide the populace at large. When it counted most during the electoral cycle, Howard could be relied on to discover an issue to send the right message to an ever unrelaxed and uncomfortable electorate.

Australian media was reformed. Foreign ownership and tight controls ensured that dissident voices were marginalised as one by one newspapers closed or morphed into advertising revenue-makers. With the last free-to-air TV channel closed, households have switched to satellites beaming sports, reality and opinion shows direct from master control stations overseas.

Education reform was sweeping, with massive funding and HECS-style school loans. Now 80% of all Australian children are at private schools and the residual State schools have been converted to manual labour classes for those on welfare subsidies or deemed dull after tests in child care centres. Australian History - outlawing any Black Arm view- is now compulsory. All tertiary education places are full feepaying, and courses - whether in the G10 elite research institutes or the T28 training colleges - are subject to national inspection.

Trade unions are outlawed and employers are obliged to report any form of worker dissent to the Minister for Happy Workplaces. Habeas Corpus rules have been abolished and new detention centres are bursting at the seams with illegals and agitators.

Mr Howard's adherence to the US alliance is the one jarring note. He failed to anticipate the decline of the US as a superpower and the supercession of China and India. The Foreign Minister, Peter Costello, declined to comment for this report.