Re “That can be a quite peaceful, democratic process provided that there is (1) a government that is committed to fundamental change (2) a population that is ready to accept and participate in implementing fundamental change.”

Never have “political revolutions” produced equal to their disruption and alienation.

A government committed to fundamental change but through “democratic means” sounds like the incumbent.

Labor simply want to turn back the clock and re-establish the status-quo of the 1980’s, when unions held sway over government and raped the public purse with their standover tactics.

The population has participated in fundamental change, all things done by the incumbent government have been approved or endorsed through re-election of the liberal-national coalition.

This article is just the pretentious pseudo-babble of academia through the eyes of someone who sees all before him as precious, yet sits well out of reach from the vagaries of real life, a bystander overseeing all from the cloistered comfort of academic tenure.

Oh, Krudd has about as much “revolutionary zeal” as a hamster has “murderous intent” (and the comparisons do not end there).

In reality, the “revolution we have to have” is as genuine a call as Keatings “the recession we have to have”, being completely bogus, merely a cynical catch phrase to coverup socialist incompetence and corruption.

FU2 “I fear, however, that the general public is all to happy with their McJobs which allows them to buy cheap Chinese consumables for their McMansions to concern themselves with any of this stuff.”

Oh that terrible “majority” they do not deserve democracy!

As Lenin said “It is true that liberty is precious; so precious that it must be carefully rationed.”

He also said “a lie told often enough becomes the truth”

Ah well, back to watering the garden in the McMansion, no time to concern myself with the “drivel of the ingrates” from the left.

Col - it's no secret the Labor party has always been the stooge of the unions, but that needn't always been the case. Rudd isn't exactly the favourite of the unions. If there's ever been a chance of the labor party separating from the unions, it's now.

Unfortunately, so much of the campaign funding of the labor party is reliant on union contributions. This of course, makes it incredibly difficult for them to do so.

But no more difficult than for the Liberal party, who has the same issues with contributions from the big business end of town...

"The Revolution We Have To Have!" please can it start with every Australian state that appears to have terrible problems with health,hospitals, schools, transport,housing, crime? You name it , it is in trouble.
Who is in charge of the states?Why! it is the very same party who are hoping to run the country next election.
Remember that.

Mickljo perhaps the reason that "every Australian state that appears to have terrible problems with health,hospitals, schools, transport,housing, crime? You name it , it is in trouble." is because revenue is raised by the Commonwealth in the form of taxation and GST and is doled out to the states in the form of grants with very tight provisos placed on the spending.

As an example - at the moment the Victorian government is unable to upgrade the water infrastructure because one of the five federal authorities that oversee water hasn't approved the spending. Those of us who have been watching have noticed Malcolm Turnbull has returned submissions to Victoria and NSW with a brief note to redo the costings. Sounds fairly incompetent of the state government hired consultant not to have got on the phone to the authoriser in Canberra and find out what format they wanted the results in, even I know how to do that! It sounds more like the bastard management style observed in some of our largest ASX listed companies of query the report into oblivion whilst loudly complaining that the report doesn't meet requirements.

Well said and well argued Klaas.
After lobbying hard on water for the past two weeks, I have been left with this niggling and nagging question ; who minds the minders? The New Rudd Labor Party has some very polite,very pleasant but somewhat naive,inexperienced and unworldly minders.I doubt if many have looked upon the murky waters of the Murray or into the dark vacuum that is public policy.
Klaas, could you run an intensive seminar for them,in Canberra over a weekend,before too much more mud oozes under the bridge?
Bruce Haigh

The "New Rudd Party" is composed of all the same old flops. How are the tired old hacks going to create a new revolution?
I wouldn't trust them to run a chook raffle let alone a country.