The opening paragraph of Clementine says it all. It's characteristic of the weak in character to run away when the going is getting hard and make their exodus to new countries in search of their EASY CONTENTMENT. There are no Nietzscheans among such discontented people.

http://kotzabasis3.wordpress.com

At first I felt such total shock that the Howard government should be so thoroughly rejected, but now I think Australia has had the election it had to have.
When the ALP ,as it always does, begins to sink the country and the 'true believers' finally to see the truth,we will see a chastened country where the populace has been savagely woken from the deep, comfortable,snug dream time and has to take responsibility for it's actions.
Australia, you have been feather bedded too long. Wakey Wakey!

The ignorance and historical ignorance of so-called Gen Y is flaunted once more. 'Payback is a bitch" is an expression from the baby-boomers.

Aime, Howard will be remembered for Workchoices, if there is a remnant of that reform remaining. Personally I will remember him for fully privatising Telstra, despite promises to the contrary. Apart from the negatives, he WOULD have been remembered long term as a reasonable PM, if he had the sense to retire about 2 years ago. He could have left the Workchoices legacy to someone else - in his eyes though, this would have hime remembered as a great PM, not just a good one. His greed and his declining political judgement are what got rid of him.

As I have said previously, I think Rudd got the chance because he comes across as very conservative (plus his wife's business background has got to give him a little boost too). Whilst switching is always a risk, the perceived risk was this time much less than previously (can you IMAGINE having Latham as PM). Rudd simply took up the middle-ground that Howard once occupied.

If Howard had won, the country would have seen that the Libs cant control the economy as well as they advertise that they can. We are headed for a downturn, if merely because of the world economic environment. If the Libs had retained this time, the next election would have seen Labor for sure, and probably for an extended period of time. With the coming downturn, the Libs get an easy shot at Labor, and a decent chance of winning govt at the next election (based simply on "look what THEY did"). Lib voters should be grateful about the timing of this, as it means that there is a good chance they will only have to put up with being the minority group for 3 years, instead of at least 6.

A "good" chance? Even if a global economic downturn does start to take hold in the next 3 years (not something I'd put money on anyway, despite problems in the U.S. and the possibility of an oil supply crunch), I would be pretty surprised if the Liberals had arranged themselves into an electable alternative by then. Single term Federal governments are exceedingly rare. Further the electorate would be smart enough to recognise that such a downturn was not something either party had any power to prevent.

I'd also suggest that were WorkChoices allow to stay, and more and more employees put on AWAs, then if a recession did bite, you would see the mother of all revolts, as employees would be dismissed in droves, and those that remained have their pay and conditions harshly stripped, no longer having the supposed bargaining power that full-employment conditions gave them. And while it's conceiveable that this would shorten the length of any downturn, the backlash against it would probably lead to IR reform being wound back by a decade or so, and any chance of further reform being politically impossible for a decade to come.

Leigh - I support your right to say what ever you like - nothing I have said suggests a denial of that - I dont have to like though - and am entitled to say why - as for my comments regarding the article - I am under no obligation to make any - on this or any other for that matter.

If I had anything to say it was expunged from my brain by the outrage at your desire to have visited genocide upon Gen Y - essentially because younger people expressed an opinion! - I think it is some what related to free speech you referred to earlier.

Exercising opinions here for me is sometimes a serious matter - sometimes for sport - but at all times for my own benefit - and that is the way it shall remain.