cont'd ...

Dear Belly,

The following link may be of interest:

http://www.themonthly.com.au/rising-influence-vested-interests-australia-001-cent-wayne-swan-4670

Dear Lexi,

I could not support the current Libs either, but I think at times the Libs have been more decent than Labor. Malcolm Fraser who was a Liberal Prime Minister is no longer even a member of the party. However, he has a record against racism and refugees which is more enlightened than either of the current major parties. Liberal Prime Minister Menzies did a lot to see that every Australian who could qualify would be able to get a tertiary education. The Labor Party in the past has been the author of the racist White Australia Party.

Parties change. The Republican party in the US is now in the grip of an alliance of supporters of laissez-faire capitalism and fundamentalist religion. However, the pary originated as an outgrowth of the Ripon Anti-Slavery Society, enacted the Sherman antitrust legislation (the first US legistion curbing the power of the corporations), started the national park system which conserved many areas of the US, enacted the first civil rights legislation and in the nineteenth century had as a leading the freethinking R. G. Ingersoll. The American Democrats used to be an alliance of big city political machines and southern racists. The latter are now mostly Republicans.

I think all we can do is support a party for what we think it will do after the next election.

Ludwig agree with it all but not population.
Both sides and Capitalism want and need growth, and population too.
As consumers and workers.
Lexi Davidf, I too must vote labor, but Lexi we must confront this, polls are spot on, many will not.
Both leaders suffer from the 24 hour news cycle, the need to say some thing any thing.
Both while educated and all that are unsuited for their rolls.
Abbott's still unloved, just less so than Gillard.
They squabble at the bottom of the fish tank to see who gets the low spot in the mud.
Labor must man up, it did the wrong thing in dumping Rudd.
And picked the wrong replacement.
It in a year we say is a reform one, still lets a few very few power brokers OWN THE ALP.
No member on the government side of the house believes a victory under Gillard is possible.
Yet rather than man up, admit a wrong, we face near death and a very long climb back.
BETRAYING every present and past builder of our party.
After such an event yet another split is quite possible.
PS Lexi not feeding trolls you will note my absence from some threads.

Dear Belly,

What they want and what they need are two different things. No species can increase indefinitely. That goes for humans also. Rudd in his vision of a great Australia denies that. For that and his bringing the Bible bashers with the chaplaincy program when he was in the Queensland government I could not support him against Gillard. Bad as she is she is better than Rudd.

Dear David F.,

I agree with you about the Liberal Party and how it has
changed. The Liberal Party that I once voted for is certainly
not the Liberal Party of today. It is not the party of
Menzies and Fraser. And it is one that as I stated earlier -
I could not possibly support.

Dear Belly,

What I would like to see the media do is pick apart both
Labor and the Coalition's policy platforms and let voters
decide which offers Australia the brightest future.

The policy debate needs to move to the front pages and if, as
Mr Abbott's supporters argue, the Coalition has robust
policies to answer Labor's - that's what people will
ultimately decide for themselves.

To this point we haven't had that political discourse.
It has often been a ludicrous slanging match with easy point
scoring. No one has been required to address policies in
detail in Parliament - when "Scrap the tax," or "stop the boats,"
followed by censure motions to shut down Question Time, seems to do just fine.

Lexi/Davidf at times, driven by my hope for my party I get a bit rough in replying to some.
Simple facts however agree with me.
I have spoken of events in 1975, from with in my then leftist views of politics.
Looking back, not now but long ago, I saw it nearly had to happen,
In fact still ask was it planned? did the big bloke craft it? last chance to survive? Labor in a dream world that in truth did not exist, drove in to a bog.
Some extremely poor behavior, by individuals, in a far different ALP than todays, ran our ship close enough to the rocks, to let Curr's actions deliver us to Liberals too impatient to get the same results at an election.
Remember my talking of news reporting being slanted even made up?
Consider this, headlines rightly report of the tragic/criminal/ hateful actions of the HSU mark them down as traitors to both movements.
But know such as their once head had more say in the ALP than TEN THOUSAND Lexis or Belly's, WHY?
Now another side, one I have seen before, how much have we seen about a QLD Ministers daughter, found drugged in another ministers office?
How much would we hear if it was a Labor minister?
Now look and research the unfortunate Peter Slipper affair.
An unpleasant subject.
But surely with a reporter refusing to table documents, so much more, the tabled evidence is strong.
Pyne for one has acted in a fashion that calls for INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING.
We will not see it.
Conservatives point at Labors web of support, but rarely of theirs, from those sitting in judgment refusing to judge to Abbott's backing crew propping him up.
We confront much danger but, without change we face defeat of historic proportions
Continued