[csaa-forum] ALP 101=US 101?

[Philip Bagust]

I hope everyone was watching '4 Corners' last night (Monday) as it reviewed the
mood of the American people as their election approaches.  I know Australia is
not America, and that Kerry *might* just still win - but what struck me were
the parallels that can be drawn between the mood of the electorate there and
here - in particular how:

1) (neo)conservative politics has so brilliantly captured, in both countries,
the majority of what might have one been considered the natural Democrat/Labour
'blue collar' constituencies.  
2) the same political forces, regardless of their enormous wealth, have so
successfully painted the progressive side of politics into an
'elitist/chardonnay socialist' corner that it seems utterly incapable of
extracting itself

So many 'battlers' interviewed in that show really believed that Bush and
Cheney were just 'regular beer swilling guys' whereas Kerry was seen as an
effete, intellectual snob who had the temerity and lack of patriotism to marry
a (gasp!) foreign billionaire.  Lets not kid ourselves that the same tendencies
are not at work in 'middle Australia', whatever that is.

At one time I would have rejoiced in the fact that in secular Australia, at
least the enormous influence of the evangelical churches in politics in the US
wasn't an issue here - but obviously with the success of Family First we can no
longer take that for granted.

At least we don't seem to have caught this bizarre 'anti-French' meme -
although I'm waiting for that to surface too - hell anything seems possible
now.

Finally - is it time we revisited again that hoary old chestnut of compulsory
voting in Australia?  Perhaps we should sop talking about people's 'democratic
responsibilities' and start wondering about how motivated and informed someone
is going to be if they feel compelled to vote when they fundamentally aren't
interested in the 'big P' political process.

I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts about the program.

Phil