Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Entitlement and an Angry Nation

Laura Tingle's Monthly Essay - "Great Expectations" has been in my Kindle queue for weeks -  It's subtitled "Government Entitlement and an Angry Nation".   And it was only yesterday that I finished reading it.

That is probably the only good thing about being encapsulated with a couple of hundred other folks in a flying sardine can for a few hours ;-)

Anyway, I think Laura has nailed her subject pretty well - there are a few bits to debate but nothing worth getting niggly about.  So if you want to understand the new political dynamic then go read it.

But there are a few things that I do want to mention.

Firstly, Laura accurately describes the "governing actions and style" of our Prime Ministers from Hawke, through Keating, Howard, Rudd and now to Gillard.  In particular, she shows how ideology drove Howard to frequently "say one thing and do quite the other".  Particularly his attempts to defund the health and education systems and his overreach with WorkChoices.

It's just a pity that Laura and her colleagues weren't able to write more about those things at the time - because if they had then the Australian people would have been better informed.  And a better informed electorate usually makes better choices.

And the other quite amazing thing is how none of the Prime Ministers mentioned have actually engaged with the people directly and explained the big picture.   With the possible exception of Paul Keating.  The major changes in our society have all been made *without* the agreement of the people - almost as though politicians think citizens aren't smart enough to be exposed to the *truth and the facts*.

To my mind this is the biggest failure of our polity.  Politicians would probably be surprised by the reaction if they took the people into their confidence and explained what they can and can't do - and what our options are.

Almost without exception - Australian politicians prefer to discuss the *little* things with the people and make the *big* decisions in secret behind closed doors.

If they haven't yet worked out that this little game is well and truly over - then they soon will.

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