Perpetual Opposition

What do you suppose it is that causes political timidity - and its resulting by-product - perpetual opposition?

I only ask because there appears to be no shortage of "political timidity" in the Labor government.  And I reckon that will lead them to "perpetual opposition".

It's only when they get there that they will regret going down that path.

I suspect it's what happens when you install a leader who has limited ability to lead. And when the party disciplinarians have been coached to not tolerate any independent thinking.  Can't stand that can we - MP's who think for themselves?

So the vast bulk of the party MP's are all sitting about being "timid" while their future turns to sh*t in front of their very eyes.

It reminds me of the Beasley years.  Perhaps those times were *normal* for the party and the interventions of Latham and Rudd were aberrations.

For those who don't recall or who weren't paying attention, Beasley was the *architect* of the *small target* strategy.  He thought that the opposition shouldn't say or do anything that would alert anyone to their existence. And he didn't.  And they didn't.

His view was that he would wait for the conservatives to perform their usual overreach and that would generate sufficient voter backlash to waltz him and his crew back into government.  And anyway, he was much more interested in playing with the military hardware and other toys provided by his best friends in the US Military/Industrial complex.

The only tragedy is that his colleagues thought so much of him that they made him leader - twice.

And the tradition continues - the current government has installed him as our Ambassador to the United States.

There are some good people in the party who can and will stand up for the people and the nation - they just need a leader who knows what the game is and knows how to play it.

Is history repeating?