I feel I am just exploding with political thoughts, and in a way I don't want to harangue the loyal readerships. So some snippets only:
- Getting fed up of hearing Kev say "I am an economic conservative!"
- Listening to Matt and Dave on the radio broadcasting from the marginal electorate of Sturt and it sounds more like a Saturday morning fete (car park caper!!) than a key election focus
- Almost burst a gut when Kev was being asked this morning "Is the Labor party still a party of the left?" and he would not answer. And he was asked again "Is the Labor party still a party of the left?" and he would not answer. And yet again: "Is the Labor party still a party of the left?" and he would not answer but obfuscated...I think we have to move away from left and right or up and down. For goodness sake St Gough of Woolahra (sitting with his fellow Labor Prime Ministers at the launch yesterday...knowing he was too old to be stabbed in the back) would shudder. Still I have already declared earlier this week that I am just a silly old lefty...obviously one of the fee lefties left
- Am enjoying watching Johnny dropping his bundle and failing to hit the correct political mark. It is interesting to see, that given that he is without question a if not the consummate performer in the Federal sphere, that he just seems to have lost sight of the target.
- I like an election where the candidates are known by their first names...little Johnny, Kevin, Malcolm, Alexander.......though the onslaught of Mr X may bring a change in this
- I hope that the Federal sphere will be enriched by the said Senator X and that he is not just swallowed up by the big pond...as it were.
- If I go back to school will they give me a new computer.
2 comments:
Hmmm, I don't think he should have dodged the question, but personally, I think left/right is a bit of a false dichotomy. I think there are a lot more dimensions than left/right and a lot less homogeneity in political thought than what initially appears to be the case.
I'm pretty sure one could find someone who could be catagorised a left based on an established criteria could also have just as much in common with someone who is center, all political dimensions considered. Personally, I think that discussing more discreet political matters is the way to go.
Like...
"K-Rudd, does Labor still believe in a notion of social justice?"
I think I may have to blog about this in a few weeks!
In the meantime, you've been tagged.
Oh and also, Hi! I'm Bruce. I'm also from Adelaide. :D
Bruce
I take your point...but for me "left" principally is a declaration about social justice.
It seems to me that socialism would want society to have strong and accessible : hospitals/education/safety nets/ etc.
It is rightly observed that Labor has dropped a lot of this (I think because they are almost as poll-driven as the Libs)
Left...also has a different understanding about the way economics works. It doesn't seem to me that you can be left and Friedmanite-Free Market economy. Clearly the ALP is not left in that sense.
The most I can say is that on the spectrum, it is more left of centre and that the Liberals are right of centre. But they are both Centrist parties really.
I suppose we should be thankful for a certain commitment to mediocrity!
The one thing mediocrity doesn't provide, however, is imaginative social policy for the future!
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