One of the things about the shemozzle of the Trump regime which makes me laugh, is some insular muppets who probably don’t have passports and only vaguely know where Europe is, have been asking: “Has the Democratic Party shifted too far to the left?” Compared to most other western democracies, the Democratic Party would be considered to be right wing, while the Republican Party are now mostly far right, supporting as they do, a half-witted malevolent oligarchy.
Similarly, calling Australia’s Labor Party a ‘centre-left’ party is also ridiculous. They are a ‘centre-right’ party which is simply beholden to oligarchs who pay for their election campaigns, and their set of oligarchs differs only partially from those on whom the Liberal Party depend. That is why the Labor Party will never do anything about the discount on capital gains for investment properties; why its National Anti-Corruption Commission will remain secretive and toothless; why they will do nothing about homelessness; why they will not forgive all of Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) debt; why they will never be serious about dealing with global warming; why they will never get rid of corporate money from politics (except to shaft independents); why they will never do anything about poverty; why they will never increase taxes on the wealthy and their corporations; why they will never do anything about media near monopolies; why they will never do anything about lying in the media and in politics; why they will never tax the churches; why they will never reintroduce a carbon tax; why they will never do anything to curb lobbyists, why they will never stop selling weapons to Israel, why they will never clearly condemn Israel for the Gaza genocide except under cover of the UN, and sundry other inequities in Australia. This is because they do not want to upset their set of oligarchs.
If the Labor Party is centre-right where does that leave the Liberal Party after their demolition in the most recent federal election? This is their big problem. With Labor occupying the centre right, the liberal party’s mindset, and that of their donors and supporters, will only allow them to remain where they are, or move even further to the right as some in the party have suggested1.
Either of these possibilities will be the end of the Liberal Party. Indeed, Gina Rinehart’s suggestion that they embrace even more Trumpesque chaos2, will only hasten its coming demise.
The quandary the Liberals find themselves in, and their inability to see where they should go are perhaps epitomised by an essay by Patrick Marlborough who made me laugh out loud when he said: “What remains of the Liberal party’s elite are gathering in the den where they drain street urchins of their bone marrow, throwing bird innards against the wall in hopes that the patterns will reveal to them an answer to those inscrutable riddles ‘were we too woke?’ and ‘should we let women talk?’ and ‘which flags piss me off, specifically?’”3
While a healthy democracy always requires a contest of ideas, modern politics has become a shitfight of timidity and mediocrity. The only way to cure this is to elect more independents, because they actually represent their electorates. Politicians from major political parties do not; they will utter platitudes on their websites and in conversation with voters, but when they get into parliament, they represent their donors.
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