I always love this line that Howard has successfully run the economy, what a load of unadulterated crap. The foreign debt is so high the IMF should have been called years ago and it has risen very quickly under Howard. We can't even show a surplus on goods when the terms of trade are in our favour. I don't call that good management especially when Australia is selling off it's productive buttets at the same time.
10 Years Congratulations PM 1284Brian define:jingoism Jingoism is a term describing chauvinistic patriotism, especially with regard to a hawkish political stance...
I agree that Labor have been not only an ineffective opposition but also a stupid one. They go after Howard on dumb issues. But Howard does use divisive politics on purpose to further his own political career. You might say: what's wrong with that? I would say it leads to a mean, divisive country which not only is indifferent to the fate of other but positively hostile.
The terror laws are all about surveilance and not about catching persons. After all, the problem with catching persons has not been any deficiencies in laws that mean we can't arrest them when we find them. The problem is that we can't find the persons. Locking people up without charge when they might know something isn't going to help that. It is also fundamentally undemocratic. If people can be locked up without charge and Habaeus Corpus (a right we have had for 700 years) is abolished we no longer live in a democracy. If I cannot say whatever I like then I don't live in a democracy.
Calling the opponents of Howard an 'elite' has been a very effective piece of newspeak. Howard represents big business, the rich and powerful in this country. In what way are cultural commentators 'elite' compared to the economically and politically powerful mates of Howard.
This is not the country I grew up in.
DS
