Displaying items by tag: Australian Politics

Chesterton once said that the non believer in God doesn't believe in nothing - he is prone to believe in anything.  Observing the current political madness in the world only confirms Chesterton's wisdom.  Whether it is the mad wokeness of the new revolutionaries, or the crazy hysteria over Covid 19, it seems to be everywhere.  There is a madness to crowds.  Not just in Victoria.

The Covid lockdown has infringed the rights and liberties of ordinary Australians in ridiculous ways while leftists have been able to turn up at protest rallies for this, that and the other.  Spot the tilt to the left, facilitated by the State?  The double standards are palpable.

The Government's response to Covid 19, whatever one thinks of the wisdom of lockdowns and so on, has been laced with hypocrisy.  One glaring double standard has been the sudden conversion of governments to apparent concern for the health of the elderly and weak in an age of euthanasia on demand.

Australian leaders are fond of making apologies.  Perhaps one is owed to Cardinal Pell following his High Court exoneration.  Among the many public figures who owe such an apology, the Cardinal might well expect one from our Prime Minister.

The Government's decision to double the cost of a universities arts degree is short-sighted, philistine and utilitarian.

First they came for the explorers.  Statues' live matter.  The culture war has ramped up in these Covid times, perhaps unexpectedly.  It behooves those of us with an affection for tradition and freedom to, first, understand the war we are in, and then to comprehend what needs to be done to fight back.

China is in the news.  With Covid and with trade wars, the world has begun to question its embrace of China over these past decades.  With good reason.  A repulsive regime has been granted the keys to the world economy.  On our watch.

The Covid Crisis has thrown up its own set of "tribes", interest groups with different stakes in the way the thing is playing out.  Understanding the ideologies and the interests of the various players helps us all to make sense of the crazy times in which we live

Two important things happened on the weekend of 6-7 June.  A court upheld the right to protest in large numbers in public, even in times of real or manufactured health scares.  This has implications for lockdown policies.  The second important thing to happen was that we can go to Church again.  For this, we should, all of us, bend the knee.

The current time is a crazy time of postmodern politics, where previous certainties and categories are no longer relevant.  Trying to make sense of it all is an extreme challenge.  But there are ways of understanding the new politics, and of explaining how it all came about.  What hope there might be for a better future is less certain.