Where are the true Liberals?
If this Government believes it to be expedient, we now know that it is prepared to push the Rule of Law aside. That is a larger issue than the tragedy of David Hicks.
A number of Liberals have spoken out about these and similar issues in relation to asylum seekers or refugees, or people improperly treated in Department of Immigration detention centres. Too many have remained silent. Does silence connote acquiescence, acceptance or fear, being fearful of standing and saying what they know to be right? A Liberal who fails to recognise the central importance of these issues for the maintenance of a fair and just democracy, bears no resemblance to the Liberals of Menzies’ day and to the Party that Menzies founded.
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It would appear that there is only one option at this election. All those who believe in the values of democracy and the rule of law must vote for Kevin Rudd. Regardless of your opinion of the Labor Party, a vote for anyone else is a vote to continue with the undemocratic, conservativde tyranny which is the Howard regime.
If empathy is the bed-rock of our sense of morality, could it be that empathy itself as a survival value is on the decline?
I agree with the comments above by Mr. Fraser. Australian Liberalism apppears to have been KO’ed by an aggressive Conservatism which seems to have as its core value a “winners and losers” philosophy.
Putting this into the context of our looming Doctor crisis (68% of Australian Doctors are over the age of 50), what will this new conservatism mean for us ageing baby boomers in our twilight years?
Will euthanasia suddenly be not only acceptable but “desirable” for the frail elderly? Will the wealthy fly over to India for medical treatment while the poor fight for scarce health resources in Australia?
We seem to be hurtling towards a grim and unfair Australia…so different from the one in which I grew up.
Dear Mr Fraser,
I agree entirely with what you say. A true Liberal would certainly denounce such developments as out of keeping with the ideals that the Party once held dear. What is even more disturbing is that there is little evidence that change will occur within the Party even if the Government is defeated this year.
I refer to the Howard Gov now as The Conservative Party. My early teens in the years of Whitlam & Fraser (I have also had the pleasure of speaking with you). I wonder which party I would influence me, if a teenager today? I still hope the silence is not acceptance, but I fear the new/younger politicians will be ‘made’ in the image of Howard (perhaps worse - little Abbotts). Hang in there, Washers, Troeths, Georgious et al, we “liberals” need you - and PLEASE Malcolm, keep up your public presence. The teenagers out there need to be told what “liberals” stand for.
Until the advent of the Howard government, I was of the opinion that most members of the Liberal Party believed in Democracy and the rule of law, as did their opponents. To those Liberals who have spoken out against the dishonourable and unfair relegation of our laws and the diminution of our democracy whenever it is expedient to expedite the ideology of John Howard and his henchmen, my congratulations.
To those who have not, through fear and intimidation, through missing the point, through acquiescence to Party rule, or through apathy, please take a little time to think of what you are doing to this country. Standing up for what is right is what makes a democracy possible and right now that is not happening, As Malcolm said, “ A Liberal who fails to recognise the central importance of these issues for the maintenance of a fair and just democracy, bears no resemblance to the Liberals of Menzies’ day and to the Party that Menzies founded.”
What is
right'can take on many meanings, even when human rights are enshrined in a democratic constitution like our new one here in S Africa. Take the affirmative action practice...it classes all Whites together asformerly advantaged’. Thisjustifies' (in our law)racial discrimination.sins of their fathers’. We are using racial categories toMany Whites are unemployed, suffering the
right' past inequalities, and thegood’ have to suffer with thebad.' Ends are being used to justify means. So much forthe rule of law’ here. What’s the Liberal view on this, for instance?I doubt that many of the punters out there would know and identify the differences between “Liberalism” and “Neo-conservatism”.
They do need someone to tell them, yes.
Mr.Fraser,I join those who welcome yourstatements of the obvious,and Imean no slight-the obvious truth is what the pm,in typical unoriginal style,calls un-Australian,and(evenworse)anti-American.I wonder if Iraqis thought the bombing was anti-Iraqi.
But to thepoint: I know all citizens in democracy are equal,but to be real about it,I view the doings of the Rulers from a remote point, being poor,unqualified,and well,not inthe club. Not complaining, but to point out that from here,I have hadthe hardest task, whilst watching the curtainraiser by Bushblairhoward from the beginning(watchingthemlie)in deciding what was ignorance and what was evil in their crazy rationales for playing reverse Russian Roulette(5 full,1 empty) with MY life,andsneering at objections.You say blair was
genuine.You should know,but is this what democracy means
-a fool rules,and blood flows and flows? Or is this “gosh,it all went bad,how could we have guessed?” a cynical dismissal of our
objections to policy?