Christian radical
reflections 45, October
22, 2004 AD
What would it
take for the Liberal Party to become a genuine political party once more?
It is amazing
how, around the world at the present time, those who claim to be making the world
free for others to live in, present themselves as completely naïve about any
hurdles they are erecting by their freedom loving actions. That is the problem
with ideology. Ideologists defend themselves as if their policies are
irrevocably on the side of freedom, as if to admit that mistakes have to be
corrected is to violate a sacred norm. This is the problem that arises when
'might is right' is allowed a special place in one's political tool-kit.
Closer to home,
to suggest that the recent election's endorsement of John Howard's Prime
Ministership is itself the greatest hurdle standing in the way of the Liberal
Party rediscovering itself as a party, would be met with derision and scoffing.
But that is indeed what I am saying. If the Liberal Party is ever to reverse
the trend and become a political party again it will not be because the
Coalition was re-elected. It will have to happen despite the recent election
"victory". The Liberal's grinned on election night; they so
desperately want to call it a landslide. But as I have said. It is not. It is a
quicksand.
The Liberal Party
to become a genuine political party would have to turn its back on 30 years in
which it has denied repeatedly and continually, by its actions, that any
self-denying ordinance should be part of its political contribution. It would
have to become a party of conscience to reject that history. Indeed it would
have to rediscover self-denial on liberal principles. It can not now do that,
and while John Howard is still at the helm it still represents a pragmatic,
flip-flopping authoritarianism that Winston Churchill and Robert Menzies would
blush to be associated with.
This also casts
serious question over the heir apparent, the member for Higgins, the Federal
Treasurer. No doubt if he ever is put into the Prime Ministerial post by his
colleagues he will try to give a "man of conscience" spin to his
elevation. But a political conscience does not simply "wait around until
one has power" to make a stand. And the stand that has to be taken by the
Liberal Party, if it is to restore itself as a party, will require it to
repudiate the ongoing trend, from a 30-year record of power-mongering, that
relegates "conscience" to a "non-core policy" issue. The
political careers of Winston Churchill and John Grey Gorton illustrate that if
one is to do one's task conscientiously then one cannot simply "wait
around" until one finds oneself in power. Then it is too late. The
"hard yards" have to be taken. And for the current party it may indeed
be too late for it ever to be a party of conscience again. Conscience can be
seared. But if the Liberal Party wanted to become a party, instead of just a
pragmatic utilitarian machine that succeeds in telling people what they want
and then "gives the people what they want", then it will have to make
an enormous, indeed, spiritual u-turn. Spiritually we would say that it would
require a rather unexpected turn toward political repentance. We shall see. We
shall hope and pray.
For the Liberal
Party to become a party again it would have to find an alternative view to that
which says all political debate is basically a matter of economics; or to quote
the Prime Minister during the election campaign: it is no use having policies
unless you can first have an economy that pays for them. On the one hand the
Liberal Party will try and suggest that this is simply prudence and budget
rectitude. But what about the moral anarchy that results from Howard's
"policy policy", his always retrospective defence that there are two
kinds of political promises - 'core promises' and 'non-core promises'. Who is
going to pay for that kind of moral relativism? Will the Government, now so
eager to put families first, send an official to sit at the dinner tables of
young families to explain to children that it is indeed expedient to lie in
public life but in private it violates God's laws? In fact it is apparently
God's law for expedience to lie in public particularly when the country is
under threat.
Who is to pay for
that unpriceable deceit?
For the Liberal
Party to become a party it will have make a u-turn in relation to the way it
tries to encourage Christian voters by reminding them that the Almighty they
believe in does not overlook deceit and moreover He is not bound by any
election "victory". For the Liberal Party to become a party again it
will have to find a way to become a party of principle and to articulate just
how its liberal perspective is antithetical to that deceit which says changing
one's promises is OK so long as you can get away with it.
The Liberal Party
will have to ditch its "win at all costs" approach to elections. In
fact for it to become a party it will have to be prepared to lose elections
because of its principles. It will have to stop promoting the idea that
politics is elections, that elections give mandates, that mandates mean that
the next election is the time for voters to make a judgment on the conduct of
politicians.
For the Liberal
Party to become a party it must immediately forego electoral funding on the
basis of an unjust electoral system, that requires a lower house ballot that
violates conscientious voting. For the Liberal Party to become a party again it
will probably need the help of Labor to introduce legislation that would ensure
genuine electoral justice and encourage new bona fide political parties
that give authentic expression to the political views among the citizenry. The
Liberal Party machine makes much of its espousal of a "free market"
but it resolutely opposes a free market of political debate by entrenching itself,
and entrenching our public legal institutions within the current unjust
electoral status quo. When did the Liberal Party last advocate electoral
justice? It doesn't. That is going to have to change if the Liberal Party is
ever to be a party again.
For the Liberal Party
to become a party it must discover a way to engage in authentic,
non-ideological electoral education. It should stop treating the citizens of
this country as so much election fodder ($1.27 per vote), as with its
despicable conduct with "in yer face" advertising outside election
booths on election day. It must cease from contributing to an approach that
reduces citizenship in public discourse to "what party you barrack
for". Citizenship is something the Liberal Party machine has lost sight
of, reducing it to voting, giving expression of opinions in polls, a place to
lodge your complaint if things are not going right. That is the current Liberal
Party's view of citizenship. If it is to be a party it must turn away from this
acidic and cynical understanding of cival society.
"They're all
liars" is actually a view that is held very cynically within the
electorate and it is a view that the Liberal Party machine exploits to its own
advantage as it avoids requiring certain disciplines by members of its
Parliamentary wing. It's mythological view of itself as the guardian of the
national interest, interest rates, the good life etc compares markedly with its
total unwillingness to advocate electoral justice and challenge electoral
cynicism at its source. For the Liberal Party to become a party it must
rediscover the honoured placed of Opposition and cease its negativity about
those who sit Opposite. For the Liberal Party to become a party it must be
willing to lose elections for a principle. It must seek to give a new understanding
to the place of Opposition and cease this manufactured sporting contest which
dubs other parties as "losers".
Finally, it is
not good for Australia's security that the Liberal Party continues to exist as
it does - as an electoral machine for the election of its prominent candidates
rather than as a party contributing to public debate about matters that concern
the nation. It needs to admit that our system of parliamentary representation
is flawed and undermines significant democratic efforts to enrich our public
life with genuine political education, debate and policy discussion. If the
Liberal Party was to admit our parliaments at all levels are in need of
structural, if not constitutional, reform then it is just possible that our
diplomatic relations with our neighbours to the north would improve overnight.
As it is however, the Liberal Party stands in the forefront of Australian
cowardice ignoring our structural weaknesses with "she'll be right"
arrogance and ignoring how this appears to our ASEAN and South West Pacific
neighbours. To become a political party the Liberal Party needs to face up to
the glaring weaknesses of representative Government in this country.
This is indeed a
negative view about the Liberal Party as machine. Consider the above within the
view espoused by Frederick Eggleston: "We must recognise … that the
democratic system depends on complete freedom of action for the organs of
democracy, and that the people are, therefore, able to adopt measures which
limit freedom and responsibility. But Liberals have the faith that under free
institutions this is not very likely, and that if it does occur it will soon be
corrected." The problem that the Liberal party has not addressed, let
alone corrected, is the violation of its own standards from 1974-5. In continuing
to take a political stance in which justice is subordinated to power, the
Liberal Party develops a view of itself based on the fiction that its own
Parliamentary wing is the source for what is politically normative within the
Government of Australia. That is the primary hurdle which prevents the Liberal
Party from becoming an authentic political party.
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October 2004 © Christian Radical
Reflections, is written by Bruce C Wearne (PhD), 29 Lawrence Rd.,
Point Lonsdale Vic 3225 AUSTRALIA, 61-3-5258-3913. Each edition may be
photocopied or retransmitted in its entirety but not otherwise published,
reprinted or transmitted without permission. This personal project
aims to encourage positive Christian citizenship, the development
of policies and political attitudes that better express our love for God and
our neighbour. Your comments are welcome. Email can be sent to bcwearne@ozemail.com.au
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bcwearne/index.html |