Filed under: Politics
If you haven’t seen this already, it is an absolute classic.
Daniel Hannan, a British policitan, shares his thoughts on Gordon Browns performance as Prime Minister.
The next time you watch a movie or read a book about humans in the past, remember one thing: Just as we observe our past, one day we too shall be observed.
Meaning?
Meaning, just as we think back to times when human beings were fed to lions or burned at the stake or engaged in some other form of what now appears to be insane behaviour, remember this – one day, society will look back at our generation, wondering the exact same thing. One day, people will look back – bewildered, attempting to understand what we were thinking – or perhaps not thinking.
Here is a present day example. California Proposition 8 is titled “Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry”. If passed, the proposition would “change the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California”.
Generally speaking, warning bells tend to go off in my head when I am presented with sweeping statements that begin with “Eliminates Right of…”. Can you imagine voting on whether black people should be allowed to get married, or if women should be allowed to open bank accounts? Just the thought makes you uncomfortable. Yet we discuss other issues as though they are legitimate arguments that require “consideration”.
Conflict is present all over the world; over a million people have died in Iraq alone. The World economy is collapsing; people are losing everything they had amassed over the course of their lifetimes. However, the good people of California have more pressing issues to tend to: deciding whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. How thoughtful.
Imagine for one second that California Prop. 8 does not seek to remove the right of same-sex couples to wed. Rather, it attempts to prevent heterosexual marriages. Consider that the people who are responsible for War, for famine, for economic collapse, for global unrest, for division in humanity, for fear, for hatred, for racism, for death – image for just one second that these people will resolve whether you and your partner should be allowed to marry. Imagine that these people will decide whether the love between you and your partner is legitimate – whether it is “pure”. Please stop here, close your eyes and really think about this for a minute.
How do you feel?
Do you feel empowered? Do you feel as though you are accepted and valued? Do you aspire to go out and create positive change in the World?
I doubt it very much. I am certain you feel sad, trapped and lonely. Yet, this is exactly how we are making people feel right at this moment. For same-sex couples, this situation is not imaginary – it is very real.
Please remember, one day – just as we observe our past, we too will be observed. We have moral obligations not just to protect and nurture the present, but also the future. God is not the only one who can (and will) judge you. Your children will. Their children will. A thousand years from now – everybody will.
Someone emailed me the following, figures detailing the pay packet for American Presidents. All figures are in US dollars. Traditionally, the president is the highest-paid public employee. President Bush currently earns $400,000 per year, along with a $50,000 expense account, a $100,000 nontaxable travel account, and $19,000 for entertainment. A mediocre amount, in my opinion, when comparing to CEOs with similar responsibility. What do you think? Comment bellow. (Be nice!)
| Date established | Salary | Salary in 2007 dollars |
|---|---|---|
| September 24, 1789 | $25,000 | $566,000 |
| March 3, 1873 | $50,000 | $865,000 |
| March 4, 1909 | $75,000 | $1,714,000 |
| January 19, 1949 | $100,000 | $875,000 |
| January 20, 1969 | $200,000 | $1,135,000 |
| January 20, 2001 | $400,000 | $471,000 |
For all you aussies out there, the news.com.au Vote-a-matic tool is very handy.
Answer simple questions on various topics ranging from health to security, jobs to the environment. Once you’ve completed the questions, the Vote-a-matic reveals which political party best suits you.
Who are you hoping wins and why? Comment below.
Sixty years ago – the 16th of August 1947 to be exact, on a frosty Saturday morning in Canberra – Ben Chifley, the Prime Minister and Treasurer, called a surprise meeting of Cabinet. He told his astonished colleagues that he was going to nationalise the banks. There was to be only one bank. Which bank? The government bank.
That same afternoon, while Australia was at the pub, the races or the footy, Chif sprung it on everyone else. A one-sentence press release. No explanation, no statement to Parliament, not even a hint at the previous election. Just “cop that, Australia”.
And that was to be just the start of it. Labor intended to take over the rest of industry once the banks had been destroyed. We were to have a command economy run from Canberra with the eager assistance of the ACTU which, in those days, had been white-anted by the Communists. The Labor Party itself, then, had a problem with Communist infiltration which almost destroyed it. Now you can see why I’m puzzled by Chif’s statue: funny place to put up a statue of a bloke who tried to kill off the business sector.
In his book, Chif’s Obsession, Ken Harris follows the lives of two fictional characters from the time they meet in 1923 as altar boys over a coffin at a requiem mass. By 1947 they had survived the Great Depression and the War. One is a labor member of parliament, and the other is a lawyer for a bank. They are mates. Like other Australians in those post-war year, their lives were turned upside down by Chif’s one-sentence announcement. He uses them and other fictional characters to try to bring to life the arguments and views of people at the time.
How did it finish up? It dragged on for two years. Labor controlled both houses of parliament so the legislation was passed and received royal assent. However the High Court declared it unconstitutional in 1948. Chif appealed and the Privy Council knocked him back, too, in 1949. There was a federal election soon afterwards. At last, the average punters could have their say; Labor was booted out and they stayed out for the next 23 years.
I wish I knew why Chif is still revered as a great prime minister. I think he was the most dangerous person to have occupied the office. But, even today, people go gooey-eyed at the mention of his name. Even a modern Labor leader like Kevin Rudd appears to find inspiration in Chif’s famous expression, ‘The Light on the Hill’.
Here’s something else to imagine. Get a pencil and paper and write down a list of the ways in which our Australia might differ from Chif’s Australia, if he had got his way.
I think Australia had a very lucky escape.
To get your own copy of Chif’s Obsession, visit Oscar & Friends Booksellers in Double bay or contact Ken Harris directly.
