Syd wrote,
> > Keeping party unity will unite the ALP behind a particular programme.
> > What won't occur is uniting the liberal electorate of Australia behind
> > such a programme. =A0Gerrymander?
>
> I'd like to think persuasion. =A0Specifically, alternative history
> persuasion. =A0Point out that Australia will always be better off under
> ALP Keynesian economic management than the counter-factual.
You mean winning the electorate around to progressive politics, like
happened in 1949, or 1975?
> But given that the counter-factual is not demonstable ("compare your
> present position with the timeline where the government didn't use
> stimulus") how to persuade the electorate? =A0As viewers of _The Gruen
> Transfer_ will know, the two great persuaders are hope and fear. =A0The
> Scullin government will have to create the hope that by steadfast
> socialist voting Australia will emerge from the Depression faster and
> better than the non-Keynesian countries. =A0And that the Nationalists
> will take all your money and feed it to pigs.[1]
There's a persistent idea that the public operates like a household
and should maintain a constant surplus. It is clearly present in the
writings of the time. I don't think we're going to over come that.
Unless there's a jingoistic reason for vast expenditures on completely
useless things rather than social infrastructure.
> > > Another approach might be for the caucus to realise that Scullin is
> > > acting outside his comfort zone. =A0A spill could put someone more
> > > capable and charismatic in his place. =A0It could be Theodore, or Fen=
ton
> > > or Lyons. =A0Frank Forde and Ben Chifley are also in Scullin=92s cabi=
net,
> > > so there=92s no shortage of talent or possibilities of renewal.
>
> > As you note later, this isn't the mentality of the ALP of the time.
> > ADNB does not support a lavatory incident.
>
> ADNB?
Shows how often I use biography, http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/adbonline.htm
Obviously I'm confusing the Oxford Dictionary of National biography
with the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
>[Exciting electoral politics of Melbourne division snipped]
thanks,
Sam. |
