David, please, no dummy-spitting yet! We just got started on this!
I 'm an ex-Sydney libertarian (yeah, Push) type and worked on Vote
Informal campaigns in the 60s. I've been in promising new movements,
including the Democrats for a few years until 1993, and know how things
change, how egotism/ambition operates and how short the news media are on
analysis and fairness.
I resisted a lot of 'peer' pressure to join in putting crap on One Nation,
because I'm a pluralist.and because there's a 90% overlap of their
'policies' against, say, the Democrats and the wisdom of taxidrivers.
We all have to distinguish between the One Nation manifesto + control
hierarchy and the One Nation constituency, ie, the masses who turn to it
because, inter alia, they see no better alternative. I am more interested
in the latter. They are the people who can possibly make something durable
and democratic out of the little demagoguic corporation you see at
present.
Let me add that the 'extremist' One Nation is entirely a logical and
necessary by-product of the two-party system. I mean, the Lib-Labs
totally rejected the moderate, restrained, reasonable approach of the
Greens and the Democrats. Their response was to try and rub out such
interlopers. Through the need for electoral preference deals, they have
largely succeeded in neutralising the Dems' & Greens' threat. The lesson
is that there is no room for politeness, compromise, moderation, etc, if
you want real reform soon. Hence, One Nation is acting the way you've got
to act if your interest is in more than cosy parliamentary jobs.
Summary: Unless you're working for Lib or Lab, leave the political
wildlife alone, including One Nation.
Re HTVs and ballot-rigging, I would rather vote informal than be part of
any attempt to attack proportional representation by co-sponsoring
major-party efforts to eliminate new minor-party representation. It is a
disgrace to Australia that parties like the Nationals and Democrats hold
parliamentary seats out of all proportion to the size of their
constituencies--and that this inevitably relates to deals they have done
with the LIb-Labs.
Cheryl Kernot defected to Labor after the exposure and failure of a plan
she had devised with Gareth Evans to take the Democrats into some form of
coalition with Labor. Now, Meg Lees seems to have obtained Liberal
preferences on a basis of Democrat support for GST. (The food issue is
probably part of the deal.) So what we now have is Tweedledum, Tweedledee
and Tweedlethree.
There has to be tolerance for any new movement, bearing in mind that
organisational change is always possible.
Regards
Brian Jenkins
(Perth)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message-----
From: David Kidd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Saturday, 17 October 1998 5:11
Subject: Re: One Nation
|Albert wrote:
|
|>One Nation is currently the only significant party that genuinely
|>opposes both the ALP and the Coalition.
|
|i.e. they support the core position of Neither
|
|>The widespread celebration of the fact that One Nation won no seats in
|>the House of Representatives will also be used as an argument against
|>Neither's campaign for PR.
|
|By Neither's enemies maybe; not by One Nation
|
|>We cannot oppose the "two party state" and support PR without admitting
|>that this does indeed mean we support One Nation being fully represented
|>along with the Democrats, Greens and other minor parties in a
|>representative House of Representatives.
|>
|>That makes it all the more important for Neither to clearly oppose One
|>Nation and add them to the list of parties to put equal last, despite
|>their (anticipated) support for PR.
|
|Bullshit Albert! Surely it is possible for intelligent people to agree to
|work together on some things without necessarily agreeing on everything.
It
|may be difficult to get the media to draw the distinction, but that is
|scarcely good reason for alienating a lot of people who are potential
allies
|in achieving your core objective.
|
|If it is going to be Neither's policy to join the gang opposing One
Nation
|you can take me off this mailing list now, and you can say goodbye to
|another supporter.
|
|Dave
|--
|David Kidd Webmaster http://dkd.net E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|Maryborough, Queensland 4650, Australia Phone (07) 4122 1120
|
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