Don’t fall for the cult of personality
In the long term, the policies of the major parties are far more important than whether you prefer ScoMo to Albo, writes
IN regard to the upcoming election there has been much talk of ‘truth’ and ‘lies’, from all sides of politics. The reality is that, very often, one man’s truth is another man’s lie. Just as one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. It is all a matter of perspective.
Sadly, much of the political debate in Australia is conducted at this level without any attempt to look below the surface at the underlying forces at work and the reasons why the two major parties think as they do.
As Tony Dix pointed out in his letter (Mercury, April 25), there are historical and ideological differences between the two major parties. Labor, he claims, has historically battled capitalism for fair wages and conditions. However, I believe it would be more accurate to say that Labor and Liberal are opposite sides of the same capitalist coin.
We know, or should know, that the major political parties receive their funding from different sources. Labor is traditionally funded by the union movement while the Liberals receive their funding from big business. This knowledge should help us to decide who to vote for and what is in our own best interest as well as the wider interests of society at large.
The working man or woman has nothing to sell but his labour. Hence, individually he or she is relatively powerless. Collectively, though, workers can negotiate a larger slice of the pie. Big business on the other hand is motivated to increase profits in order to benefit both itself and its shareholders.
Simply put, the employer wants to extract the maximum amount of labour from workers at the minimum cost. The interests of the workers are diametrically opposite: the worker wants to do the minimum amount of work for the maximum reward. Hence, their positions are antithetical.
If, then, you have a paidoff house and a few million in other assets it would be in your own best interests to vote for the Coalition as they represent the interests of the rich and successful. On the other hand, if you are an ordinary employee paying rent or a mortgage and struggling to keep up, it is in your best interests to vote Labor. The great confidence trick of the 20th and 21st centuries has been for the right of politics to persuade voters to vote against their best interests by paternalistically claiming to want to help the workers.
In this election far too much attention is paid to individual policies and personalities. It is not a case of saying that these are completely irrelevant but of understanding that the underlying philosophies of the major parties are far more important in the long term than whether you prefer ScoMo to Albo.
Is there any alternative to this meaningless merry-goround of voting one lot out and the other lot in every few years? Personally, I believe that the only long-term hope for human societies lies in greater co-operation and egalitarianism and a realisation that the needs and desires of all individuals are basically the same.