Contemporary Progressive Politics
- Submitted by: aaronow
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- Category: Politics: Political Science
- Date Submitted: 01/02/2011 07:22 AM
- Pages: 10
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The middle-class progressives are killing the party to which I once belonged.
LABOR is being frog-marched towards political irrelevance by a coming together of the self-styled progressives from the party's hard Left and a breed of right-wing official and parliamentarian who has forsaken the religious beliefs and traditional family values of earlier right-wingers for a new creed: "Whatever it takes".
This new breed turned to polling and focus groups as a substitute for ideology and scant branch membership in its battles with the hard Left's eclectic mix of isms.
But now this once all-powerful NSW branch machine gives its blessing to the co-opting of Labor's policy-making by progressives, leaving no room for the values of the socially conservative working class.
And let's be clear at the outset, social conservatism is a humane political and moral belief, despite progressives saying it is mean-spirited and insinuating it is racist, sexist, homophobic, environmentally irresponsible (denialist) and so on. Their smearing of policies that appeal to working-class social conservatism as populist is at best intellectually bankrupt.
The working class is awake to this betrayal of its values and will be looking about for a new political home.
Several things post-election have led me to this realisation: Labor's alliance with the Greens; public pronouncements by party officials; the media and books on the ALP; terms of reference of the review launched in the wake of the election debacle; along with reflections on the paucity of working-class candidates preselected to stand for seats in low-socioeconomic electorates.
Where has all the working class gone? Long time passing.
Labor candidacy is now the preserve of the tertiary educated so-called "quality candidates".
Back when it all began: The ALP's embrace of the progressives began during the reign of Gough Whitlam. Two "activists" who joined the party back then were senator John Faulkner and former NSW minister Rodney...
LABOR is being frog-marched towards political irrelevance by a coming together of the self-styled progressives from the party's hard Left and a breed of right-wing official and parliamentarian who has forsaken the religious beliefs and traditional family values of earlier right-wingers for a new creed: "Whatever it takes".
This new breed turned to polling and focus groups as a substitute for ideology and scant branch membership in its battles with the hard Left's eclectic mix of isms.
But now this once all-powerful NSW branch machine gives its blessing to the co-opting of Labor's policy-making by progressives, leaving no room for the values of the socially conservative working class.
And let's be clear at the outset, social conservatism is a humane political and moral belief, despite progressives saying it is mean-spirited and insinuating it is racist, sexist, homophobic, environmentally irresponsible (denialist) and so on. Their smearing of policies that appeal to working-class social conservatism as populist is at best intellectually bankrupt.
The working class is awake to this betrayal of its values and will be looking about for a new political home.
Several things post-election have led me to this realisation: Labor's alliance with the Greens; public pronouncements by party officials; the media and books on the ALP; terms of reference of the review launched in the wake of the election debacle; along with reflections on the paucity of working-class candidates preselected to stand for seats in low-socioeconomic electorates.
Where has all the working class gone? Long time passing.
Labor candidacy is now the preserve of the tertiary educated so-called "quality candidates".
Back when it all began: The ALP's embrace of the progressives began during the reign of Gough Whitlam. Two "activists" who joined the party back then were senator John Faulkner and former NSW minister Rodney...