The Australian ran an interview piece from Howard and Rudd, to get their views about what is wrong with politics, and why increasingly, the electorate think politicians stink (spoiler alert: I think that they do stink is the better explanation):
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/the-dismal-decade-howard-and-rudd-on-toxic-politics/news-story/4bdb9d71769b31572d99dfc04ee5139a
Here is their joint wisdom in a nutshell, so that you do not have to drag your feet through the article, unless you want to drag:
“The key ingredient for the loss of faith identified by both former leaders is immaturity — an immaturity and naivety of a new class of conviction-free political careerists with little or no real-world experience. This new class fights internal factional battles like games and is prepared to pull the trigger of the “numbers game” too readily, without regard to the transactional costs for the governing party or risk to the national interest.
This applies equally to Labor and the Coalition. The incumbent Prime Minister, who toppled Abbott after “30 losing Newspolls”, is at an even greater risk of being removed because of the demise of Rudd, Gillard and Abbott.
Howard and Rudd both identify the removal of a first-term prime minister in June 2010 as a pivotal moment in the federal development of the new political technocrat approach to applying so-called professional principles to government divorced from policy development and reform.”
Maturity? How long does it take to grow up? This is nonsense on stilts.
I have a much simpler answer, based on Spenglerian social entropy: politics, like almost everything else, is old, tired, world weary, burnt out from centuries of evil and corruption. The demise, at least of mainstream politics, is much like the demise of mainstream media, which is also corrupt and burnt out, collapsing under its own internal rottenness.
Consider for example the PM’s stance on the protection of religious freedom in the light of the sacred same sex marriage vote. This, he says will lead to sharia law, something which Howard rejected as nonsense. It plainly is, but no doubt scares the punters. As well, Howard felt that putting off legislating for religious protection was dangerous in itself, as the extra religious protections are not likely to be forthcoming: The Australian, November 24, 2017, p. 1. Yes, and with a Labor government, traditional freedoms would be going in reverse, full speed.
Of course, mainstream politics is at an end, and it is a good thing too. And, for our growing number of young readers, how about we give a popular song as a background theme?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxytyRy-O1k
169,601,642 views must say something is happening in this “Castle of Glass”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScNNfyq3d_w