Interesting comments, Brad thanks for filling in the gaps, what are you cynical about, I really am intrigued as to how the change happened, and why the Republicans not so much changed , as they allowed themselves to be percieved in a way that maybe does not reflect the nature of the rank and file membership, that and the fact that I am sure they could come up with better leaders than the current one. Then again the Democrates at this stage may end up with not much better. It's interesting but both parties seem to prey more on different vunerabilities of the general populace than the real issues at hand, to get to the Whitehouse, and are then hamstrung by the perceptions, they create.
Not that it is any different in Australia, or many other countries. We as you may be aware are in election mode as well, and I must say a pretty boring election campaign, thus far,.
The usual promises, better health, better schools, I support middle Australia more than you, hard to call at this stage, however Mr Howard is pushing it uphil, having to campaign as well as rebuke the media on the issue of WMDs, which even if he does articulate to the general populace his reasons, will have his work cut out, just to many fronts to fight on, not to mention the media is starting to turn on him, my bet is he will hold on but only just, mainly due to the narrow appeal of the opposition, meaning they have a strong following, but is generally contained in seats that are considered safe, which means they may gain more votes, but this will not translate to votes, I still don't think Australians believe they can run an economy, me included, plus they still have very us and them attitudes, like taking away state funding for private education, which means that those who can afford it still can and those that are struggling will loose out, as fees rise, not to mention the increased numbers turning to public education, thus spending dosen't reduce and service dosen't improve, sadly this is the current thinking of the Labor Party, and yes it is the extrem left that is pushing the policy, which is in my opinion one of envy, not care, they woould be better to leave the status quo as is and maybe improve the public system for those who need it.
A previous Labor Leader fell on his sword for similar reason at the last election, his idea was to introduce a lurury tax, great idea, however this had the effect had it been enacted of making lurury good more expensive, and out of the reach of the average person, this time they are doing it to education, what these people need to learn is how to balance policies, and remove envy, and possibly ignor the far left. This is a simplificatton of the overall picture, but you get the picture, the looney left are just as bad as the loony right, however if sanity prevails, it is usually those closer to the centre that prevail, it remains to be seen which way Rupert and his mates now push the media I suppose, ins't democracy grand, and aren't the people many times their own worst enemy, focus on spin and miss the truth, even when you know you are being duped.
Yes I am a bit off the subject, but I do find it incredible the way people shift in ideas of political parties,sometimes without any change from the ideology of the parties, just perceptions, or polictical enviroments, a good example, is the Liberal Party in Australia, it is more a coalition of conservative right and centre with centre left, then you have the Labor Part, a coalition of union movements, both left, centre and right, socialists, left and right wing factions and a few marxists, and yet we call the Liberals the right and the Labor party the left, this is the same party which was split in two in the late 50's and early sixties, when the influence of the left was getting too strong, and we ended up with the Democratic Labor Party and the Australian Labor party, the we had the split in the Liberal party resulting in the Australian Democrates, all a bit weird and confusing if you think about it, and the really funny thing is the Labor party spend just as much time fighting with each other as they do with the Liberal Party, a Liberal party which is generally considered to be conservative, or as they call it, wet (Left) and drys (right), the wets being centre left and the drys centre right, the rest are in the National Party. Not to mention the really loony right party One Nation, run by a former fish and chip shop owner. And you think your system is complex Brad. One thing that is interesting is that the Labor party was origionally started by Shearers (people who shear sheep) as a polictiacl front in the great shearers strike of the late 19th and early 20th centurys, from her the blue print for both the Australian and British Labor (Labour in Britian), certainly a bit more humble that the roots of the Socialist parties of Europe. I really have got off the point sought of, but I think this makes sense, if it dosen't you can always have a laugh at the Australian Political System, or your own if you like.
