The Politics Of Grievance
Politicians on the Right have no long term solutions for anything. Short termism infects everything they do and say. Their intentions are all about getting elected via the politics of grievance. Once in power they achieve little and go about milking the system for their own benefit. Donald Trump is a clear example of this, campaigning on high prices and the cost of living under Joe Biden. The US economy is now in far worse shape since he returned to the White House. More than a million jobs have been lost and stagflation is on the horizon for Americans. Trump now has the lowest approval rate in the polls in US history. If you ask many of his voters if they are happy with his handling of the economy their answer would be in the negative.
“President Donald Trump’s job approval rating has fallen five percentage points to 36%, the lowest of his second term, while disapproval has risen to 60%. “
Milking The Blame Game For Votes
Immigration is one of the oldest cards in the politics of grievance book. Blaming your woes upon ‘the other’, especially people who don’t look like you or your friends has been around for millennia. Punching down is easier for those near the bottom themselves, rather than taking on who is really stealing their lunch. The rich oligarchs who actually drive the bus. Anti-immigration marches and protests are a favourite of Right wing organisers and politicians. Wrapping themselves in the national flag, as if they have any right to declare themselves more patriotic than anyone else. This is a political strategy designed to confer some quasi authority, where, in reality, there is none. Embittered losers casting about for soft targets upon which to vent their frustrations.
Playing Politics Whilst The Planet Burns
Politicians on the Right are beholden to the fossil fuel oligarchs and billionaires. In Australia, we are more than halfway into a transition to renewables in the energy generation sphere. Everybody knows that free energy from the sun, wind and water is cheaper than fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas. Despite this the short termism policies on the Right continue to seek to delay the transition so that the oligarchs can keep making their money. Climate change denialism has been funded by the fossil fuel industry for decades. They bang on about the loss of jobs but the business of mining is heavily automated and more people work at Bunnings than in this sector these days. New jobs are being created in renewables too. Still, the LNP try and rally voters by blaming high energy costs on the transition. Short termism in action, which will cost our children going forward. In Australia, we have lost 10 or 20 years to these bastards playing politics. They have no real ideas or solutions, just empty cant and mining the politics of grievance.
The Beating Of Hairy Chests Pays No Dividends For The Libs
Downunder on the Right, they look to America and Trump for ideas to copy. They have no originality or gumption, as they are all in it for what they can milk out of the system for themselves. Tony Abbott, that leering ghoul, was booted out of office by his party and the electorate. He is still hanging around pulling the strings like some Phantom of the Opera character. Blokes like that should be in gaol, in my opinion. Australians are seeing the extremist Right wing agenda for themselves over in America and they don’t approve. They punished another ghoul, Peter Dutton, at the last federal election, as he also lost his seat and everything else. The Libs have been decimated and they only have themselves to blame for it. Shifting to the far Right, has cost them just about every metro seat in the land. Toxic masculinity wreaks from the carcass that is the Coalition.
OZ Economy Manipulated By Big Business
Those politicians on the Right prey upon disengaged voters, who don’t pay enough attention to what is really going on. Donald Trump and dumb Americans are proof pudding of that. In Australia, we have had 20 of the last 25 years, just about, under the auspices of LNP Coalition federal governments. So, if you want to know who is responsible for the extreme corporate concentration of ownership in every sector, which has led to higher prices, because without competition capitalism doesn’t actually work, there is your answer. Duopolies and monopolies everywhere you look and the shameful failures of ASIC and the ACCC. Toothless tigers are what we have downunder in terms of watchdogs and regulatory bodies. Big business is the best friend of the Libs, always has been, wealth and power is their DNA.
Blame Game Menu
Meanwhile, the politics of grievance seeks to suck you in with emotive goodies on the menu like:
- Transgender kiddies & athletes.
- Immigrants taking all the houses & jobs.
- Stuff about LGBTQI & gender rights.
- Youth crime & Indigenous kids stealing cars.
Here is the thing, we all actually live in communities and it is not only about the individual or your family vs the world. Right wing politics seeks to frame everything about the rights of the individual. Here is an example, town meetings about the rising rates of youth crime and in particular Indigenous kids stealing cars. If this is an issue in your community it is not just the responsibility of the police to catch and lock up these transgressors. In actual fact, your community needs to look deeper than this into the problem and you are a part of that. You cannot blithely turn away from a neglected part of your community. If for generations Aboriginal people in your area have been living economically marginalised lives that is an issue for you and your community. This Right wing idea that you can just lock up the malefactors is so inadequate and superficial to be laughable if it wasn’t so serious a problem. What is required is a whole community to meet the issues and come up with positive solutions. It is not all about you and yours! You are a part of a wider community.
To Serve Or Exploit For Profit, That Is The Question?
“Neoliberalism has seen many of our services, which were previously government services, transferred into private hands. This happened under the promise of cheaper and better run services. Neither of these things have been unequivocally delivered. The energy utilities have been split up into wholesalers and retailers, with all the retailers being private corporations. Even those services which remain in government hands have been infected with the zombie neoliberalism virus that now run our lives. Everything is about profitability, despite the actual reason for the existence of these utilities being a service. The neoliberalism virus has stripped the serve out of service. To serve is an honourable thing but that is no more when a small coterie of investors is all about maximising profits. The game has changed; and not for the better.”
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK
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