Think 1st. Quo Vadis Australia?
Before I arrived to Australia from Europe, half of my life I lived on both sides of the Iron Curtain and have had firsthand experience of Marxist/Leninist ideology, as well as the working and the effects of the socialist propaganda apparatus. Curiously, but not surprisingly, the free cultures appeared to be rather fascinated and sympathetic towards the intellectual arguments of the Marxist/Leninist ideologues and even receptive of the socialist propaganda. The citizens of the socialist regimes on the other hand, were quite flummoxed by the West's fascination and sympathy towards oppressive ideologies, which is understandable, since the citizens of the socialist regimes were not afforded the same freedoms to explore, experiment with, and even ravel in various ideologies.
When I arrived to Australia 25 years ago, the country offered an unprecedented freedom. That was the time when individuals were free to decide for themselves, without any constrains as to what they wished to do with their life. Australia with the USA and very few other countries, were recognised as the most free and the most fiercely independent societies, where opportunities abounded for everybody who desired to be part of such societies. Those were the times when whoever arrived to the shores of Australia found greater freedom in Australia than they had in the country they came from. Those were the times when those who came to Australia did not desire to change Australia but desired to change their own lives, integrate into the society, embrace freedoms to start enterprises, take commercial risks, or work for anybody without the constrains imposed by the political elite.
Over the last couple of decades, however, the left intelligentsia have revisited their founding fathers' "instruction manuals", and have developed a sophisticated propaganda apparatus, which enabled them to create desires in people to change Australia's once unfettered freedoms. The new agents of change, through a massive propaganda apparatus, have gradually persuaded many Australians to buy into the welfare state mentality, popularising the notion of giving up some of their liberties in exchange for entitlements through wealth redistribution.
Today, the left elite in Australia and throughout the world perceive that the recent global economic downturn have legitimised the interventionist policies in all spheres of national and global economies. The left has no compunction about elevating the collective interests above private property and economic individualism. Yet, while promoting social justice, sameness of thinking and redistribution of wealth with great alacrity, the left elite are enjoying the benefits of capitalism and the freedoms afforded to them by the same capitalism.
The significant shift to the left will not escape any fair-minded and avid observer. Through a sophisticated, yet relentlessly aggressive propaganda, the ruling political elite have managed to popularise the notion of superiority of collective values above individualism. It has made significant inroads into changing the thinking of the populous, especially the thinking of those who have neither seen nor experienced the heavy burden and the constraints of the collectivist mentality. This shift in thinking has cleared the path for Marxism's resurgence and legitimised the concentration of power in the hands of the political elite.
The question is: Is there anything that can be done to stop Australia from becoming a socialist caliphate - a welfare state that "knows best" how to manage people's lives? To me and increasingly to a growing number of individuals, the strategy to prevent Australia from sliding into a collective dependency mentality is to establish a dedicated organisation to counter the left's propaganda apparatus. Arguing merely at political and economic levels neither inspires people nor provides an effective counter punch against the left's well-oiled propaganda apparatus. I am persuaded that an organisation capable of arguing ardently against the socialist ideology is needed to expose the left's imprecatory ideology and tactics.
Watch this space for further developments of such organisation; I'm working on it.
Igor Palmer - Political CommentatorGWP Magazine Issue #27, Nov-Dec 2009
Articles and any content can not be copied and/or displayed in any other applications; printed/web-based etc without the written permission of GWP Magazines.
