Fascinating politics

The current hung-parliament situation in Australia is a wonderful catalyst for reflection on the deeper rhythms and energies of life. The fact that there have been similar hung-parliaments in the democracies of U.K and Canada is also a telling indicator of deep changes in the psyches of people around the world.

While reflecting on all this I read an interesting article by Ross Gittins of the Sydney Morning Herald. Gittins makes a strong case that the electorate is first and foremost basically decent, and seeks good leadership and good values. They got neither from the government, and so voted accordingly.

Prior to the election we had the Prime Minister Julia Gillard asserting how different she is in her approach, in that she's more consultative. There is a great saying, "be careful what you wish for" because now it appears she may well depend on her consultative, consensus-building abilities in order to run effective government.

We also have had the media, and many people criticising the fact that the previous Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was deposed, or 'politically assassinated' some 2 months prior to the election. Now, how we view the world can have enormous impact on our emotional states - that is to say, an expansive, far-reaching world-view, or Weltanschauung, can greatly ease our concerns about the ups and downs of life. In regards to Kevin Rudd, the situation is diffused if we simply compare the running of government, similar to a CEO running a company. As I wrote in emails to both Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan, (the advice was ignored, it seems),

If a CEO of a large organisation is not performing the board will replace him/her for the benefit of the organisation. It is good policy to replace leaders of both companies and political parties if it enables them to better deliver and perform their function.

Why don't you use this simple, and arguably effective metaphor to counter the perception that replacing Kevin Rudd was somehow 'bad' or dishonourable.

The message should be focused on effective government, not idolatry of one leader. It's about the team, and the results, not individuals.

Shareholders will only begrudge the replacement of a CEO if it adversely affects their share-holding. Similarly, given the opinion polls prior to the change in leadership clearly confirmed that their "political CEO" was adversely affecting their "share-holding" we should have expected celebration of the change in leadership. The fact that we didn't suggests deeper issues are at play, as indicated by the Gittins article

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The lead up to the polling day saw the opposition leader Tony Abbott campaigning strongly about stopping waste, stopping refugees arriving on our shores, and stopping the so-called 'bad management' of the government. By many measures, the campaign was largely about what the opposition wouldn't do, should they gain power. This is a curious situation, in that a political party that based its main message on 'stopping', was so successful in the actual election result (in that they came from well behind in the opinion polls only some months earlier, to be now on the brink of taking power). On the face of it this seems a bizarre result. But looking deeper, we saw that the opposition leader delivered his simplistic message with gusto. He was frequently seen jogging, cycling, swimming (in his speedos), and two days before the election campaigning throughout the night, non-stop. The message was one of energy. It was a simplistic, and in many respects quite a small-minded approach (e.g. on 'stopping' the roll-out of the National Broadband Network which many quarters of the community regard as essential for our future prosperity). Yet he achieved significant results in the election. All of which confirms the desire for 'strong leadership', even if the leader is short on vision and policy.

This "we want a strong leader despite whatever" sentiment was apparent when noting the strong, highly respected international support for the Rudd Government's economic management. According to some independent observers, one of whom was the Nobel Prize winning economist, Professor Joe Stiglitz, the Australian Government's handling of the Global Financial Crisis was exemplary. According to Gittins, Stiglitz was puzzled:

"He couldn't understand why we didn't know the success of the Rudd government's budgetary stimulus - explained by its size, timing and design - was the envy of the other G20 countries."

This good management record was effectively undermined by an aggressive opposition who stayed on message that the Australian Labor Government was a 'bad government'. So effective was their negative message, it prompted more than 50 Australian economists to write an open letter backing the sound management of the Rudd Government. As Gittins remarks:

But like most (although, of course, never all) economists, I have no doubt about the central role of the Rudd government's large, early and carefully targeted budgetary stimulus. Its impact is clear from the statistics, including the remarkably early recovery in business and consumer confidence. Most voters aren't interested in that kind of causal detail, of course. By their usual simple standard - did you or didn't you preside over a noticeable recession? - the government has passed with flying colours. So why isn't it coasting to an easy election win?

As the hung parliament has confirmed, we like to be led, to have someone make the world safe for us, even if they are leading us into a small-vision, conservative, inflexible future that offers only the illusion of safety and security. That desire for strong leadership (masculine energy) is reflected in the rise of fundamentalist religions, which are strong-masculine belief-systems, centred on severe discipline, rigid structure, rules and obedience. As the world speeds up, due to increasing complexity and connectivity (Internet), we'll see many seeking the illusory safe harbour of strict discipline, rules and obedience. And we'll see as a result more extremism, more anger and frustration in the world when that rigidity fails to flex, bend and ride the coming tsunamis of change ... at least until we learn to be more flexible and creative, of adapting to change, or engaging uncertainty, of being more empathic, of growing beyond a 400 year old adversarial belief-system. Basically, we'll see more upset in the world until when we learn to engage, not fear, the feminine energies of life. Labor's Stimulus Package, 2010

See also

• The benefits of a big-picture world-view
• The Evolution of the Human Psyche (Belief Institute)
• The Empathic Civilisation (Jeremy Rifkin)
• The immense importance of understanding masculine and feminine