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In the wake of recent elections in Britain and France, global democracies are seeing voters reject established parties amidst a deepening cycle of disillusionment. But can a return to honesty and integrity in politics break this downward spiral?
When Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records, it represented a long-awaited triumph of the rule of law in the United States. But the verdict may not mean much in the long run, and has not affected Trump's popularity among voters. Watching Trump’s conviction from afar prompts us to consider how good we have it.
The contrast between success and failure shows that successful independents and minor parties cannot just be based on major party disillusionment, creative election campaigns, or attractive candidates, but also on deep listening to and engaging with their communities which enable a positive and grounded alternative to be offered to voters.
Sadly, the major political parties have forfeited any claim to govern in their own right because they have caused such disillusionment among so many voters about other policy issues with strong moral overtones. Any voter impressed with Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si' or inspired by his visits to asylum seekers on the islands of Lampedusa and Lesbos could not blithely vote for either of the major parties, without first determining how to place some continuing political and moral pressure on them.
When I received my invitation to 'lead' the Palm Sunday Walk for Refugees my first response was to ignore it. This was partly ego and partly disillusionment. It's true that in Melbourne at least 6000 people walked or struggled or strode along Spencer Street. But I no longer believe marches for huge national issues have any effect on local powerbrokers. I believe as Saul Alinsky said that the most powerful force for change is local activism on local issues and generational organisation from the grass roots up.
This week's offering from Eureka Street's award winning political cartoonist.
I knew little about Chinese politics, but it suited me to be seen as a 'leftie', and a green hat with a red star left little room for political ambiguity. What appeared at first as wisps of hair were in fact the legs of a large creature attempting to step off the peak of my cap.