Since the recent election there’s a lot of commentary saying the Liberal party needs to reconsider its policies and re-align with its core values which, when enumerated sound very centrist.
I just watched ABC’s q&a, there was a few interesting points. There was a strong consensus that Trump style culture wars are toxic in Australian politics, and that it’s unlikely future candidates would take that route.
I don’t want to gloat infront of the seppos, but I think what’s happening during this aftermath is very salient for all of those “both sides are bad” Americans.
In October last year there seemed to be a lot of users saying that they didn’t want to reward the dems with their vote, and that the only way to communicate with the party was to withhold their vote.
I think what’s happening right now in Australia demonstrates the importance of voting.
Labor might not be left enough for you personally, but each time the libs are defeated they need to move to the left to be viable, and Labor will have to move further left to differentiate themselves. That is to say, the spectrum of acceptable opinions is moving to the left in an observable manner, right now.
Perhaps I’m just unnecessarily anxious, but I feel like the constant culture war nattering makes it be a thing.
For example, my parents are in their 80s. The struggles of trans people just aren’t relevant to them in any way. The chances they would ever interact with a trans person in any meaningful way are infinitesimal.
However, if the leader of the liberal party is on TV every day complaining about how a trans person might use a public toilet for whatever gender, it will make my parents believe that it’s a problem.
These politicians stoke the culture war to fire up and engage their base.
Locally we’ve had some conservative nutters complain about library books discussing sex and gender issues. It’s just another manufactured outrage.