tony abbott a bit of a worry

Sorry, just accidentally posted this on the general forum...meant to post it here

As much as it is quite amusing to have this bloke on the scene because of the sheer accidental aspect of his appointment....lol.......the frightening realisation that he could somehow end up as PM does represent a bit of a worry for this nation.

I remember feeling quite relieved when Nelson, and then Turnbull were chosen as Liberal leaders because it represented to me, a good sign for the nation. Both were guys who were willing to move away from the ugly and insincere politics that the likes of Howard and Abbott wallow in. Both Nelson and Turnbull are rational guys who realise that the nation needs to grow up and grow away from the politics of divisiveness, marginalisation and the ridiculous childishness of refuting anything 'green' etc. One needs only to visit Europe to see how far we lag in this area. Had either of them subsequently ended up as PM, we could have rested easy that the nation was in progressive and rational hands.

The sort of nonsense I refer to was exemplified when the day came to support the ETS, a policy that had contemptuously and with obvious fakeness and insincerity, been thrust out there as a show of absolute contempt for the Australian public by the Coalition as it neared an election. Apart from Turnbull and a couple of others in the Coalition, the rest of them really believe exactly what Nick Minchin does....it's a left wing conspiracy!!...lol. Our HC Libs subscribe to the same theory although they'll always hedge their bets by telling us that they're purely open minded sceptics.....lol. Fact is, they possess an entrenched need to scoff at anything green. Unfortunately, that's the way it is.

I have often believed that it wasn't really through mature realisation, for example, that the nation moved past Hansonism. We would have hoped so, but in some ways the move away from that thinking at the time seemed too muddy and unconvincing. The fact is that most Coalition voters still subscribe to every little utterance she made, and all of their supposed consequences, no matter how simplistic.

Nations need to go through these sorts of experiences before they become convinced that this sort of simplistic stuff doesn't work. With Pauline Hanson for example, I always felt that although we were 'getting there' in our realisation, it was really only some tricky and hypocritical politics by Howard that removed her from the scene, and accelerated her rejection too quickly for realisation to do its good work. He once again was successful in marginalising someone....this time it was her.

Turnbull was never going to be able to make headway as a potential Coalition PM....the majority of his party simply isn't ready for a person as uncomplicated and consistent as he is. A pity, but it's true.

It is very evident now that what they are ready for, and in fact pleading for, is a return to the thinking and modus operandi of Howard. They loved it, and apparently still do.

How far back into that sort of stuff Abbott would take us would remain to be seen, but the glimpses we catch at times of the real Tony Abbott are enough to cause great concern to many Australians.

Sure, the Insulation idea hasn't unfolded in the uncomplicated and well intentioned manner in which it was hoped......Sure, Labor may have overreacted to the panic that engulfed the globe with the GFC, and sure they haven't been able to get the Education reform done as quickly as they wanted and this nation desperately needed etc etc, but those things will all be OK, despite the constant fear mongering that oppositions always indulge in.

What is much more concerning to me, and I think should be to most Australians, is whether we want to revisit the thinking that we cringed through with Mr Howard, and perhaps even worse with Mr Abbott. It is really the last thing this nation needs right now. Election results can be very unexpected at times, and frighteningly, this bloke could end up as PM of this country.

Perhaps it's what this country needs to finally be convinced that his sort of thinking is not the way to go. These things take time to learn for nations, and a desire to refute some circumstances can sometimes lead to a whole lot of other more unfortunate circumstances.

All jokes aside, and although Rudd may not be everyone's cup of tea, Tony Abbott is certainly not what this country needs as PM. Perhaps 1950 might have been OK...not now, or anytime in the future.

I'm pretty sure we'll get it right. Let's hope so.