Daily Archives: July 5, 2017

To be a liberal, in this account, is in some sense to be a fake. Its to shroud an ambiguous, even reactionary agenda under a superficial commitment to social justice and moderate, incremental change. American liberalism was once associated with something far more robust, with immoderate presidents and spectacular waves of legislation like Franklin Roosevelts New Deal and Lyndon Johnsons Great Society. Todays liberals stand accused of forsaking the clarity and ambition of even that flawed legacy. To call someone a liberal now, in other words, is often to denounce him or her as having abandoned liberalism.

Liberal-bashing on social media has reached a kind of apogee, but its targets have not yet produced much real defense of the ideology. This means the word liberal is, for the moment, almost entirely one of abuse. It is hard to think of an American politician who has embraced it, even going back two or three generations. If liberalism is dead, then, its a strange sort of demise: Here is an ideology that has many accused sympathizers, but no champions, no defenders.

Americas version of liberalism has always been a curious one. In Europe, the word has traditionally meant a preference for things like limited government, separate private and public spheres, freedom of the press and association, free trade and open markets whats often described as classical liberalism. But the United States had many of those inclinations from the beginning. By the 20th century, American liberalism had come to mean something distinct. The focus on individual liberties was still there, but the vision of government had become stronger, more interventionist ready to regulate markets, bust monopolies and spend its way out of economic downturns. After the end of World War II, this version of liberalism seemed so triumphant in the United States that the critic Lionel Trilling called it the countrys sole intellectual tradition. Its legislation legalized unions and, with Social Security, created a pension system; a health plan for older Americans, Medicare, was on the way.

But as these same liberals initiated anti-Communist interventions in Korea and Vietnam, or counseled patience and moderation to civil rights activists, they quickly found themselves in the same position we see today: under heavy abuse from the left. In a landmark speech at an antiwar rally in April 1965, Paul Potter, the president of Students for a Democratic Society, asked: What kind of system is it that justifies the United States or any country seizing the destinies of the Vietnamese people and using them callously for its own purpose? What kind of system is it that disenfranchises people in the South? The first step, as he saw it, was clear: We must name that system. In a speech later that year, his successor as S.D.S. president, Carl Oglesby, did precisely that, calling it corporate liberalism an unholy alliance of business and the state that was enriching to elites but destructive to working-class Americans and the worlds poor.

It was the 1980 victory of Ronald Reagan and his brand of conservatism that set in motion the villainizing of American liberalism from the right this time not for warmongering but for supposedly being soft on crime and communism, bloating the government with ineffective social programs and turning American universities into hothouses of fetid radicalism. Many demoralized liberals responded by abandoning the label completely. The nasty 1988 presidential campaign may have been a watershed. In one debate, Bush demanded that his opponent, Gov. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts, explain some of these very liberal positions. Dukakiss reply, a weak Lets stop labeling each other, only confirmed the word as an insult. A few weeks before the election, dozens of distinguished figures from novelists to editors to former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara bought a full-page ad in The Times to print a letter titled A Reaffirmation of Principles, expressing their alarm at the use of liberal as a term of opprobrium. But their own definition of it was oddly vague: They called it the institutional defense of decency. All those attacks on liberalism seemed to be weakening peoples sense of what liberalism even meant.

As the insult gathered steam in the 90s, Bill Clinton was studiously aiming for the political center, ending welfare as we know it and pushing through a tough-on-crime bill. In 2011, Barack Obama made a deal with Republicans to adopt a program of fiscal austerity, prompting the left-wing critic William Greider to declare, in The Nation, the last groaning spasms of New Deal liberalism. Conservatives will fight one another to the death over whos the truer conservative, but the people most accused of being liberal have often seemed as if theyre the ones most ambivalent about actual liberalism.

If liberalism really is Americas core, hegemonic intellectual tradition, its easy to see how it has become the word we use to deride the status quo. For the left, thats a politics in which government cravenly submits to corporate power and cultural debates distract from material needs. For the right, its one in which government continually overreaches and cultural debates are built to punish anyone who isnt politically correct. But in both cases, liberal points to the consensus, the gutless compromise position, the arrogant pseudopolitics, the mealy-mouthed half-truth.

Each side has drawn tremendous energy from opposing this idea of liberalism. At the same time, the space occupied by liberalism itself has shrunk to the point where its difficult to locate. Different strands of it now live on under different names. Conservatives have styled themselves as the new defenders of free speech. Democrats have sidestepped liberal and embraced progressive, a word with its own confusing history, to evoke the good-government, welfare-state inclinations of the New Deal. Some of the strongest defenses of liberalisms achievements come from people who identify as socialists. And free-trade advocates, with no more positive term to shelter under, are now tagged, often derisively, as neoliberal. The various ideas to which liberal has referred persist, in one form or another, among different constituencies. Liberalism may continue. But it may well end up doing so without any actual liberals behind it.

Nikil Saval is an editor at n+1. He last wrote for the magazine about the trend of turning abandoned railways lines into urban parks.

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A version of this article appears in print on July 9, 2017, on Page MM11 of the Sunday Magazine with the headline: Off Center.

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Hated by the Right. Mocked by the Left. Who Wants to Be 'Liberal' Anymore? - New York Times

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has used a guest appearance at a branch meeting in the electorate of Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar to bash Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's second budget and call on members to rise up against the Liberal Party's direction.

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In leaked audio obtained by Fairfax, the former PM this time criticises the government's budget and says the Liberal Party is at a 'low ebb'.

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The Northern Football League has ended the playing career of AFL diversity manager Ali Fahour, handing him a lifetime ban effective immediately.

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Australia's dark history of mass killings has been catalogued by the University of Newcastle, showing the prevalence of massacres in our own backyard

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New health research finds over the last two decades portion size increases has been going up at the same time as obesity rates.

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Hawthorn recruit Tyrone Vickery and former Richmond hardman Jake King have been arrested for alleged extortion and threats. Vision courtesy Seven News, Melbourne.

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Ben Wyatt was last seen at Black Rock and now his family, desperate to find their son, are hoping a possible sighting in Cheltenham on Wednesday morning will lead to clues. Vision courtesy Seven News, Melbourne.

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The death of Paul Costa is now the subject of a homicide investigation after his body was found in a Brunswick West reserve. Vision courtesy Seven News, Melbourne.

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The "con" of building resilience has left junior doctors vulnerable to mental illness and suicide by ignoring the systemic failures of the medical profession.

In leaked audio obtained by Fairfax, the former PM this time criticises the government's budget and says the Liberal Party is at a 'low ebb'.

Fairfax Mediahas obtained audio of Mr Abbott's speech to conservative Liberals on Monday night, in which he asserted Turnbull government ministers did not believe in the "second-best, taxing and spending" budget they had been forced to deliver.

Mr Abbott said the Liberal Party needed help "so that we can be what we really are", and said Australians had for too long tolerated those who did not share the fundamentalGod-given values that underpinned Western civilisation.

"Just at this moment, let me tell you, we're at a bit of a low ebb," he told the meeting in the Melbourne seat of Deakin..

"If you listen to some senior members of the government, because of the reality - the unfortunate reality - of the Senate, we have had to bring forward a budget which is second-best. A taxing and spending budget.

"Not because we believe in these things, but because the Senate made us do it. Well, a party that has to do what's second-best because the Senate made us do it is a party which needs some help."

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Facing questions from members eager for him to return to the prime ministership, Mr Abbott said that, as a conservative, "your first duty is to improve the existing situation" rather than change it drastically.

"Our first responsibility is to fight so that the existing government, the existing cabinet and the existing prime ministerare as good as they possibly can be," he said.

"One of the reasons why I'm speaking out is not because I think we've got to change the personnelbut because I think we've got to just move the direction a little bit.

"And if we can't, because of the Senate, entirely change the directionat least don't lose the sense of what the bloody direction should be, for God's sake.

"You can't always determine the speed of the advance, but by God we should be able to determine the direction of the advance. We shouldn't let the Senate go the wrong way, even if it is trying to stop us from going very far in the right direction."

Mr Abbott was invited to address Monday night's branch meeting in the electorate of Mr Sukkar, who played a significant role in putting together the May budget.

Branch members were invited to "a rare opportunity to join former prime minister Tony Abbottto discuss how to navigate the political sphere as a Christian and ensure legislation supports family values".

The event was organised in conjunction with Mr Sukkarand respected HIV specialistDr Ivan Stratov, a recent defector from the Family First party and convert to Mormonism.

A Liberal Party source who attended Monday night'smeeting said the audience of about 200 was "basically in raptures" at the end of Mr Abbott's presentation.

"He is definitely on the war path," the source said. "I have never seen him speaking so well or looking so good."

Mr Abbott began his address by imploring members to heed the "two fundamental precepts" of Western civilisation, "both of which stem originally from the Gospel". Those were equality in the eyes of God ("equal rights, equal dignity, equal responsibilities"), and treating others as you would have them treat you.

He also warned that, "for too long, the good people of our country have been too tolerant of people who do not share some of the fundamental values that have made us who we are".

"As Michael [Sukkar] said a few moments ago, a majority that stays silent does not stay a majority," Mr Abbott said.

Asked about the environment, he said "politics has got in the way of common sense" and that climate change should not take precedence over living standards, national security or matters of deprivation and justice.

"Yes it's an issue, but if it comes to a choice between your job and reducing emissions, I choose your job every time," he said to applause.

Mr Abbott was also asked about the United Nations' Agenda 21 sustainable development plan, derided by some nationalists and conspiracy theorists as a ployfor global government.

While he defended the globalised economy, he said: "There are a lot of people out there who worry about countries like Australia surrendering their sovereignty and losing, effectively,some of our independence.And I think this a real worry."

Mr Abbott has made a string of appearances at think tanks, in the media and at party functions in the past week, stirring internal ructions and condemnation from ministers and MPs. He reflected on the criticism in his speech.

"Just at the moment, I'm not always the person that every Liberal wants to associate with," Mr Abbott said, to laughter.

"But Michael [Sukkar] is someone who knows what he believes, he knows who his friends are, and he sticks by them through thick and thin. That's someone you can rely on."

Mr Sukkar on Tuesday defended Mr Abbott's attendance of the branch meeting, saying it was a long-standing commitment and one that had engaged his branch members.

He told Sky News he was"very proud" of the budget handed down in May and said the Turnbull government had got the major policy settingsright.

"It's a very routine branch meeting," Mr Sukkar said. "He certainly gave the government credit where it's due. I don't think there was anything that was a particularly tough critique."

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'We're at a low ebb': Tony Abbott bashes Liberal leadership in leaked audio - The Sydney Morning Herald

Updated July 05, 2017 13:25:20

A former candidate for a conservative Christian party is seeking Liberal preselection in a key seat for next year's Victorian election, amid internal tensions about the party "lurching to the right".

The Liberal Opposition needs to win a minimum of seven seats to seize government from Premier Daniel Andrews, including in Melbourne's sandbelt.

A former candidate for the Australian Christians party, Frank "Papa" Papafotiou, is seeking Liberal Party preselection for Bentleigh, which Labor holds by just 0.8 per cent.

In the race against Mr Papafotiou is former MP Elizabeth Miller and Asher Judah, who was the Victorian deputy executive director of the Property Council.

Preselection candidates are banned from speaking to the media. But Mr Papafotiou's candidate booklet for voters uniquely includes endorsement from the former state director of the Australian Christians.

Mr Papafotiou ran for the Australian Christians in the 2012 by-election for the seat of Niddrie, winning 5.75 per cent of the vote.

The Liberals did not field a candidate in the safe Labor seat.

The number of former members of conservative Christian parties, including Family First and the Australian Christians, trying to join the Victorian Liberal Party has recently been the source of internal tension.

Members of the party's executive have also revealed fears the party's religious right has been stacking branches with Mormons and Catholic groups in a drive to preselect more conservative candidates.

If a person has been involved in another political party they require the endorsement of the Liberal Party state assembly.

A group of prospective members was blocked last year, but others were allowed in.

Some members, including MPs, are concerned that the influx could see a potential "lurch to the right" on social issues such as gay marriage, which could dent Liberal chances at the next poll.

"We are in dangerous territory now," one senior Liberal figure said.

Also seeking preselection is Chandra Ojha, who stood as an independent for Bentleigh in 2014. He won just 271 votes out of 36,330 cast in the marginal seat.

In his candidate CV, Mr Ojha takes a swipe at previous Liberal election campaigns.

"During past election campaigns, I have observed that members of the Parliamentary Liberal Party failed to understand the genuine mood of the electorate, and for this reason, were not able to communicate in a succinct and timely manner the true essence of the policies offered by the Liberal Party,'' Mr Ojha said.

Liberal preselection ballots for a swag of Labor-held marginals Carrum (0.7 per cent margin), Cranbourne (2.3 per cent), Frankston (0.5 per cent), Mordialloc (2.1 per cent), Ivanhoe (3.4 per cent) and Bentleigh will be held early next month.

Topics: liberals, political-parties, states-and-territories, state-parliament, parliament, government-and-politics, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted July 05, 2017 13:20:57

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Ex-Australian Christians candidate's preselection bid fuels tensions in Victorian Liberals - ABC Online

A NSW MP has apologised after she falsely claimed to have completed two undergraduate degrees on nomination forms for Liberal party positions.

North Shore MP Felicity Wilson claimed to hold "a double degree of Bachelor of Media/Bachelor of Arts from Macquarie University" when nominating for a vice-president position, Fairfax Media reports.

But in her official parliamentary biography, Ms Wilson is listed to hold a Bachelor of Media, attained in 2005.

A Macquarie University spokesman confirmed Ms Wilson had completed the single degree.

"She has not currently completed any further degrees at the university," they said in a statement.

Ms Wilson on Wednesday told AAP she began an arts degree in 2001 but later decided to also study subjects for a media degree.

"Due to the subjects I had completed, I graduated with a Bachelor of Media, however, I could have chosen to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts instead," she said in a statement.

The Liberal MP issued an unreserved apology for the "errors" on the forms and said she currently held two degrees - a Bachelor of Media and a Master of Public Policy - and had also deferred enrolment in an MBA to focus on her electorate.

"I will continue to give every effort to representing our community in NSW parliament," she said.

It's not the first time Ms Wilson, who scraped into parliament on preferences in an April by-election, has been somewhat loose with her words.

In the lead up to election day, she was forced to admit she gave misleading information about her residential and voting history.

Ms Wilson said it was "unintentional error" when she told party members she moved to the electorate in 2005.

The same justification was given for a Facebook post in which Ms Wilson wrongly claimed that the first vote she cast in an election was for former prime minister John Howard.

Opposition leader Luke Foley again dubbed Ms Wilson "fibbing Felicity".

"She's the Pinocchio of the parliament," he told reporters in Sydney.

"What will she say next?"

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NSW Liberal apologises for degree claims - NEWS.com.au