Howard outlines his plans for the fifth reich:
"We should be aspirational nationalists."Will Australians really support this naked power grab?
UPDATE: Full text of Howard's speech published in SMH Op-Ed. The word "aspiration" seems to be marketing code for "greed":
The key to embedding this culture of aspiration and enterprise is further economic reform - both to preserve the prosperity we have and to lay the foundations for a new generation of wealth creation. Today I commit the Government to maintaining, as appropriate, budget surpluses of at least 1 per cent of GDP in future years with the surpluses locked away in a fund so that only the earnings would be available for investment in economic and social infrastructure.First of all, what does "as appropriate" mean? It means this is a non-core promise. When rates go up even further, this policy gets thrown overboard.
Secondly, who is going to believe Howard on anything anymore, particularly this nonsense about putting funds away for investment. For example:
Hundreds of millions of dollars the federal government claimed to have spent on indigenous affairs has either never been spent, has been used to benefit all Australians or has gone towards opposing native title claims.Reminds me of our "Foreign Aid" budget, which is spent on locking refugees in cages.
Since 2000 at least $30 million the government promoted as being for Aborigines was used to oppose indigenous native title or compensation claims, Fairfax newspapers report.
I don't think Australians will buy this new "vision thing" from Howard. He's had eleven years in power, for Gawd's sake, and near-total control of government throughout his last term. The Constitution-altering priorities he now sets forth as urgent were considered secondary to WorkChoices and other abhorrent policies. Piss on him. It's no wonder he can't drag his poll ratings up from the gutter.
Lest we forget:
"I was a nationalist, not a patriot" - Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
