Australia, we are the greatest country on earth. We are the envy of the world. We have space, resources, the rule of law, relative peace and stability.
That’s not to say we are perfect, because we are most certainly not. However, relative to the rest of the world we should be thankful this is where we live.
And it’s easy to take what we have for granted. After all, it’s been the land of opportunity and a great place to live for the past 233 years.
But none of us should assume that what we have enjoyed is a permanent part of Australian life. There are forces at work intent on dismantling some of the most precious elements of our societal fabric.
Our social cohesion, or relative freedom, individual choice, property rights and our God given rights.
Our weekly news is filled with a variety of race baiting fantasists who see systemic oppression based on colour or ethnicity wherever they look.
Where they see racism under every roof, I see a nation that is largely colour blind but steadfastly refuses to be behaviourally blind.
We are right to judge people on their behaviour. After all, behaviour should have consequences -legal, moral, personal and public.
We, you and me, are no more responsible for the appalling conditions, domestic violence, health issues and sexual abuse in some Australian communities than you are for tribal wars in the middle of Africa.
Closing health gaps across the nation is pretty easy. Here’s the prescription.
Don’t smoke, don’t drink yourself into a daily stupor, eat healthy foods, stay slim, bathe daily and exercise.
If some Australian’s ignore that mantra and suffer health consequences then that’s not our fault either.
Here’s another tip for the perpetually indulged.
You want more money – get a job, or if you have one learn new skills or get a second job. Don’t sit around and whine how those with jobs and paying taxes owe you anything. They don’t. If anything, you owe them.
And if we really want to put a stop to domestic violence and sexual abuse – go after the perpetrators. Don’t accept any of the BS excuses of culture or custom.
You’d be surprised how often these pathetic rationales and excuses are trotted out to excuse appalling behaviour or get out of a jail sentence.
Alarmingly, those who ignore or rationalise the most abhorrent behaviour on the basis of skin colour or ethnicity dare to label the rest of us racists.
Then we have the various grifters publicly championing fairness and wealth redistribution. It comes under various guises but follows the same theme.
The rich don’t pay enough tax. The government doesn’t do enough for the poor. Even dumber is the ‘we must raise taxes to pay off the debt’ refrain.
Here’s the problem. It’s all a load of old cobblers.
The top ten percent of taxpayers already pay over half of all income taxes and only around 50 percent of workers pay more in tax than they receive in other benefits.
Despite the demands from the overpaid rich left moralisers, I am yet to meet one who offers to tip more cash into the ATO to assuage their inequality mantra.
More often than not, these public advocates for higher taxes, have a variety of tax reduction schemes in place, like negative gearing, while whining that others need to pay more.
And if these economic illiterates think raising taxes will pay off the near $1 trillion debt then they really are barking mad.
Our debt is a product of bad spending…mostly spending demanded by the mendicant left.
More spent on education while our kids get dumber. More spent on welfare while fewer people commit to a life of work. More shovelled into failing aboriginal communities with nothing to show for it. Insane amounts wasted on terrible defence projects while the bureaucracy grows and grows. I could go on.
If only we gave our government even more money to spend it would all be fixed.
Rubbish!
Our governments waste so much money through pork barrelling or propping up failing programs designed by bureaucrats that we will never pay off our national debt.
Frankly, I don’t think any future government will ever intend to.
Some may talk about it in a very earnest tone of voice but believe me when I tell you not one of them thinks they’ll be in office with our debt repaid. It will always be someone else’s problem.
Given the measurable decline in our standard of living, our economy, our autonomy, our freedoms and rights have been driven by do-gooder governments, it’s hard to make the case why they should be doing more.
It’s funny how so many people complain about how bad government is but then demand that it needs to be larger and more interventionist.
Why would anyone in their right mind ask for more of a bad thing?
The answer to that is simple. No one wants to take responsibility for themselves anymore.
And yet that was the key to Australia becoming such a great nation.
We had resilience. We helped each other out of a jam voluntarily rather than by legislated coercion. We had pride in being independent of government. Now too many boast of their ability to get something they don’t need at someone else’s expense.
If we want to remain the greatest nation on earth, we need to reclaim than sense of patriotism, that civic duty and that inner pride that comes from standing on our own two feet.
As the old saying goes, a government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take away everything you have.
Cory Bernardi is the author of seven books and has been a member of the Australian rowing team, a publican, an investment portfolio manager and spent nearly 14 years as an Australian Senator.
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