I scarcely know where to begin this letter given all that is going on at home and abroad. So let’s start with wishing all my readers and their loved ones a healthy, happy and blessed 2015.
The year ahead is one that I expect will be marked by significant change. A change in public attitudes, a change in the global economy and change in global politics. We are already seeing some indication of this which I will touch on below.
You may also note some changes in my weekly missive this year. Don’t worry, I’ll still be telling it straight but while calling out idiocy and foretelling failures might give me an ‘I told you so’ moment, it doesn’t necessarily help you. So this year, I am going to try to provide some practical suggestions that I hope will help you prepare for what’s to come.
And just what is to come? Well, here’s a few of my expectations.
Firstly, the barbaric atrocities committed by Islamic jihadists have made international news. Less attention has been paid by the media to the thousands of other such incidents taking place in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere, but the West’s eyes are slowly (finally) being opened to what we are faced with.
We even have mainstream journalists now openly questioning the ‘religion of peace’ claim and some calling for a frank discussion on the dangers of Islamism to Western civilisation. It’s a pity they are a few years behind the times but at least momentum is moving in the right direction. Frustratingly, some of these same journalists were the ones who previously criticised me for learning and warning about what we face.
Regretfully, too many of your political representatives still refuse to acknowledge the root cause of the problem. I regret that the price of such myopia could be more tragedies. That will change this year as more Australians find their voice and leave the PC ‘whisper zone’.
I also suspect there will be a substantive change to the global economy in train. It seems to me like Europe is falling apart and that the Euro will finally be consigned to the bin of ‘foolish bureaucratic experiments’ as European nations reclaim their sovereignty.
The motivation for such change will be economic as deflation grips the world and governments seek to chase new and raise taxes to prop up their socialist programs. This will lead to civil unrest, a rise of third party politics and ultimately, the demise of the modern welfare state. Perhaps such a scenario will take several years to play out but the beginnings will commence this year through a crisis of confidence in government.
This could see many governments default on their debts as the US dollar strengthens and becomes the ‘safe haven’ for global investment… for a time!
Where it will end is hard to predict but I do suspect the global economy is in for a very hard landing.
On the political front, as more and more people conclude that many politicians seem more interested in power and self-preservation than actually fixing the problems we face, they will look for alternatives. They’ll be looking to vote for people of honesty, integrity and principle and for political parties that actually stand for something.
Some will see these suggestions as rather gloomy but I see them as an opportunity for every Australian. Our nation is in a far better situation than so many others. We have potential that is the envy of many in the Western world. It’s now up to us to live up to that potential.
We can only do so by rejecting the policies and approaches that have created the economic mess evident in the rest of the world to begin with. I know I sound like a broken record but we all now need to be playing the same song.
We need lower taxes, smaller government, a commitment to our culture, greater personal responsibility and restoration of our traditional values.
I am convinced that is the best path forward and am also convinced that is the wish of the Australian majority. It’s time we made our voice heard
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.
