Heaven forbid that the endless chatter of elite opinion should get its way

No wonder that the proportion of the GDP represented by all levels of government rose during those three decades from 30 to 40 per cent.

Of course, the highwater mark of elite influence came with the Keating government. But while the true believers clung to the creed that the commanding heights of the economy should remain in public ownership, the crown jewels had already been knocked down to the highest bidder.

Yet the government still proved itself incapable of living within its means. Interest rates spiralled out of control and unemployment soared. Then we had the recession we had to have. The allegiance of those battlers who traditionally voted Labor was no longer so assured.

Paul Keating sought to seduce them back with an unashamedly "big picture" agenda - a centralised politicians' republic, a new flag, reconciliation with native title and separate development, an engagement with Asia that downplayed our traditional relationships. In the meantime, it became increasingly difficult to defend our traditional beliefs and institutions, much more than say in the US, UK or Canada.

De Tocqueville saw a similar phenomenon at work in 18th-century revolutionary France - how a fear of being alone in clinging to "old-fashioned" views could be stronger than the fear of being wrong, leading to a spiral of silence. Fortunately, voting is secret in Australia, but the elites never did accept the legitimacy of the Howard victories - four, with the referendum landslide. They demonstrate this in their constant and puerile reference not to the Prime Minister, but to this Prime Minister - this being code for illegitimate and ephemeral - and in their transparent attempts to delegitimise each victory. But - from his refusal to say sorry, to his decision to help free the people of East Timor over the advice of the Jakarta lobby, to border control - Howard has spoken not only for, but with the mainstream.

The danger for Australia is that this apparent twilight of our elites may prove to be only an eclipse, and that they may engineer a return to their essentially surreptitious guardianship of our great nation. De Tocqueville's warning to the democracies remains relevant: "I have no fear that they will meet with tyrants as their rulers, but rather with guardians."