Dump Young on Trump

Australia, as has most of the civilised world, long given up on public executions The last execution in Australia took place in 1967, when Ronald Ryan was hung in Victoria.

Fifth.Trump is a climate change denier. Donald Trump’s withdrawal of his country from the Paris accord adopted in 2015 by 195 nations, with 147 ratifying it - including the United States, which is the world’s second largest greenhouse gas emitter, thus making the United States the only country in the world that will not participate in the pact.

So the impression that most of us suspect. that a Donald Trump election would be a disaster for the world is correct.

So why did Graham Young, editor of On Line Opinion post “What Australians should understand about Donald J Trump“? He clearly supports Trump.

On Line Opinion is owned and published by Brisbane based conservative political 'think tank.' the Australian Institute for Progress Ltd (AIP). The AIP receives funding from property developers, and according to the Executive Director, it is 'ideologically centre-right', with its criticisms favouring right-wing political parties. Prior to 2014 the AIP was called The National Forum. In 2009, The Age reported that the board of The National Forum had editorial oversight over On Line Opinion.

The answer is clearly political. Both Trump and On Line Opinion are right wing conservative. The Economist newspaper tells us Donald Trump is a voice of the conservative media. Conservatism, according to many definitions, is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values.

There is a conflict here. On Line Opinion is owned by the Australian Institute for Progress, having recently changed its name from The National Forum. But progress and conservatism are in direct conflict. The world has seen much change over the centuries.

The list of social developments over the history of the world is long and inexorable: Ending feudalism, slavery, the divine right of kings, the development of parliamentary democracy, poor laws, public housing for the poor, the 40-hour week, minimum wages, trade unions, national health schemes. If conservatives had won these battles over the centuries, we would still be in the dark ages, nasty, brutish and short, as Thomas Hobbes said in Leviathan, in 1651. Yet even today conservative republicans in the US have rejected a national health scheme – Obama care. Americans have shorter life spans than people in other high-income countries, Australians included, one reason being inadequate health care.

An Institute for Progress promoting conservative values is a misnomer, even misleading. That is my major concern with Graham Young’s article.