It’s time for positive politics

Fifteen years ago, my parents took a risk. Struggling with a mortgage and the cost of raising children, they made the decision to buy a run-down milk bar (indeed the only store) in the small fishing town of Corinella, near Phillip Island.

They committed to run the business for at least three years, with the hope of eventually paying off the mortgage on the family home and sending me to a private secondary college.

My parents had a dream, and believed they had the ability to pull it off. They succeeded.

Three and a half years later, they sold a thriving business at a profit, had paid off the family home, and along the way we all gained valuable business and social skills through being the proprietors of the only store in a country town.

The time spent in this country store has shaped my view about politics, business and the world in general more than anything else in my life. It forms the lens through which I look at the world and social issues 15 years later.

It is to these recollections of my time in this humble family store that I again turn. Not to absorb myself in the issues of the day and predict the political issues of the coming five years, but rather to outline my vision of where politics should be heading over this time.

I consider myself to be reasonably well-informed about politics and contemporary affairs, and I would like to think that I hold respectable views on the major issues of our time.

There is one thing, however, that I have always failed to appreciate, and I still do not understand. That one thing is the artificial distinction between politics of the “Left” and “Right”.

Many ideas from leaders or thinkers are dismissed or treated with suspicion because it is not what a good Right-winger or Left-winger would put forward, or does not satisfy with precision the tight traditional criterion of a Right-wing or Left-wing policy.

The thing about the Right and the Left, however, is that there are fundamental problems with both. The Right emphasise a call for small government to enable innovation and enterprise to flourish, while the Left call for a larger role for government so that society is characterised by fairness rather than a dog-eat-dog mentality.

The problem with both the Right and the Left is that they are more similar than commentators believe.

Both Right and Left are loyal to the status quo. They assume that society will continue to tick over with the innovators and those of enterprise, and the disadvantaged and needy.

The Right believe that if enterprise and innovation can flourish, the disadvantaged and needy will be thrown a bone through jobs and the distribution of tax revenue. The Left believe that big government with lots of money to throw at social programs will enable the disadvantaged and needy to get by as pain-free as possible.

But politics, like every other human endeavour, is meant to be about progress. It does not take a great thinker to tell you that clinging to the status quo is not the most effective path to progress. As the compassionate Robert F. Kennedy once said: “The future does not belong to those who are content with today …”

All through history, progress has come from individuals looking at the world a little bit differently, and using that vision to make a difference. My parents could tell you that without ever having stepped into a university lecture theatre. The Left and Right are concepts that do not come into the mix when building a business and working towards a better life.

It would not be adopting a novel position to say that the concepts of “Left” and “Right” should be removed from the political vocabulary. A number of political observers over the years have recognised the absurdity of the Left-Right distinction, particularly in contemporary politics where the major political parties dart between Left and Right as convenience dictates.

But what is missing is a clear picture of where politics should be headed in the absence of Left and Right. In my view, the answer lies in returning to the grass roots and appreciating that politics is about people.

Over the next five years, rather than continuing to be burdened by two sides of politics, we should work towards one side - a side truly focused on the people.

Instead of Left and Right, I believe it is time for what I call “Positive Politics”.

Positive Politics is about emphasising and fostering the positive strengths and virtues inherent in all Australians.

My parents were fortunate enough to utilise their personal strengths and virtues in building a successful business, gaining new skills along the way, and providing for our family’s future. Other Australians will naturally utilise their strengths to direct their life so as to achieve whatever dreams they hold.

But many Australians are not so fortunate. They dream. They hope. They do not want to be dependent on big government. But they are missing the key which will unlock their strengths.

Inspiration and hope have disappeared from the political vocabulary. Many commentators consider the concepts to be vacuous, indeed embarrassing. As Tom Cruise’s character said in the movie Jerry Maguire: “We live in a cynical world … a cynical world!”

Positive Politics would change that. Positive Politics would demonstrate that the concepts are not puffery, but rather have real value. Inspiration and hope give Australians the strength necessary to re-craft their lives to achieve their dreams.

Positive Politics draws on the success of the recent “positive psychology” movement. Positive psychology has enhanced the well-being of millions around the world by helping people to recognise and utilise their so-called “signature strengths” (such as integrity, street smarts and perseverance), rather than focusing on negative human traits which characterised conventional psychology.

The architect of positive psychology, Professor Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in his best-selling work, Authentic Happiness (Random House, 2002), that “people want more than just to correct their weaknesses. They want lives … with meaning, and not just to fidget until they die.”

Positive psychology has demonstrated that psychology can successfully help people live in the higher reaches of happiness.

Positive Politics would demonstrate that politics can truly help all Australians, from whatever background, to unlock their strengths and fulfil their dreams.

Accordingly, in the next five years we should embrace the ideals underpinning Positive Politics, rather than waste time and energy continuing to be distracted by Left and Right.