One thing I've puzzled about over the last couple of years is the way that Howard's LNP has been so clearsighted in terms of its political strategy of keeping its changing constituency onside and retaining power. The ALP, whether under Beazely, Crean or Latham, look as if they are floundering in contrast, since their core bits of their electoral constituency continues to drift away to the LNP and the Australian Greens.

This was graphically expressed by the image of Tasmanian timber workers cheering John Howard as he announced that, though he would place limits on the logging of old growth forests, his primary concern was to ensure that the workers' jobs would be protected.

He was bang on target for his electoral constituency. It was well crafted campaign politics.

This article by Kevin MacDonald in The Age addresses this problem of being in tune with the public mood. He says that:

"John Howard's great political achievement has been to forge the two potentially contradictory cultural movements of moral conservatism and "I'm worth it" individuality into a political constituency."

The broad cultural shift combines moral conservatism with a free market philosophy that reduces civil society to a deregulated economy. The free market philosophy is expressed by the new middle class in terms of a new form of individuality that has its roots in the "because I'm worth it" ethos of consumer culture. The former is the social/moral conservatism (expressed by evangelical Christianity, the Family First party and a significant number of the younger generation of successful Liberal candidates) that reduces community to the family.

And the ALP. Once---in the 1980s and early 1990s---it was in tune with its combination of a competitive economy, social justice and nationality. McDonald says that:

"Over the past decade the conservative side of politics has constructed a vision not only of the economy, but of moral purpose. The great drama we face in Australia is the weakness of a counter model. Labor is obviously weakened given the decline of working-class communities and culture, with their ethic of justice based on fairness and sameness. Were it not for the funding arrangements and electoral system, it is not clear that the ALP would be progressing into its second century."

Latham had a go at being in tune with the new political culture with his aspirational suburban middle class that linked back to Menzies' forgotten people. But his political narrative was not convincing in terms of the public mood and the political unconscious.

Apost-election the ALP is confused:

Leak
The party is deeply factured by the sundering of its blue collar constitutency and the inner city urban middle class constituency. Most of the commentary is structured in terms of the friend/enemy opposition of the bluecollar and the trendy inner city lefties, rather than the political crafting to combine the two constituencies into a movement.

So the ALP tears itself apart, as it is doing now around the Tasmanian forests. In contrast, Howard crafts his two constituencies into a political combination that he keeps together, talks to and looks out for.

That is why Howard is a master political strategist whilst the current ALP leadership group are journeymen.

Comments

Posted by: Guido | October 12, 2004 1:47 PM

Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson | October 12, 2004 2:18 PM