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July 2, 2012
The conservative populists are on the march. They are angry, bitter and resentful.They want blood in the form of sacrifice.
They will probably not shift their position on carbon pricing despite the compensation and the lack of evidence for the doom and gloom rhetoric: the carbon tax is wreaking devastation on the economy, laying waste to industries and destroying jobs.
They can sense victory---its 60:40 against the Gillard Government on everything. They know that Labor has its back to the wall. So every price rise will be attributed to the carbon tax so as to confirm their deeply held belief that the increase in the price of carbon is a bad tax put in place by a bad government.
Why will the conservative populists not shift their view in the light of facts and being properly informed? Because their opposition to the carbon "tax" has become part of their identity as a conservative. It's become foundational, just like a belief in God is for Christians. It help defines who they are in opposition to their political enemy, so they are not going to change their mind because of facts or plausible arguments.
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Gary, I'd propose that the Fed ALP govt is not quite the chimera it's enemies suggest, nor Abbott's coalition quite the people-friendly entity offered as alternative.
In that case, why the over- reaction from voters? They seem to have closed their minds, nothing fed Labor says or does seems to penetrate the average suburban skull.
What are voters looking for that they feel Abbott would give them that Gillard Labor wouldn't?
I can understand voters being riled at Labor through the incompetence of various state Labor governments, also fed Labor's inability to look comfortable with any solution proposed as to asylum seekers but surely they would see that inflicting a rout on Labor of Bligh proportions puts them at risk of being at the mercy of an austerity government; surely even single digit IQ voters can see their interests can't be served by an Abbott government?
What's really going on in the pea size brains, what specifically is it that they are so Aspergis about?