The people (as in we the people), naively fall for the clap trap from these talking heads about wanting to help us with better education (it just keeps getting worse), better health care (it just keeps getting more expensive) and better protection from our enemies (which we argue requires us to go to far away lands and kill people who aren’t attacking us).

All paid for with our money by the way. What other job lets you write cheques against other people’s bank accounts?

This “help you” story is a relatively easy concept to sell when it is explained as being for the greater good. However, the younger you learn this story the more likely you are to believe it. The story is repeated over and over again in the media, most of which is owned by six major groups globally. They push forward an endless line of shill experts funded by certain interests to convince you white is black and sour is really sweet. Now isn’t globalism great! And pretty soon our food will be owned by three or four major groups globally (cigarette companies most likely), and sold through one or two major retail groups. You can just imagine the choice can’t you. This will mean “efficiency” no doubt but I call it forcible takeover of the world’s resources by the very few. As long as your preference is for industrial food and products derived from crude oil such as the many manifestations of plastic, synthetic rubber, shampoos, detergents, cosmetics, cleaning products and on and on you shouldn’t mind at all.

Now getting elected is really about getting invited by one of the major parties to represent them in a safe seat. That is the hard part. Convincing the people to vote for you is much easier. You just lie. You tell them what they want to believe and if it is repeated often enough they will vote for you. That is where the media come in to do their bit. The people will keep coming back for more until they get sick of things never getting any better and so throw you and the other rascals in your party out while the other side has its turn. The other side will now tell the people what they want to hear while continuing to build up the power of the State. And so the process continues for another two terms after which the opposition regains the wheel. And once you are voted out there is no need to worry. You pick up some international gig somewhere from either the new government or some UN body. If not, you can always take time out in business as an advisor to some large financial group.

Any politician prepared to stop such a corrupt food troughing system would get my vote.

Once the state is big enough however, it won’t need the help of the people to govern and that situation we call totalitarianism. It has several manifestations e.g. Corporate Fascism (i.e. from crony capitalism which we have already through to the Mussolini approach); National Socialism (that is the Nazi approach) or Communism (the Stalinist option). Then there is the Chinese Party Member Model or the new Russian gang approach which are both more distributive these days. Nevertheless, all involve some form of dictatorship. Has anyone ever worked in a company that is run as a democracy? What if you called for a vote on each decision the business makes? You wouldn’t last long. You would be taken away for “in depth counselling” before having to be “let go”. You see that is why corporations feel so comfortable with the totalitarian approach to decision making. Small business and farmers on the other hand just get on with it.

Of course this isn’t happening in Australia.

Keating managed 23.3; Costello 23.7 in 1999. Costello got 24% in his final budget too, but never got it back below 24%. Before that you have to go back to the late Howard Budgets when he got it to about 23.8%