“WHEN government is big the people are small.”
This statement sums up neatly the state of current politics at almost all levels in the western world.
Governments everywhere have ascribed themselves the honour of fixing all ills, from economic to social to family.
Government responsibility is now literally felt from the cradle to the grave with governments finding ways to decide childcare arrangements and the myriad of issues through to electricity bills for pensioners.
Democracy creeps into our living-rooms, but far from fixing all ills, has seen unprecedented disillusionment with government and the political parties that run them.
The statement in Australia that “both political parties are the same at the moment” may have some truth worth analysing.
When discussing politics, I like to set rules for my own analysis and for that of the readers on how to assess politics and the worthiness or otherwise of a government.
In this election year I would like to suggest the prism through which we determine policy outcomes is not what is good for the individual or the community but rather through what is good for the family.
If the family is the building block of society, then a healthy family will mean a healthy society and all within it.
When government’s focus is the individual they will always over-promise and under-deliver and when they focus on society they tend towards socialism.
We observe the Federal Government in an election year currently weighing its options – to take more from the people in tax to spend back on the people, or to spend more than it takes – leaving the voters off to spend today and leave the debt to tomorrow’s children, or to spend today so as to tread lightly on the children of tomorrow.
By David Goodwin
David Goodwin is a Catholic businessman and father of eight children. He has an interest in Australian politics and a commerce background.
