The moral narrative of social democracy

Abstract

Politically - and not just politically - we are in a mess. It is there in our pessimism, our sense of foreboding. It is here, in Australia, where we are doing better than most, better than the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and far better than the unfolding tragedies of Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and so many more in so many places. To make two points - so obvious it takes incredible riches or toadying to riches, or the animal fear of the ignorant and (increasingly) dispossessed, to deny them - there is the fact we seem unable to contemplate cooking ourselves and our planet without going on, even intensifying, the business and politics as usual that generates the problem; and then there is the fact that we seem unable to contemplate fixing, rather than propping up, our bloated rentier driven financial system. Business, it seems, must go on as usual.