A “Churchillian” Critique of the Cultural Left

Anyway, Latham, who had retired from politics, came back and was recently elected to the parliament of New South Wales.  (There is only one other member of One Nation–it is a startup party– and yet the two of them reportedly hold the balance of power in that closely divided body, with the ability to tip the votes in either direction.)  The custom is for newly elected members to give a “maiden speech” before the entire parliament.  His introductory speech excoriating Australia’s culture of political correctness has been described as “Churchillian” and the “most outstanding political speech I’ve ever read.”

You can read it for yourself.  Here are some samples:

Like so many parts of our politics that have changed quickly in recent times, there are voices here who do not believe in the virtues of the West, who do not acknowledge the nation-building achievements of our culture and our country.

It’s like a scene from The Life of Brian, a case of: What has Western civilisation done for us?

Only advanced healthcare and education; architecture, engineering, information technology, free speech and the rule of law.

In fact: this chamber, this parliament, in this city, all our public institutions and the material comforts we take for granted – none of them could exist without the greatness of the West.

Without the advances that began with the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution and continue to this day.

Yet still, among the Leftist elites, among the social engineers and cultural dietians, sneering at our civilisation and its achievements has become their new pastime.

They preach diversity but practice a suffocating cultural conformity, wanting everyone to be just like them.

They argue for inclusion but as soon as a Christian, a conservative, a libertarian, a nationalist, a working class larrikin, an outsider from the vast suburbs and regions of our nation disagrees with them, they crank up their PC-outrage machine to exclude them from society.

They are tolerant of everything except dissenting values and opinions – meaning, of course, they are tolerant of nothing that matters, only themselves.

This is the Leftist curse through the ages: the recurring history of those who so badly crave control over others, they lose control over themselves.

In their lust for authority, they lose their respect for the rights of others.

Like a scene from Orwell’s Animal Farm, the Green-Labor-Left has become the thing it originally opposed: elitist, would-be dictators taking away from working class communities the things these battlers value:

The right to speak their mind.

To say they love their country and want Australia Day to stay.

To practice their Christianity, openly and freely.

To send their children to school without the garbage of Safe Schools, Wear-It-Purple days, ‘HeadRest’ indoctrination and the other crackpot theories making some NSW classrooms more like a Hare Krishna meeting than actual education.

And when they go to work, the chance to do their job without being bombarded by employment quotas, ‘unconscious bias’ training and a long list of unspeakable, taboo words – scary, scary stuff, like ‘guys’ and ‘mums and dads’.

The New Left are the new primitives of our time: junking the importance of evidence, of recorded history, of biological science, to pretend that all parts of our lives (especially race, gender and sexuality) can be fluid, that everything we know and feel around us is, in fact, ‘socially constructed’.

Mr President, they’re peddling Fake News.

On the transgender movement:

Our personal characteristics and identities are fixed, not fluid.
With few exceptions, people are born either male or female.
We shouldn’t be confusing young people and risking their mental health by pushing gender fluidity upon them.

We shouldn’t be taking away from parents their essential role as the primary carers of their children – in matters personal and sexual.

We shouldn’t be changing the purpose of our education system: transforming schools from places of skill and academic attainment into gender fluidity factories.

Most of all, we shouldn’t be losing sight of the interests of mainstream, majority Australia.

In the last national census, for instance, 13 hundred Australians identified as transgender.

But to listen to the political and media coverage of this issue, you would think there were 13 million.

On cultural Marxism:

The Leftist project, then and now, is about control.
Having, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, lost the struggle for economic control, the Left got smarter.

It shifted from the Cold War to a culture war.

It moved from pursuing economic Marxism to pushing cultural Marxism.

Instead of trying to socialise the means of production, it’s now trying to socialise the means of individual expression and belief – our language, our values, our behaviour.

Instead of seeking revolution at the top of government, it has marched instead through our institutions – a tactic that’s harder to combat.

The elites have been remarkably successful in this cultural invasion.

Our abiding national traditions of free speech, merit selection, resilience and love of country are being lost, not just in the public sector – in schools, universities, public broadcasters, major political parties and government agencies – but also in large parts of corporate Australia and the commercial media.

The rest of us are the Resistance to this national takeover.

On the Israel Folou controversy that we blogged about yesterday:

I’m not a Christian but I recognise the vital contribution of Christianity to our civilisation: its vast social and charitable work; its teaching of right and wrong in civil society.

Mr President, I stand with Israel Folau.

In his own private time away from his job playing football, he’s a preacher at his community church and naturally, he quotes the Bible.

He believes, as millions of people have believed for thousands of years, that sinners go to Hell.

As per his valid religious faith, he loves the sinner but condemns the sin.

Yet for his beliefs, his Christianity, he is not allowed to play rugby, to chase the pigskin around the park.

How did our State and our nation ever come to this?

I was on Folau’s list of sinners, more than once actually.
But as I don’t believe in Hell, there was no way I could take offence.

Those claiming outrage have fabricated their position solely for the purpose of censorship.

This is not an argument about diversity.

The Wallabies have no female players, no disabled, no elderly, no middle aged.

They are selected from a tiny fraction of the young, fit, athletic male population.

By excluding a committed Christian, they are making their game less inclusive.

And as for Folau being a role model for young gay men, one only needs to state this proposition to understand its absurdity.

Footballers are not role models for anyone, other than in enjoying their sporting ability.

I say to any young person: if you are looking for guidance and inspiration in life, study Churchill, Lincoln, Reagan and Roosevelt, not Todd Carney.

By the way, that’s Ronald Reagan, not Reg Reagan.

Mr President, I believe that no Australian should live in fear of the words they utter.

No Australian should be fearful of proclaiming four of the most glorious words of our civilisation: I Am A Christian.

No one should be sacked by their employer for statements of genuine belief and faith that have got nothing to do with their job.

The Folau case exposes the new serfdom in the Australian workplace: how big companies, the corporate PC-elites are wanting to control all aspects of their employees’ lives – their religious and political views, how they speak and think, how they behave, even in their own time away from the workplace.

This is a stunning intrusion on workers’ rights.

Yet far from condemning the new serfdom, Labor and the trade unions have been cheering it on.

As per our One Nation election commitments, I will be moving legislation for the protection of free speech, religious freedom and the privacy rights of workers.

He keeps going, touching on a lot of Australian issues that also have applicability everywhere else.

HT:  Matthew Buck

Photo, Mark Latham, from Pellowe Talk YouTube channel (Dave Pellowe) via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]