"Liberation" Abroad, Servitude at Home

I’ve long suspected that the people who design the front page of The Australian have a wicked sense of humour, and today’s (10 March) front page once again confirms that suspicion. The second paragraph of 'We’re with you, Gillard tells US' proclaims “the Prime Minister this morning threw herself fully behind US President Barack Obama's Afghanistan strategy, saying the two nations were inextricably linked by shared values and common aims.”

And what are these shared values? Look no further than the adjoining front-page article ('Gender equity spot checks'):

[Australian] companies will be subject to random spot checks, forced to report on the number of women they employ and face penalties for non-compliance under the Gillard government’s tough new scheme to drive gender equality in the workplace … [Opposition] frontbencher Bronwyn Bishop hit out at the government’s strong-armed policy labelling it ‘the sort of thing you would expect from a totalitarian regime.’

Who needs gifted comedians when we have the front page of The Australian to start the day with a hearty laugh?

"The larger the mob, the harder the test” wrote the incomparable HL Mencken in The Baltimore Evening Sun (26 July 1920). The Presidency – and, it’s worth adding, Australia’s Prime Ministership! – tends, year by year, to go to “leaders” who blindly follow the mob. “As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House [and The Lodge] will be adorned by a downright moron.” Is it any wonder Obama and Julia get along so well?