Many years ago I read about a debate in the UK between a Conservative and a Labour politician. At this time there was a Conservative government and there was no minimum wage. Labour was promising to bring in a minimum wage at some level. The Conservative said that bringing in a minimum wage would create unemployment, and so it was a bad idea. The Labour man said no, it would not create unemployment. Would too, said the Tory. Would not, said the Labour man.
And so this is what the debate became. A minimum wage might or might not cause unemployment. This is exactly the debate the conservatives wanted to have. Because, logically, in some cases at least, a minimum wage will create unemployment. The argument the conservatives don’t want to have is the one that Labour (or Labor) never starts. The argument is a minimum wage is a basic human right. If we don’t have a minimum wage set a level that people can live on then we might as well have slavery.
This is not a factual argument. It is a moral one. It is not an appeal to people’s cold, logical, mathematical side. It is an appeal to decency and compassion and also to self-interest. And it is the sort of argument which, on almost any issue you care to name, the left never, ever make. Lefties are drawn to arguments about detailed facts like moths to a flame. They retreat from the moral high ground with all possible speed. It is horrible to watch and I am sick of it.
I don’t remember the last time I heard a Labor politician argue in favour of Medicare. It’s Labor’s greatest achievement, and it’s universally popular and you’ll never, ever hear a Laborite make a moral case for it. You’ll hear them blather about case-mix funding and schedule-fee-percentages but they will not say “health care is a right not a privilege.”
I am sick of hearing people say that we’ll never have a fairer world or a solution to global warming or an end to poverty and hunger “because most people are selfish.” Or because “the right-wing media will destroy anyone who fights for these causes.” People in positions of influence actually hardly ever fight for these causes. They may well work themselves into an early grave and they may well support these causes, but if you ever hear a union leader or a Labor politician or even a prominent Green actually fight for a moral position I say treasure the moment because it won’t come again soon.
Consider the carbon tax. Now I used to support a rationing system or a cap-and-trade system and all the rest of it but it seems we’ll never have such a system that is worth the trouble. So instead we could have a carbon tax. This would send a clear price signal to consumers and business and would allow people to make serious investments into renewable energy. It could also be used to change the way people live and reward them for saving energy or using renewables. And a carbon tax can even be revenue neutral. The government could actually give all the money back so that there was no net increase in taxation and so that the poor were not disadvantaged.
Now, apparently, the Greens support a carbon tax. But you’ll never hear them argue the case for it. Well, I haven’t yet. And yet the other day an opinion poll showed that almost half the population supported a carbon tax. This is without anyone actually leading on the issue. Imagine if the Greens actually go their act together and got into the ring and landed a few punches.
Lefties would do well to remember a man none of us liked. He was mean, deceitful and small-minded and we are all glad he is gone. But Howard can teach us something. For each of the terrible things he believed in – the Iraq War, locking up toddlers behind razor wire, the GST, destroying the union movement, shovelling money into wealthy schools – he actually had arguments in favour of them. And he used these arguments again and again. God, I heard them so many times they are engraved on my brain for all eternity. They were bad arguments, and illogical, and dishonest and all the rest. But they were arguments nonetheless and he went into bat for his bad ideas day after day after day. He was on the offensive all the time and he made a moral case for his bad ideas. Can you believe that? A moral case! As if Work Choices or invading Iraq were good ideas!
But the point is that Howard believed that they were good ideas! He actually believed in them. And he had comprehensible, straight-forward arguments to support them and he repeated these arguments every bloody day.
We need to be like that. Yes the Australian will be against us. Yes, the Herald-Sun won’t give us a great run. But this is already the case. And there is nobody so easy to mock and rubbish as the prevaricator who sort-of-believes in something but hasn’t the guts to make the argument.
Our arguments are right. They are moral. We need to fight on this turf, on the side of what is ethical and good. I think we’ll be amazed at how well it works.
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