Er…. that would be the Greens Eric. The ALP can’t afford to get distracted by the social democratic vision thing and remain electable.

Did Whitlam think that he was presiding over the creation of a new natural majority, or did he care less about that than striving to pilot major reform through the political process regardless of the electoral consequences.

I recall eating in a restaurant in downtown Melbourne in 1974. At the next table was Peter Willensky, at the time one of Whitlam’s top mandarins. As we eavesdropped furiously Willensky was regaling his lunch companion with the thesis that he considered the Australian people ripe for a major cultural revolution.

Did Willensky really believe this? Did Whitlam ever believe it?

I know that in 1974 I didn’t believe it.

It is one of those occasions that one regrets being correct.

I’d argue that Whitlam moved the middle measurably leftward. He brought about large and until now irreversible reforms.

I agree, Katz. But emphasise that the left-movement Whitlam’s legacied is in change to the political infrastructure – rather than in the minds of the people themselves.

Medicare exists. That is a great left achievement but will forever be vulnerable to right erosion as the middle voter bounces around the center.

And if Medicare didn’t exist, it would today be an almighty political task to get it up. The minds of the people are happy with stuff that exists – whether it is right or left. They probably sit on the center-right when it comes to new reforms.

Maybe Vision is simply when you manage to move political change at a greater rate than normal. (Hard to do and it’s not playing the percentages.)

Katz, you’ve lead me to argue myself into stating that Whitlam had vision, now!

Julie’s nice, she’s coaching me
In politics from A to Zee
She is Tony’s Deputy
He told her “Help our Barnaby”

I’ve got an accountancy degree
So I understand about LSD
That used to be our currency
But what’s does she mean by BSD’s?

I’ve swotted up the GFC
Learned all about bank guarantees
So why must I sit quietly
To stop LSDs and BSDs uniting to get rid of me?

In Whitlam’s day, it was a stark choice – and the ALP rode a seachange in public opinion – a change that because it was uncharacteristically rapid and exuberant quickly proved unstable and things quickly settled back to the middle again.

I’d argue that Whitlam moved the middle measurably leftward. He brought about large and until now irreversible reforms. The Libs were forced to concede that a new consensus had formed.

The Libs have nibbled away at the Whitlam Settlement ever since but large parts of it remain intact.

WBB is correct about the relationship between the leaders and the led in the matter of reform. It is suicidal for governments to far exceed the wishes or expectations of the marginal voter.

Yet, the ALP is supposed to be the party of reform. Rudd has compensated for that contradiction by ramping up reformist rhetoric. Only the committed minority get angry. The rest know that Rudd isn’t being serious, only earnest.

I’ve advocated on my blog for the complete replacement of level-crossings. That’s pretty “visionary”, but I’d rather see it as good policy that will help traffic on both public and private transport.

Hmmm … not visionary as I understand the term, but supportable. Let’s put them under the rails with at least 4.4 m clearance.

by contrast you see Abbott as the flirt. Or perhaps the seducer who will have his fling and leave us

I’m with Barnaby when it comes to Abbott, Patricia WA.

It’s not a sexual relationship at all, we believe.