Long-time readers will recall that I’ve chewed on Aussie Prime Minister Scott Morrison (Liberal Party) for his general reliance on God over science and his admiration for former President Trump.
Well, now it’s former Prime Minister Morrison.
In this parliamentary democracy, the Liberal Party lost enough seats to the Labor Party and a host of independents that Morrison is out as PM, and those independents are the story of the election:
Morrison not only lost seats to Labor but also lost a swath of seats to a group of female independents who adopted the color teal — a blend of Liberal blue (to signal they were economically conservative) and green (to signal they were progressives on climate change and the status of women.) The “teal independents” won seats in wealthy parts of Sydney and Melbourne that had long voted Liberal — including that of Morrison’s deputy, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. [WaPo]
2021 Australian fires. Source: YCNews.
That independents concerned about climate change won in the heart of Liberal-land, the wealthy parts of Sydney and Melbourne, signals that the threat of climate change to human civilization is beginning to penetrate all the level of Australian society.
And while the obvious question is How far is the United States’ Republican elites behind the Australians?, a more interesting question is whether or not the United States, out of frustration at the elites of both parties, forms one or more new parties that return to an embrace of science and rationality while discarding rigid, even alien, ideologies and theologies.
It’s a tall mountain to climb, but I’m beginning to wonder, given the problems the Democrats keep inflicting on themselves in the face of wonderful political opportunity, if we may see that hypothetical party transition to reality. The Republican problems are increasingly becoming self-evident, especially if you, like I am, are in the process of political analysis of the Senate races this year. Refugees from both parties could join this third party, and it could become a mover and shaker.
If it’s in sync with American independents.
