Victoria: Utility vs Freedom
Some are saying the Victorian election result was rigged. It wasn’t. This isn’t Arizona. The only reason someone could be shocked at the Victorian election outcome is if they misjudged Australians to be freedom-loving. Aussies like freedom, but they don’t love it. They can live without it.
The truth is that Aussies tend to see government as a “vast public utility” that helps us and makes our lives easier. They don’t see government as a freedom-enhancing institution, but as a utility-enhancing one.
And what is more useful than being kept “safe” from a deadly virus? Well, nothing! And who is more deserving of punishment and derision than those citizens who minimise the threat of this virus and even put others’ lives at risk by not doing what they’re asked? No one!
In other words, Dan delivered on utility: he kept people “safe” and therefore earned re-election. As I’ve said many times, Aussies have a cynical attitude to politicians, but an optimistic attitude to government: we basically trust it (even if we won’t explicitly admit it).
What this means is that Australians won’t be very moved by warnings of state tyranny, or particularly fussed when the state actually is a tyrant — not while it’s delivering on utility. I’m not trying to demoralise; I’m just describing things as I think they are.
Does this mean there is no hope for freedom? Not necessarily. It just means that the fight against tyranny may be less a strategy of popular politics than other methods: lawfare, raising new elites, etc.
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Originally published on Twitter. Photo: Donald Y. Tong/Wikimedia Commons
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