Kieran McConville
ONE love, blood, life
Yeah I'd say there were a few problems that sank the Democrats. First, as you say, who was their actual constituency? Second, their profession to be a centre party between the ALP and Liberals was reflected in their platform in the early days, but as the two major parties drifted, the Democrats did not. They no longer occupied the centre, nor were they the party that represented a capacity to reconcile conflict between the two major parties on hot button issues. They ended up reflecting much of the left that the ALP was gradually abandoning or failing to accommodate, as shown by ex-Democrats joining the Greens.
And third, of course, the fractious personal disputes that became irredeemably toxic by the late nineties.
An interesting take, and certainly more worthwhile than the repetitive and fruitless back-and-forth in FYM right now.
But this part of the premise I really can't accept:
The US may be a very striking and enduring example, but the claim is overstated in its exclusivity. Australia and New Zealand have comparable experiences. The bush frontier lies at the heart of Australian history and nationalism. And I think somewhere in New Zealand's politics remains the dream of expanding a Pacific frontier.
With the Democrats, I feel that by the end there was a chasm between much of the vaguely left-leaning party membership and some really not left-leaning senior members in the senate. Although Andrew Bartlett as leader was probably a return to the membership's outlook in that respect, shame about his personal troubles at the time and that his party was busy going down in flames.
Frontiers... Well and don't forget that great Russian frontier that saw emigrees reach the coast of California in Tsarist times. Yes, it's true that many nations have had their frontiers (and the author may well share the peculiar blinkered-ness of a lot of US writers, and people generally, I dunno). Possibly no nation's frontier ethos has made the rest of the world compulsory participants. As for Australia, our frontier was... we looked, we blinked (in between however many massacres) and we slowly ebbed back to the coast.
I guess the salutary point is that nations which go imperial (you can add to this Britain and Rome, and Spain too) can get away with not tackling their internal contradictions and tensions for longer, maybe indefinitely.
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