THE CHALLENGE OF THE REAGAN VICTORY

Writing in "The Australian" on November 7th, Mr. B.A. Santamaria of the National Civic Council correctly stated that "The national mood which carried Ronald Reagan to victory was one which sought, conceptually or nostalgically, a return to patriotism, family, to small locality and size." But when Mr. Santamaria states that it is "unpredictable" whether Mr. Reagan will be pursuing these ideals in practice, we must disagree. Unless Mr. Reagan reverses the finance economic policies, which are producing one of the major causes of the Carter defeat, continuing high inflation, it is as predictable as the sunrise that Mr. Reagan is going to preside over the same type of disintegration afflicting every industrialised society.

Many years ago a distinguished Roman Catholic social philosopher, Dr. Coffey, made the comment that a credit policy which generates increasing debt and taxation is the bridge over which a free society moves to a Communist society. Events have unfortunately confirmed that observation. With the election of the Muldoon and Fraser Governments in 1975, followed then by the victory of the Thatcher Government in the United Kingdom, the political commentators suggested that there was a growing "trend" towards conservative governments. Now it is widely claimed that this "trend" has been strikingly confirmed by the Reagan victory. But a realistic review of the history of this century shows quite conclusively that the election of conservative governments has not altered the general direction in which Western societies have moved.

Centralisation of power over the individual has increased, while attempts to operate the finance economic system under present policies have resulted in mounting friction and social convulsions. The failure of conservative governments appears to confirm the claim of the Marxists that the "capitalist" society is doomed by "the will of history". The Marxists never criticise the debt system.

What is taking place was predicted as far back as 1924 by one of the greatest minds of this century, the British engineer, C.H. Douglas, whose work is studiously ignored even by anti-Communists of the status of Mr. Santamaria. Douglas wrote in "Social Credit" (Price $6 posted) that an effective decentralisation of power was possible without decentralisation of credit power, and that continued attempts to centralise still further credit power must inevitably result in the break up of Civilisation.

After predicting that "well within the lives of the present generation... the blind forces will appear to be in the ascendant", Douglas said that there was no party or group with the knowledge and the power to transmute growing social unrest, chiefly marshalled under the crudities of Socialism and Communism", into a constructive effort for the regeneration of society.
Douglas predicted "a succession of rearguard actions on the part of so-called conservative elements of Society, elements which themselves seem incapable or undesirous of genuine initiative, a process which can only result, like all rearguard action, in a successive, if not successful retreat on the part of the forces attacked."

While there is no doubt that the mood of the great majority of American people has changed, with Evangelical Christians and other groups making a vital contribution towards a desire for a change of course in both American domestic and foreign policies, it is only necessary to examine Mr. Reagan's advisers to realise that the new President is threatened with being a creature of the same internationalists who used the pathetic Jimmy Carter. The most ominous appointment, an indication of the shape of things to come, is that of Dr. Henry Kissinger, a man who owed his advancement to the Rockefellers and who has publicly eulogised the late Nelson Rockefeller, one of the most dangerous international liberals ever to call himself a Republican.
Like Prime Minister Fraser, Mr. Ronald Reagan is pro-Zionist, and strongly anti-Soviet. But also like Mr. Fraser, Mr. Reagan does not favour economic sanctions against the Soviet, claiming that this would hurt Americans more than the Soviet.

Financial orthodoxy is Mr. Reagan's 'Achilles Heel'. But, just as the failures of the Muldoon, Fraser and the Reagan Government intensify the crisis, which either will result in genuine regeneration or complete collapse. The stage is now being set for what could prove the greatest crisis of Western Christian Civilisation The Reagan victory presents a tremendous challenge to all those who call themselves conservatives, not only in the U.S.A., but in every Western nation, including Australia.

BRIEF COMMENTS

If Mr. Bob Hawke and his backers really intend to challenge the Hayden leadership of the ALP within the next twelve months, they will need to gain far more support than they did when the ALP shadow ministry was elected. The voting confirmed our view that Mr. Hawke is not going to find it easy to persuade his fellow Labor Members that he was born to rule. Some of them have ambitions, too!

Mr. John Hyde, Liberal MP for Moore, W.A., appears to be one of the Government Members who received some type of a message from the Federal Elections. Speaking at the declaration of the poll, Mr. Hyde drew attention to some of the government's failures, stating, "We need to mend our ways."
There were 17 electorates where the Government survived with less than a 2 percent majority, and in 12 of these the Government had the advantage of the "donkey" vote. If Mr. Hyde and his backbench colleagues do not exert enough influence to force some basic changes in policy in the near future, many of them will join their departed colleagues of the 1980 election when the next election takes place. And it may not be three years away.

Mr. Al Grassby makes the astounding claim that "racism" suffered its worst defeat in years at the Federal Election, because of the defeat of National Alliance, National Front and Progressive Conservative Party candidates. Mr. Grassby says, "I think the vote will encourage people in all political parties to resist the threats of extremists and sectional groups who want to stand over politicians."
The truth is that there has been an unholy alliance between the media and the major political parties of Australia to ensure that there is no open discussion on the immigration issue. Speaking in Washington, September 1st, to the Zionist B'nai B'rith, Prime Minister Fraser apparently felt safe in boasting that "At the beginning of the 1980s Australia's immigration policy is colour blind and over a third of our settler arrivals come from Third World countries. We have moved a long way from being an essentially Anglo-Saxon-Celtic community to being a truly multicultural and multiracial one."
In an article, "The Menace of Multiculturalism" by Lachlan Chipman, which appeared in the October issue of "Quadrant" the author states that 'A number of politicians have said quite frankly in private that they are very worried about the directions multiculturalism is taking but that they are simply not prepared to oppose it publicly for fear of being politically aligned with the League of Rights or fascists!' So much for open, responsible government, when an overpaid bureaucrat like Al Grassby and his like can silence politicians and then claim there is no opposition to multiracialism and multiculturalism.

Remember Mr. Fraser's 1975 pre-election pledge? "There will be no more jobs for the boys." The electors of Macmillan, Victoria, made it clear on October 18th that they had had enough of Mr. Barry Simon, who made the League of Rights one of his special hates. But immediately he was appointed as one of Mr. Andrew Peacock's senior secretaries, at a salary higher than he was obtaining as a politician. Shades of Al Grassby! Then the deposed Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs, Mr. Garland, is to become Australia's High Commissioner in London, while Mr. John McLeay, former Minister for Administrative Services, is to take up a diplomatic post in Los Angeles, U.S.A. No wonder electors are increasingly cynical about politicians.