The article in the Sunday Age (29/6), "Two tarnished sides of the Arab Coin" by Thomas Friedman which advocates pluralism – the devolving of power from a central authority to a network of government and non-government groups as the solution to the many problems that arise when power is centralised in a secular or theocentric state, raises serious concerns for Australia as well as the Middle East.
Power in Australia no longer resides in parliament, the election of a government led by a Prime Minister that was willing to give up his last breath to ensure some of the richest and powerful corporations on the planet did not pay one extra cent in tax when he was Opposition leader and who now, as Prime Minister, has declared Australia is open for business, highlights a significant shift of power from parliament to the boardrooms of unaccountable corporations whose major responsibility is to their shareholders.
Power, whether it's centralised in the hands of secular, religious or economic forces delivers the same results. It robs the individual of the ability to participate in the decision making processes in that society, it denies the individual access to the common wealth and robs society of the ability to provide for all its citizens.
The concentration of power in fewer and fewer hands breeds corruption, destroys the checks and balances in society, fosters internal dissension and increases the gap between those who exercise power and those who follow orders. Australians cannot afford to sit on the sidelines thinking they will never have to deal with the problems we currently see in the Middle East. Our current crop of political leaders actively campaign against pluralism while they continue to
put the interests of the parliamentary puppet masters – that small section of society that owns the means of production, distribution, exchange and communication, before the interests of those Australians they represent in Federal parliament.