It was with great enthusiasm that, in the late 1960s, I decided to pursue my postgraduate studies in the United States. The choice of the US was a no-brainer for me. It was an exciting time to be there as a student. The ’60s were a decade of enormous social and economic change, and the US clearly still had credibility as the world leader.
It was an era of both destructive and creative thinking, with the significant student unrest and the challenges flowing from the assassinations of John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. There was the civil rights movement, the desire to disengage from the war in Vietnam, the political transition from Johnson to Nixon, the Apollo programs and the crewed moon landing.
The US still enjoyed what may be termed a “technology edge”, recovered somewhat from Japan and Korea, and had a competitive edge in manufacturing, especially in automobiles. It was the world leader in so many areas of academia, which for me meant economics and Johns Hopkins University. The prevailing attitude to politics and public service was well captured in JFK’s book Profiles in Courage.
As a student arriving towards the end of the decade, it was almost imperative to be involved, somehow, in this enormous transformation. As it happened, I had a classmate who was a Jesuit priest and was involved with the Democratic Party. He was engaged in what became the unsuccessful 1972 presidential campaign of George McGovern against the incumbent, Richard Nixon.
We had many discussions late into the night, vociferously debating various issues. McGovern had been appointed to key positions in the Kennedy government and had enjoyed a successful career in politics as both a congressman and senator. He was seen as a leader of modern American liberalism, and as such a very clear alternative to Nixon, particularly against the background of the Watergate scandal.
My time in America was eye-opening. Everything was big: the food, the houses, the issues, the dreams, the entertainment, the sports, such as gridiron, baseball and ice hockey – everything. From Kogarah to Baltimore, the difference couldn’t have been more stark. It was challenging and exciting. It made you feel alive.
From a period in which I was basically enamoured by all things American, I now find myself feeling concerned that, as a nation, we have become far too Americanised, mostly through a period where the substance and standing of the US has been in serious decline. This should be the focus of global concern, not the so-called rise of China.
Where the US democratic and judicial systems were once to be admired, they are now at risk. The US system did finally work and held Nixon and his colleagues to account, with significant penalty. Yet we now have a situation where one of the two presidential candidates, Donald Trump, a convicted felon and alleged rapist, has been able to undermine the integrity of the judicial system by getting a decision of immunity for his actions out of a Supreme Court he had stacked. This decision was made despite the outstanding charges related to the Capitol insurrection, attempts to overturn the outcome of the last election, and various issues with the mishandling and falsification of documents.
Indeed, it is worse than this. He has basically been able to game the judicial system to his advantage and is committed, if you accept the thrust of Project 2025, to completely undermining it by reducing the power and status of the Department of Justice.
While the process of addressing Nixon’s abuse of the system and other failings was agonisingly slow, as it took time for Woodward and Bernstein and Deep Throat and the special prosecutor to do their jobs, I found it distressing as it unfolded. Indeed, each day, as I drove my near terminal VW Beetle, with its black racing stripe, down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the White House to my position with the International Monetary Fund, I wound down the driver’s-side window and shouted, mostly for my own benefit, “For God’s sake, impeach the bum!” You should imagine what I would yell now with the prospect of a Trump revival. You’ve got it: “For God’s sake, jail the bum!”
Despite the attempt by Bill Clinton to refocus the political debate on the economy and economic management, the US economy has now been outclassed by the Chinese economy, in terms of both scale and competitiveness, resulting in what has become an obsession with the contrived “China threat”. Trump and his vice-presidential pick, J. D. Vance, threaten to reimpose significant tariffs that would be counterproductive for both the US and the global economy, risking retaliatory tariff action by other trading nations.
Similarly, successive Republicans have obsessed with reversing Barack Obama’s attempt to address the inequality of the system through universal access to health insurance and to the health system. This initiative was to the clear benefit of lower-income groups, the vulnerable and disadvantaged. Through his writings and actions, Obama also sought to restore some “Hope” in the lives of Americans, only to see it squashed by his successor and lost in the current presidential campaign.
Similarly, respect for the US in global affairs has waned seriously, although the country has sustained its military superiority. It is significant that the chiefs of the CIA and MI6 recently combined in a historically unprecedented way to stress that in their view the world order was under threat to a degree not seen since the Cold War. We are certainly unclear on what role the US may play into the future.
Yet both the Morrison and Albanese governments have increasingly compromised our sovereignty by welcoming more US defence bases and military exercises to Australia, locking us into the US war machine. With deals such as AUKUS, our role has been reduced to that of a subservient pawn in what is becoming a bipartisan US strategy against China. This is done with obscene spending to which Australia has been required to commit.
All of this came after John Howard invoked the ANZUS alliance in the context of committing to join George W. Bush in his illegal invasion of Iraq. Howard joined the “war on terror” and subsequently committed troops to the long and futile conflict in Afghanistan. Throughout, Australia was put at risk and became an enhanced terrorist target.
As prime minister, Scott Morrison was happy to be used by the Trump administration in other ways. He obediently called for an inquiry into the outbreak of Covid-19, pointedly focused on China, and for that country to lose its “developing country status” in the World Trade Organization.
Australia’s politics has developed a very unhealthy attraction to Republicans and their strategies, especially those of Donald Trump. Truth has been the first casualty. Trump’s shamelessness has been easily transposed. We have also copycatted positions on several policy areas, most notably immigration, even though we don’t have a common border with anyone.
Much of this has been driven by the Murdoch media, seeking to repeat the influence it has developed in the US and UK. It is noteworthy that Sky News Australia has appointed a US correspondent who adds to what has become its obsession with US politics and the Trump base in particular.
American culture has had a significant and, in some respects, positive impact on Australia. As a nation we grew up with a backdrop of I Love Lucy, Bewitched, M*A*S*H and Star Trek, through the decades to the immensely popular Seinfeld and Friends, which still enjoy huge audiences. There was also the groundbreaking and often prophetic mastery of The Simpsons. Before that, I remember Sunday evenings were hallmarked by Disneyland and the sound of the roaring lion that heralded an MGM classic. I wonder, however, if there was a point where we lost our way, where we forgot how great Australia was and just took on the lot.
Recently I was on an international flight, travelling Qantas. My wife and I were staggered by the overwhelming dominance of US movies and TV programs on their entertainment system. It seems disingenuous to acknowledge Country as you land, to model your airline as quintessentially Australian, while offering very little Australian content. We were lucky enough on a previous flight to catch Colin from Accounts.
Former prime minister Paul Keating has warned we are in danger of becoming the 51st state of the US. I fear we are already there. From culture to national security to politics, we have been completely consumed. It is time we made it clear this is not what we want. It is simply not in our national interest.
We can think for ourselves. We should be the masters of our own destiny, not just a vague echo of what is worst in America. Our sovereignty is important to us. So is our unique character.
This is a theme the opposition could seriously embrace, rather than its contrived outrages about Gazan refugees and the release of asylum seekers who have been detained illegally for a considerable period of time, or scaremongering about immigration and boat people. Their silence facilitates the drift against, as we slowly become less ourselves and more and more an extension of our largest security ally.
wask13 on
>This is a theme the opposition could seriously embrace, rather than its contrived outrages about Gazan refugees and the release of asylum seekers who have been detained illegally for a considerable period of time, or scaremongering about immigration and boat people. Their silence facilitates the drift against, as we slowly become less ourselves and more and more an extension of our largest security ally.
This is an amusing comment for Hewson to make, I don’t think there is another group in Australia more in favor of our Americanisation than the Liberal party opposition. If anything, given their history, one would expect such opposition to come from the ALP, but Albanese doesn’t appear to stand for much of anything.
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**TRANSCRIPT:**
It was with great enthusiasm that, in the late 1960s, I decided to pursue my postgraduate studies in the United States. The choice of the US was a no-brainer for me. It was an exciting time to be there as a student. The ’60s were a decade of enormous social and economic change, and the US clearly still had credibility as the world leader.
It was an era of both destructive and creative thinking, with the significant student unrest and the challenges flowing from the assassinations of John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. There was the civil rights movement, the desire to disengage from the war in Vietnam, the political transition from Johnson to Nixon, the Apollo programs and the crewed moon landing.
The US still enjoyed what may be termed a “technology edge”, recovered somewhat from Japan and Korea, and had a competitive edge in manufacturing, especially in automobiles. It was the world leader in so many areas of academia, which for me meant economics and Johns Hopkins University. The prevailing attitude to politics and public service was well captured in JFK’s book Profiles in Courage.
As a student arriving towards the end of the decade, it was almost imperative to be involved, somehow, in this enormous transformation. As it happened, I had a classmate who was a Jesuit priest and was involved with the Democratic Party. He was engaged in what became the unsuccessful 1972 presidential campaign of George McGovern against the incumbent, Richard Nixon.
We had many discussions late into the night, vociferously debating various issues. McGovern had been appointed to key positions in the Kennedy government and had enjoyed a successful career in politics as both a congressman and senator. He was seen as a leader of modern American liberalism, and as such a very clear alternative to Nixon, particularly against the background of the Watergate scandal.
My time in America was eye-opening. Everything was big: the food, the houses, the issues, the dreams, the entertainment, the sports, such as gridiron, baseball and ice hockey – everything. From Kogarah to Baltimore, the difference couldn’t have been more stark. It was challenging and exciting. It made you feel alive.
From a period in which I was basically enamoured by all things American, I now find myself feeling concerned that, as a nation, we have become far too Americanised, mostly through a period where the substance and standing of the US has been in serious decline. This should be the focus of global concern, not the so-called rise of China.
Where the US democratic and judicial systems were once to be admired, they are now at risk. The US system did finally work and held Nixon and his colleagues to account, with significant penalty. Yet we now have a situation where one of the two presidential candidates, Donald Trump, a convicted felon and alleged rapist, has been able to undermine the integrity of the judicial system by getting a decision of immunity for his actions out of a Supreme Court he had stacked. This decision was made despite the outstanding charges related to the Capitol insurrection, attempts to overturn the outcome of the last election, and various issues with the mishandling and falsification of documents.
Indeed, it is worse than this. He has basically been able to game the judicial system to his advantage and is committed, if you accept the thrust of Project 2025, to completely undermining it by reducing the power and status of the Department of Justice.
While the process of addressing Nixon’s abuse of the system and other failings was agonisingly slow, as it took time for Woodward and Bernstein and Deep Throat and the special prosecutor to do their jobs, I found it distressing as it unfolded. Indeed, each day, as I drove my near terminal VW Beetle, with its black racing stripe, down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the White House to my position with the International Monetary Fund, I wound down the driver’s-side window and shouted, mostly for my own benefit, “For God’s sake, impeach the bum!” You should imagine what I would yell now with the prospect of a Trump revival. You’ve got it: “For God’s sake, jail the bum!”
Despite the attempt by Bill Clinton to refocus the political debate on the economy and economic management, the US economy has now been outclassed by the Chinese economy, in terms of both scale and competitiveness, resulting in what has become an obsession with the contrived “China threat”. Trump and his vice-presidential pick, J. D. Vance, threaten to reimpose significant tariffs that would be counterproductive for both the US and the global economy, risking retaliatory tariff action by other trading nations.
Similarly, successive Republicans have obsessed with reversing Barack Obama’s attempt to address the inequality of the system through universal access to health insurance and to the health system. This initiative was to the clear benefit of lower-income groups, the vulnerable and disadvantaged. Through his writings and actions, Obama also sought to restore some “Hope” in the lives of Americans, only to see it squashed by his successor and lost in the current presidential campaign.
Similarly, respect for the US in global affairs has waned seriously, although the country has sustained its military superiority. It is significant that the chiefs of the CIA and MI6 recently combined in a historically unprecedented way to stress that in their view the world order was under threat to a degree not seen since the Cold War. We are certainly unclear on what role the US may play into the future.
Yet both the Morrison and Albanese governments have increasingly compromised our sovereignty by welcoming more US defence bases and military exercises to Australia, locking us into the US war machine. With deals such as AUKUS, our role has been reduced to that of a subservient pawn in what is becoming a bipartisan US strategy against China. This is done with obscene spending to which Australia has been required to commit.
All of this came after John Howard invoked the ANZUS alliance in the context of committing to join George W. Bush in his illegal invasion of Iraq. Howard joined the “war on terror” and subsequently committed troops to the long and futile conflict in Afghanistan. Throughout, Australia was put at risk and became an enhanced terrorist target.
As prime minister, Scott Morrison was happy to be used by the Trump administration in other ways. He obediently called for an inquiry into the outbreak of Covid-19, pointedly focused on China, and for that country to lose its “developing country status” in the World Trade Organization.
Australia’s politics has developed a very unhealthy attraction to Republicans and their strategies, especially those of Donald Trump. Truth has been the first casualty. Trump’s shamelessness has been easily transposed. We have also copycatted positions on several policy areas, most notably immigration, even though we don’t have a common border with anyone.
Much of this has been driven by the Murdoch media, seeking to repeat the influence it has developed in the US and UK. It is noteworthy that Sky News Australia has appointed a US correspondent who adds to what has become its obsession with US politics and the Trump base in particular.
American culture has had a significant and, in some respects, positive impact on Australia. As a nation we grew up with a backdrop of I Love Lucy, Bewitched, M*A*S*H and Star Trek, through the decades to the immensely popular Seinfeld and Friends, which still enjoy huge audiences. There was also the groundbreaking and often prophetic mastery of The Simpsons. Before that, I remember Sunday evenings were hallmarked by Disneyland and the sound of the roaring lion that heralded an MGM classic. I wonder, however, if there was a point where we lost our way, where we forgot how great Australia was and just took on the lot.
Recently I was on an international flight, travelling Qantas. My wife and I were staggered by the overwhelming dominance of US movies and TV programs on their entertainment system. It seems disingenuous to acknowledge Country as you land, to model your airline as quintessentially Australian, while offering very little Australian content. We were lucky enough on a previous flight to catch Colin from Accounts.
Former prime minister Paul Keating has warned we are in danger of becoming the 51st state of the US. I fear we are already there. From culture to national security to politics, we have been completely consumed. It is time we made it clear this is not what we want. It is simply not in our national interest.
We can think for ourselves. We should be the masters of our own destiny, not just a vague echo of what is worst in America. Our sovereignty is important to us. So is our unique character.
This is a theme the opposition could seriously embrace, rather than its contrived outrages about Gazan refugees and the release of asylum seekers who have been detained illegally for a considerable period of time, or scaremongering about immigration and boat people. Their silence facilitates the drift against, as we slowly become less ourselves and more and more an extension of our largest security ally.
>This is a theme the opposition could seriously embrace, rather than its contrived outrages about Gazan refugees and the release of asylum seekers who have been detained illegally for a considerable period of time, or scaremongering about immigration and boat people. Their silence facilitates the drift against, as we slowly become less ourselves and more and more an extension of our largest security ally.
This is an amusing comment for Hewson to make, I don’t think there is another group in Australia more in favor of our Americanisation than the Liberal party opposition. If anything, given their history, one would expect such opposition to come from the ALP, but Albanese doesn’t appear to stand for much of anything.