>>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>>
>>[more on the Australian election from aut-op-sy]
>>
>>Thiago Oppermann wrote:
>>
>>>... The antiwar movement and the politics of conscience more
>>>generally simply
>>>failed to register. That is surprising if one remembers that 18 month ago,
>>>half a million people took to the streets in Sydney, and rallies of ten
>>>thousand people were happening every week in Australia. ...
>
>Hmm, Attention Deficit Disorder, the leading public health menace in
>world politics today.
Not necessarily. If the hordes who demonstrate in the streets are a small portion of the population, then demonstrations can't be considered a measure of popular opinion. And in this case, it looks like the feeling that another Howard government could keep mortgage interest rates lower than a Labor government dominated all other considerations.
Yoshie was wondering the other day why the lefts in the U.S., Britain, and Australia had so little influence compared to those of continental Europe. All three countries are obsessed with homeownership, and have all experienced recent housing booms. Do other countries experience similar booms?
Doug