EVEN THE BAD GUYS CAN BE HEROES.

Two things that annoy me are people that whinge about the government but just donkey vote or don't vote at all and those who are quite happy to suck the nipples of the state, like unemployment benefits and universal health care, without recognising who provided those benefits in the first place.

I openly admit that Gough Whitlam had a vision for Australia that his Ministers didn't quite share, and I'll even give credit to Malcolm Fraser, even though he did send me off to Asia for a working holiday in Vietnam, for the good work he did following the Menzies era. I admired Gough, Fraser and his ilk, John Gorton, although he was too far left for his right to be comfortable and the Elders Curtin, Chifley and Menzies.

All of these men, whether to the left or the right did some good for the country unlike the syncophants that walk the halls of power these days. Even Malcolm Fraser decried the fact that Statesmen were no longer around but only party hacks and functionaries that managed to leap-frog and back-stab there way to the top. In this group I place Gillard, Rudd and Abbott firmly at the centre ??? well, the jury is still out but I do hear the grinding of knife sharpeners somewhere behind Turnbull..

No amount of shuffling of the portfolios makes one bit of difference except maybe taking out a whinging Poodle and replacing them with a Rottweiller. Back to the whingers. Don't stand near me and cry foul about Whitlam then put your hand out for unemployment benefits, don't carry on about Labor and then happily traipse down to the doctor for free health services, don't cry in your beer when you have to pay some of the cost of your medicines. Nearly all the benefits of a welfare state came through the Labor ranks.

Maybe there are exceptions but it seems to me that the Liberal-National party sends us off to war and Labor brings us back. Do I hear howls of derision? Liberals brought in Conscription and Labor saw it farewelled. Gough brought in Free Education so the potential of every child could be reached only to be terminated by Howard two decades later, after all his supporters had graduated for free of course.

There is good and bad in every political party despite your voting preferences, even the Sex Party has some great policies, so rather than just scream blue murder about the party you don't like think about the party you do or even consider the ideas of single issue groups off in fairyland. We live in a democracy and to make that democracy work we are allowed to vote them in or out every four years. Lets see what the winners do and then vote accordingly the next time.

To change the words of Gough and as a warning to all knee-jerk voters

“May well we say God Save Trump for there is nothing that can save America”