The Seven Deadlies V
Friday, 6th October 2006

Dear friends,

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser is back in the news. Interestingly he was speaking at the launch of a book by one of his former political rivals, the former Federal Minister and President of the Labor Party, Barry Jones.

The Age newspaper reports this morning...

"INTOLERANCE is on the rise not because the basic make-up of Australians has changed, but because today's political leaders tend to appeal to the worst in the nature of the electorate, rather than bringing out the best.

So says former prime minister Malcolm Fraser, who believes Australia's hugely successful postwar migration program could not have happened if political leaders had played to fear in the community.

"If we had asked Melbourne if it wanted to become the biggest Greek city outside of Greece, Melbourne would have voted no," Mr Fraser said last night. "Now that it has happened, we are proud of it and overwhelmingly approve of it." [Source: www.theage.com.au]

Mr Fraser went on to say that the problem today "is not that the basic make-up of Australians has altered so dramatically … but we have political leaders who at times appeal to the worst in our natures, rather than to the best."

Hear! Hear! Mister Fraser.

I am beginning to wonder if the Eighth Deadly Sin might be fear. Anxiety and fear does drive a community to do stupid things. The rise of fundamentalism is, at heart, driven by fear and anxiety in the general population. We have seen it illustrated in the political sphere by the rise of Pauline Hanson which coalesced into the counter-response lurch to the right by present Prime Minister, John Howard. We have also seen it illustrated in the religious sphere by the rise of fundamentalism across virtually all of the major religions.

I have to say Malcolm Fraser gives me great heart. In the days when he was Prime Minister I was an active member of the Liberal Party and a great supporter of his conservatism. Curiously, Fraser seems to have moved a long way from the sort of philosophical positions he seemed to advocate in that period of his life and I find I also have moved a long way in my own thinking. Malcolm Fraser to me today is a far better advocate for genuine Liberal thought (something different to libertarian thought) than John Howard could ever claim to be. Howard basically does not have any political philosophy other than capital "P" Pragmatism and playing to the basest sensibilities of the populace. Despite his success on the economic front, I fear there is going to be an enormous price eventually paid for this pragmatism — and in economic terms not least of all.

Now to our commentaries today. The lead commentary comes from Wendy. I have a feeling that what she writes is going to be well received by you, our readers.

Wrath: what a charlatan! Wendy is a new commentator for Catholica but what a debut she makes. She opens her commentary with these sentences: "What a charlatan anger is! What a cad, a bully, a tart, a scoundrel. Is there a greater chameleon among the Seven Deadlies?" and it just keeps powering on from there. [more]

Father Farzenheim on the beauty and glory of Divine Wrath! Far from seeing Wrath as a Deadly Sin, Father Farzenheim has a very different take on Anger. He's a member of the Fathers of Divine Wrath and reminds us of the beauty and glory to be found in Divine Anger — Dies Irie in Latin. [more]

Best wishes for a great day wherever you happen to be ... in life, and in our world.

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher
Catholica Australia