If There is But One Iota of Goodness Left in The World

Michael Bradley 

"I cannot escape the conclusion that, in 2015, humankind went backwards."

"The positive has been rare. The small ways in which people displayed their humanity - #illridewithyou; the post-Sydney Siege floral sea in Martin Place; the resilience of Parisians against a double dose of horrific terrorist violence; Melbourne's facing down of the arrant Border Force police-state overreach; some parts of Europe's response to the Syrian exodus - were exclusively reactive, responding to and ameliorating the worst of terrorism, governmental excess or xenophobia."

"In the overwhelming sea of awfulness that people and governments inflicted on each other this year, these green buds of progressive thought and empathic action barely registered beyond the social media ripple. And they didn't impede the carnage or the erosion of human rights one bit."

Perhaps a bit of an overstatement but also perhaps not.

It is a defining characteristic of conservative, ie right wing, governments, that they stand for the status quo so that all stays the same from generation to generation. Electorates also fall back on conservative governments when they feel threatened. Do you detect a hint of oxymoronism here? If you want every thing to stay the same, and the present reality is what is threatening, then electing conservatives is the best way to make certain of the continuing recurrence of this reality.