In a celebratory Mass for Gough Whitlam, Fr Ed Campion recalled the brief inscription to Machiavelli in the Franciscan Church of Santa Croce in Florence. ‘Tanto nomini nullum par elogium, 1527’.
Look around and we see monuments to Gough Whitlam everywhere – Medicare, needs-based education funding, recognition of China, no-fault divorce, university education, land rights, an end to White Australia, and …….A eulogy may be superfluous
Interesting, Ed Campion, still kicking, and, I suspect, stirring, offers a Requiem Mass for possibly Australia’s most renowned agnostic and quotes a memorial to Machiavelli. There a couple of ironies here. Whitlam is beyond compare in the general sad, dismal roll of recent Australian politics. The Almighty would prefer Gough to so many self-confessed, sanctimonious, preachy “Christians” in the current Cabinet. Machiavelli regarded himself as a realist: he was a bit of an early Hans Morgenthau. Whitlam was an idealist: a man of tremendous vision. I think the Australian political canvas was a wee bit too small for him. But he did his best. Without him Australia would have been a far, far worse place. It is a tragedy the current federal government seems hell bent on destroying his legacy: it shows what gnarled, mean, spiteful, visionless dwarves they are in comparison. May all their hopes be smashed to smithereens and Gough’s glorious legacy live on.