Letter
Kidding ourselves: Were America's values ever ours?
No one stole American jobs. Neoliberal big business magnates sent them offshore where they paid even less for labour than they did to the US working poor. All for greater profit. Thus the dire straits of US jobs and manufacturing in 2025.
As for Australia having no levers to pull: Pine Gap, Tindall, Darwin, Exmouth ….
But those “ values”. We must acknowledge the US as one of the most violent countries on earth. Internally the NRA and the death it wreaks. Externally we participated in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan for no gain, only loss to us and the countries we attacked … to satisfy the US. But we rarely acknowledge the destruction wrought by the US in Central and South America, north Africa, and now ongoing in Palestine. Not to mention big business coercion: grow this size potatoes, these coffee beans, …
The powerful US military-industrial lobby and Murdoch media have forever fooled our politicians, military, media and large swathes of the population. The US will only ever look after itself. It’s time to rebel, cut the ties, live independently as the mature country we can be if not shackled to the US and values we do “not” share.
— Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122