The NCC was the chief sponsor of the Democratic Conference 2024 held in Sydney from February 2 to 3. It was an affirmation of the true, the good, and the beautiful in our society.
Too many people, be they left-leaning or right-leaning or unaligned, have fallen for the lie that Australia is a deeply flawed, corrupt and contemptible place.
Nation states and other bad actors spend millions enticing Australians down online rabbit holes for the single purpose of getting them to give up on their country and give up on their freedom.
The purpose of these operations – well covered by News Weekly – is to reduce our confidence in our societies, our own institutions, and even our own communities.
It makes us think we need external saviours and ties us into the nefarious agendas of terrorists and dictators in a toxic “whataboutism” where they have all the answers, and we have none.
Excellent Foundations
We’ve seen so many patriotic Australians fall for this online trap that it is now common to hear the phrase, “I did some deep research online into this last night”. This actually means, “I followed an algorithm feed video-watching frenzy that led me to despair and paralysis”.
The victims of these psy-ops believe there is no point participating in our democracy. They want another power to take over – be it a country or an ideology.
The truth is we have a robust and stable democracy, a remarkably capable government system, an enviable judiciary, and a top-notch professional military. We are world-leaders in principled pragmatism, stability, and civil society.
This is not to say everything is perfect. Far from it. But we have the building blocks of greatness. More importantly, we have the building blocks for a just and fair society.
The Good Fight
Our biggest obstacle is complacency. Thanks to our material wellbeing and relative peace and stability, it is easy for us to forget that democracy requires our work and our participation.
Democracy also requires our creativity. We do not want ideologies or idols – be they deregulation or libertarian government, socialism or enforced equality.
The world has changed. Technology has changed. Society has changed. People have changed. The solutions of the 1950s are not the solutions for today. The world is different now.
Therefore, this takes time, reflection, and analysis. In a democratic society, this also requires compromise.
Instead of unachievable ideals, we need achievable improvements – and we can only get those by bringing people together and seeing what can be done.
That is what we are working towards in The Movement. Assessing the problem is the first step to determining solutions.
The Democratic Conference was one such step.
We are planning with our friends, allies, and the Thomas More Centre, more discussion-oriented conferences for this year.
Thanks for supporting this work.
