Peter Wynn
Aug 8, 2017 · 3 min read

THE RIGHT-WING SMALL GOVERNMENT LIE

In many countries, including Australia, the right-wing of politics pushes the claim to support small government, but just how true is this?

If you are of a group that they support (i.e. Big Business) they tend to meddle very little in what you do, but if you are of a group they oppose (one whose interests are not their business) they cannot meddle enough.

Take for instance the same-sex marriage debate in Australia. Since when has it been the government’s business whether two people co-habitate? Okay, if one or both members of the couple receive government income support, and the rates vary according to whether the recipient is single or partnered, fair enough, but why should the government be able to deny two people the right to marry because of their sexual orientation?

Some follow the preposterously hollow religious argument that “marriage is between a man and a woman” but let us not forget that religion adopted marriage into its realm, not the other way around. Let us not forget that Jesus Christ was argued to have been immaculately conceived, yet there exists very little convincing evidence that Mary and Joseph were married at the time of his conception or birth.

At a time when religion occupies a less significant space in people’s lives than it previously did, one must ask what relevance these arguments have in a changing world.

With secular democracies allowing freedom of choice regarding religious affiliation, one must ask what right conservative politicians have to enforce their religious views upon the populace on issues such as these.

The same must be said for abortion. A politician may not personally approve of it, and nor may a church figure, but neither a politician nor a religious figure should have the right to impose their religious belief upon the populace as a whole by denying access to it. Likewise, a church figure who argues that women seeking an abortion due to rape should be manipulated into believing they are carrying “a gift from God”, they are not, they are the victim of a crime, saddled with the burden of carrying the seed of it through gestation and possibly rearing. If a woman CHOOSES to keep a baby after a rape, so be it, but NO church figure has the right to argue against abortion on these grounds and nor does a politician.

Furthermore, the argument of the right-wing regarding individual liberty is not related to anything other than preserving the status quo. Freedom of speech is one issue, but so is the freedom of a person from a minority group to live their life free from abuse, insults and offence. Could one imagine picking up a newspaper in one’s area seeing potentially libelous claims made about a group and no right of appeal? Some may argue that the law is an expensive pastime and while it is, equality before the law is not negotiable.

Politicians on the Right side of the political spectrum are in fact selling to the electorate a lie of epic proportions when they claim to support small government as what they want is to operate invasive government for those who do not subscribe to their paradigm that is in reality about the minority not the majority, with the minority being their donors.

Peter Wynn

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Diagnosed with autism at 35. Explained a lifetime of difference.