The Year My Politics Broke

Description

Is there more to politics than politics? What about sincere belief? Or conviction? Both are missing in action, trumped by political expedience. We've just sat through an election campaign in which the major parties fought a pitched battle over precious little, two bitterly adversarial political organisations scrambling desperately for the middle ground, aiming for the broadest common denominator. But the problem is bigger than just this election. We are living through a moment in which the pursuit of power seems the sole objective of political activity. True for Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott. Shouldn't someone hold them to account? Our political media perhaps? Why does it just report politics as show business? The sum of it leaves the rest of us short-changed. In The Year My Politics Broke, Jonathan Green looks at where politics, truth and disconnection collide.

Jonathan Green has been a working journalist since the late 1970s, mainly on newspapers including The Melbourne Herald, The Herald Sun, The Sunday Herald, The Sunday Age and The Age. He edited Crikey for three years before becoming foundation editor of ABC online's The Drum. He now hosts Sunday Extra on Radio National.