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Labor, Coalition: we have been sold a lack of difference Labor, Coalition: we have been sold a lack of difference
(12 days later)
In 1972, the cheeky young publisher Richard Neville conceded that in western liberal democracy, there was but “an inch of difference” between major political parties. But we would do well to remember, he said, “the inch in which we live”.In 1972, the cheeky young publisher Richard Neville conceded that in western liberal democracy, there was but “an inch of difference” between major political parties. But we would do well to remember, he said, “the inch in which we live”.
Perhaps it was marketing or metric conversion that apparently diminished Neville’s margin of difference from an inch to a micron these past 40 years. A new arithmetic narrows policy to the point where parties seem to mimic each other as products might. Abbott: Rudd without the unnecessary calories. Rudd: Abbott with real homestyle flavour. Perhaps it was marketing or metric conversion that apparently diminished Neville’s margin of difference from an inch to a micron these past 40 years. A new arithmetic narrows policy to the point where parties seem to mimic each other as products might. Abbott: Rudd without the unnecessary calories. Rudd: Abbott with real homestyle flavour. 
As empty as the promises on a snack bar, proximity to within-an-inch is the message of policy manufacturers this election. Try me, I’m just like that guy but with marriage equality. Try me, I’m just like that guy but with a netball skirt fetish. With the Coalition and the ALP serving as the other’s mirror, it is difficult to reflect on difference separating the two. Instead, commentators and constituents throw up their hands at this refusal to give an inch. As empty as the promises on a snack bar, proximity to within-an-inch is the message of policy manufacturers this election. Try me, I’m just like that guy but with marriage equality. Try me, I’m just like that guy but with a netball skirt fetish. With the Coalition and the ALP serving as the other’s mirror, it is difficult to reflect on difference separating the two. Instead, commentators and constituents throw up their hands at this refusal to give an inch. 
Forgetting Milne’s quiet electoral butchery of Gillard, some squander their moment in the booth and vote Green. Others will vote for lechery, or for “equal love”. Most, it seems, are agreed that the elaborate game of spot-the-difference will bring up nothing, save for a sweaty netball skirt. What is the point. They are exactly the same.Forgetting Milne’s quiet electoral butchery of Gillard, some squander their moment in the booth and vote Green. Others will vote for lechery, or for “equal love”. Most, it seems, are agreed that the elaborate game of spot-the-difference will bring up nothing, save for a sweaty netball skirt. What is the point. They are exactly the same.
The thing is, though, they’re really not exactly the same – and I say this less as a frayed but true believer, and more as an interested observer of sophisticated branding techniques. It is, in fact, a lack of difference that is being actively sold. The thing is, though, they’re really not exactly the same – and I say this less as a frayed but true believer, and more as an interested observer of sophisticated branding techniques. It is, in fact, a lack of difference that is being actively sold. 
Every mandarin of marketing depends on the fact that consumers actually despise choice. An impossible-to-decode range of telephone plans, for example, is designed to bring the consumer to a state of dissonance so extreme they will sign up to anything just to get out of the transaction. “They’re all the same anyway,” we say as we run away from our decision and its consequences.Every mandarin of marketing depends on the fact that consumers actually despise choice. An impossible-to-decode range of telephone plans, for example, is designed to bring the consumer to a state of dissonance so extreme they will sign up to anything just to get out of the transaction. “They’re all the same anyway,” we say as we run away from our decision and its consequences.
That moment in which we fear our choices have consequences is the one from which we flee. This is as true at the point-of-sale as it is at the polling booth: our late unwillingness to commit to the future is a tool as useful to spin as it is to snack-bar salesmen. It is not, in short, we who have uncovered the “truth” regarding the major parties' similarities. We have in fact been blinded to their difference as effectively this election as we were in 2007 when Rudd served as a kind of Howard-lite.That moment in which we fear our choices have consequences is the one from which we flee. This is as true at the point-of-sale as it is at the polling booth: our late unwillingness to commit to the future is a tool as useful to spin as it is to snack-bar salesmen. It is not, in short, we who have uncovered the “truth” regarding the major parties' similarities. We have in fact been blinded to their difference as effectively this election as we were in 2007 when Rudd served as a kind of Howard-lite.
It is certainly true that the ALP has changed; that its partial infatuation with the Third Way and its frequent fancy for symbolic liberal reform over economic management gives people like me the irrits. But it is not true that the party, despite its best efforts, has morphed into a lightly-sweetened Coalition.It is certainly true that the ALP has changed; that its partial infatuation with the Third Way and its frequent fancy for symbolic liberal reform over economic management gives people like me the irrits. But it is not true that the party, despite its best efforts, has morphed into a lightly-sweetened Coalition.
ALP members believe that social conditions can impact the individual. Liberal and National party members believe that the individual can impact social conditions.ALP members believe that social conditions can impact the individual. Liberal and National party members believe that the individual can impact social conditions.
If we stop to think about this fundamental ethical difference for at least as long as we consider the purchase of a new phone plan, we can see into that inch. If we stop to think about this fundamental ethical difference for at least as long as we consider the purchase of a new phone plan, we can see into that inch. 
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