Socrates once said that 'envy is the ulcer of the soul.' Following the fall of Tony Abbott and Stephen Harper, that's clearly in abundance on the global Christian Right. The US Christian Right has been displaying rancor toward the Obama administration since his inauguration in 2008. If, as widely predicted, Hillary Clinton wins the forthcoming US presidential race next year, then that will probably mark her turn. And certainly, during the Noughties here, there was similar fanatical animus toward Helen Clark from defunct Investigate magazine editor Ian Wishart. But what about today? What leads to such opprobrium? In the United Kingdom, anti-Cameronism emanates from the United Kingdom Independence Party, angry at the pragmatic European Union policies of the Cameron administration as well as the modernist inclusive turn within the Cameron era Conservative Party which has seen it embrace marriage equality and LGBT rights. Mind you, due to the First Past the Post electoral system for House of Commons elections, that is only expressed (paradoxically enough) within European Union elections- and like its parent, UKIP is vulnerable to schism within its own ranks. In New Zealand, right-wing opposition to the Key administration tended to be within the ambit of the Conservative Party, until the shenanigans of this year and the Stringer/Craig civil war within its ranks decimated its membership and opinion poll ratings. With the cessation of Investigate magazine and the enduring recession, Family First now has to carry the can- and it still holds hope for the Key administration on some issues. More recently, there were two ejections of social conservative leaders within the British Commonwealth, namely former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative federal government. How did their respective Christian Right movements respond to the sacking of Abbott by his own party, and Harper's election loss? In Abbott's case, not all Australian Christian Rights groups or activists commented. The vitriol and hyperbole poured from those that did. Witness fundamentalist militant Bill Muehlenberg's rhetoric when the leadership revolt toppled Abbott. Abbott was installed in a federal Australian election, there were imprecations heaped against Turnbull's character and motivation for the coup, Turnbull was accused of rampant social conservative ideological impurity given that he's pro-choice, supports marriage equality and the "antithesis" of Liberal Party values, Deputy Leader Julie Bishop betrayed Abbott, it will contribute to ideological schisms and dissent within the Liberal Party, it will turn off right-wing Liberal voters, and Australian mainstream social liberal bipartisanship has returned. What amusing umbrage! The "Salt Shakers" website was far more considered and rational in its approach, although it slammed Turnbull for his social liberalism and valorised Abbott despite his incompetence. Meanwhile, across the Pacific, what did Canadian social conservatives conclude about the Trudeau landslide? On the Christian Heritage Party of Canada website, Peter Vogel sighed in frustration at the result. It was a bad night for the Conservatives, the New Democrats and also his microparty, he wrote. According to the Wikipedia Canadian 2015 federal election results and CHP Canada pages, the Canadian CHP stood thirty candidates, and secured 15,284 votes- amounting to 0.09% of the total Canadian popular vote. Even better, some anti-abortion and religious social conservative Conservative Party candidates were defeated. Vogel said that he regarded the Canadian general public as unsympathetic to religious social conservative values and disparaged Stephen Harper and Conservative commitment to religious social conservatism because it wasn't anti-abortion or anti-gay enough. As for REAL Women of Canada, its national antifeminist group, it mourned the election result, arguing that Stephen Harper did have some social conservative values, as evidenced by Canada's retrograde anti-sexworker legislation, and then whined about the fact that Harper was from right-wing Alberta and not the eastern Canadian political establishment, unlike new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. With the Liberals in power, abortion and assisted suicide access would continue unrestricted, and transgender rights legislation, drug policy liberalisation, and the repeal of the Harper era anti-sexworker Bill C-34 would now occur apace. How does it feel to be on the receiving end, guys? Not Recommended: Bill Muehlenberg: "Thoughts on the Turnbull Treachery" Culture Watch: 15.09.2015: http:// billmuehlenberg.com/2015/09/ 15/thoughts-on-the-turnbull- treachery/ "A Change of PM: How do we respond?" Salt Shakers: 15.09.2015: http://www. saltshakers.org.au/107-fp-a rticles/fp-2015/1513-briefing- a-change-of-pm-how-do-we- respond Peter Vogel: "Polls, Predictions, Pundits and Finally Results" CHP Canada: 20.10.2015: https://www.chp. ca/commentary/polls- predictions- pundits-and-finally.-results "The Liberals Win, Humanity Loses" REAL Women of Canada: 22.10.2015: http://www.realwomenofcanada. ca/the-liberals-win-humanity- loses-reality/ GayNZ.com Daily News staff - 28th October 2015
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 28th October 2015 - 9:27am