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Are we beginning to see the shape of a post-Trump politics emerging in America, a politics in which there is some common ground? For the Republican Party, the future now lies not in a Trumpian cultish dystopia, but in the vision articulated by J.D. Vance.
Vance proclaims: “We’re going to build factories again, put people to work making real products for American families, made with the hands of American workers.” For the Democratic Party, Kamala Harris will also address the very real problems of the working poor. She performed her role as vice president to Biden with great loyalty.
She was handed a poisoned chalice in the immigration portfolio. But we should not fall into the trap of the sexist and racist memes demonising her theme of “diversity, equity, inclusion”. Today, the lack of all three is a real issue for America.
In her 2019 bid to become the presidential candidate, she said, “This economy is not working for working people” (“ Harris economy may be more progressive than ‘Bidenomics’ ,” 23/7), a view she shares with J.D. Vance.
Nicholas Low, Cape Paterson An inspired option Kamala Harris has all the qualities to be the next president of the United States and every step of her journey has led her to this role. She was a lawyer in California’s district attorney’s office before being promoted to district attorney herself. She then broke through barriers to become only the second black woman and first woman of Asian-American heritage to serve in the US Senate and then of course she became the first female vice president.
She has always supported women’s rights (particularly their right to choose), gun control measures, voting rights, healthcare equality, improved treatment of migrants, taxation reform and so much more. She is an inspired choice and would show the world that the US hasn’t fallen victim to a cult, which of course is why she may not win, because so much of the population has. Samantha Keir, East Brighton A new ballgame “Be careful what you wish for” may come to resonate uncomfortably with Donald Trump.
He now contests a very smart woman of colour with both Indian and Jamaican heritage, who is considerably younger than he is. The former president’s gaffes have been largely ignored to date. Yet he has been at least as prone to mistake people, and ramble off on pointless and incoherent speeches as the current president.
And Trump will be into his 80s at the end of the term should he win, all the ageist issues he trumpeted would be reasons to deny a vote for Biden. Mike Reece, Doncaster The choice is simple Many commentators have said there is very little time remaining for the Democrats to endorse a new candidate, and carry out a winning campaign before November. Really? How long does it take people to make their minds up? Surely the choice is now clearer than it has been for years.
The greater challenge is surely to get people to register to vote and then get out and do so. Dave Rabl, Ocean Grove Political drama Observing American politics is like watching a Shakespearean play. A good but feeble old man surrenders his role to an untried understudy.
Meanwhile another old man, vicious and volatile, struts his hour upon the stage. The free world is anxiously watching but tragedies never end well. Sandra Torpey, Hawthorn Blind faith The nuns who attended a Trump rally in their religious habits and were photographed clapping Donald Trump are sending the message that the Catholic Church is supporting a criminal who lacks both integrity and intelligence and has demonstrated the depths he is prepared to go to obtain power.
They would do better to reflect on the danger that this man represents to democracy and what Christianity is. Marie Martin, Malvern East Economics 101 It’s great to know that state governments are seeking to promote the uptake of reverse cycle water heaters that use 70 per cent less energy (“ States pump hot water technology instead of gas ”, 23/7). Clearly costs of these appliances remains a barrier and government subsidies are key to rapid uptake.
The federal government’s failure to close the luxury tax loopholes and the use of other incentives has meanwhile resulted in unprecedented growth in fuel-guzzling ute sales, and a loss of $250 million in revenue in 2023. To cut climate pollution, we need all governments to follow economics 101: incentivise what we want more of, tax what we don’t. That is, incentivise renewable energy and efficient electric appliances and tax the polluting ones.
Karen Campbell, Geelong A market price The situation of heat pumps summarises the bind that Australia is in, balancing the cost of renewables transition with the rising costs of climate crisis impacts. The cause of the overall problem includes inadequate action by the previous Commonwealth governments on net zero, with not enough time for Labor to catch up now. The states do what they can, including promoting rooftop solar and subsidising households to switch from gas to electric.
Heat pumps are only one of many potential investments that would lead to reduced carbon emissions. But how much should the government subsidise them? How much emissions reduction bang for the buck would subsidised heat pumps give, compared with alternatives? Perhaps let the “free market” decide on heat pumps and other actions. Is it time to revisit a carbon tax? Whoops – I mean an emissions trading scheme.
John Hughes, Mentone Pump it up Heat pump hot water need not be expensive. Mike Foley points out that heat pump hot water heaters are much more expensive than small gas hot water heaters, and mentions rebates. My cost to replace an old gas system with an Australian brand hot water heat pump two years ago was $1400 out of pocket after I received $1000 in small scale technology certificates.
And for two years this brilliant electric technology, working by plucking heat out of even the coldest Melbourne days, has been lowering our power bills – while gas prices have been going up. You’re better off without gas. Elaine Hopper, Blackburn Free solar Why must we be ripped off by energy providers, who seem to make mega profits? The latest is to see our solar feed-in tariff now reduced to about 10 per cent of what it was at the beginning.
So we pay for solar panels to give them almost free power. And government allows it. Ange Kenos, Niddrie Cashless risks The foolishness of the proposed “cashless society” has suddenly become obvious to everyone (“ The cinema was ‘cash-free’ but the eftpos machines were down.
Was I in a movie? ” 23/7). Payment systems via the internet are nowhere near reliable enough. Of course, the banks and credit card companies are pushing this because they take a percentage of every payment – every single payment.
And the banks will reduce their costs enormously if they don’t have to handle cash. The Reserve Bank says it is committed to cash. But many organisations, including the MCG, are running their events as “cashless” (because it reduces their costs).
This is a disaster waiting to happen. Can you imagine what will happen when (not if) thousands of hungry football fans are told they can’t buy any food or drink because the payment system has gone down? And nobody has brought any cash, or can accept cash. How long will they wait before it gets nasty? And what happens to all that hot food if it can’t be sold? Geoff Dalton, East Malvern We’ve been warned We’ve had years of warnings about malicious cyber attacks and finally one glitch has brought down networks around the world.
Surprisingly enough though, no talk of emergency contingency plans for future events. We need basic plans to require individual supermarkets to quickly refigure to accept cash on pre-selected essentials. Petrol stations to accept cash for preset amounts.
Similar for common essential medicines. Warnings to households to hold some cash. We’ve just received a big warning in bright flashing letters.
Will we take prudent action or wait around for next time? Mark Freeman, Macleod Finding the truth In response to Gary Nunn’s article (“ Nine in 10 people lie to their therapist. But why? ” 19/7), as a counsellor and psychotherapist, I am always alert to and interested in what my clients choose to reveal about themselves and their lives. Their relationship with the truth is always complicated.
Truth can be both objective or subjective. In therapy we are most interested in clients finding and processing their subjective truth, which has both cognitive and emotional dimensions. The difference between truths and lies is not always straightforward.
What might turn out to be partial or complete lies (objectively speaking) can still reveal underlying emotional (subjective) truths. In my experience, lies can be intentional and unintentional, acts of omission as well as commission, and also the roads clients consciously or unconsciously choose to follow in order to safely find their own truth. Thus, in the end, I am not as interested in the facts (objective truth) as I am in helping clients find the subjective truth which helps them to heal or, at the very least, to function better in their lives.
How they arrive there may involve navigating a complex web of truths and lies, both objective and subjective. Kieran O’Loughlin, Yarragon Teal outcomes Peter Dutton thinks the teal members of federal parliament have achieved nothing since they were elected. Well, they helped achieve the removal of the Liberals from government.
That resulted in some movement on climate action by a federal government finally. That’s a very welcome, big achievement in my book. Peter O’Keefe, Collingwood Building blocks I welcome the Commonwealth government’s rethink of immigration but I hope doesn’t stop at the way disabled people and their families are treated (“ Rethink urged on ‘outdated’ treatment of migrants with disabilities ”, 23/7).
Family reunion immigration applications take years and cost tens of thousands of dollars for grandparents to be sponsored to Australia. It is generally accepted that happy families make great communities, yet we treat immigration as a commercial transaction rather than nation building. Time for a change of direction.
Geoffrey Conaghan, St Kilda Olympic ambitions Your correspondent is right about potholes and small cars ( Letters , 23/7). I drive an elderly Corolla and my car could also almost disappear into some of the potholes I encounter. My suggestion for a new Olympic sport is the pothole slalom.
We should be gold medal winners, having had so much practice on what are supposed to be major roads. Helen Moss, Croydon Dangerous roads Your correspondent bemoans the number of potholes in our roads. As a long-term cyclist, I would argue that our roads have never been in worse condition.
Dangerously so. Mark Hulls, Sandringham Small get swallowed I also have a small car, like the mini driver who is afraid of getting lost in potholes. My complaint is with the council-manufactured traffic-calming humps.
These are quite extreme, large cars, utes, buses etc can straddle them, thus proving inefficient. However I have had to have parts of my car screwed together so that the interlocking connection of various parts of my vehicle do not give way. There seems no effort for encouraging use of smaller vehicles, which are more desirable in cities.
Doris LeRoy, Altona Nothing changes Less than a week ago, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories unlawful, prescribed multiple actions for redress, and warned its supporters not to abet the illegal occupation. Yet media attention here has already swung to Israeli PM Netanyahu’s visit to his US patrons, and the fate of student protesters in Australia. Meanwhile reports of more Palestinian deaths from Israeli bombing are on repeat, this time in a Gaza zone declared a humanitarian enclave.
Gaza is now a wasteland; tens of thousands of trapped civilians have died there already, punishment for their being ruled by Hamas. The world’s most eminent jurists have spoken – and nothing changes. Truly, we have lost our moral compass.
Ken Blackman, Inverloch Vacant situations Thanks to your correspondent ( Letters , 22/7) who writes about the treatment of the aged in society. He is critical of suggestions the aged “should sell their house and downsize” and says it amounts to harassment. This reminds me of the current discussion about vacant properties.
There are many reasons a house may be vacant. Of course there are wealthy house accumulators waiting to cash in. But there are also cases of aged people going into care, disputes about estates etc.
By all means investigate the accumulators leaving properties empty for decades but leave it at that. I can recount a recent experience where a relative sat down to the nightly news and saw his own house in a story about vacant homes. The house was unoccupied because of the pandemic and the health situation of my relative.
David Fry, Moonee Ponds Credit: Matt Golding Housing Governments claim housing solutions for the homeless will take years to solve, until the Olympics come to town (“ ‘Social cleansing’: To make way for Olympics, Paris clears thousands of homeless ”, 23/7). David Cayzer, Clifton Hill In the garden today, I saw thornbills, spinebills, a raven, some doves and, I think, a white-naped honeyeater. Kerri Sackville says we look too long at our devices (“ I showed a total stranger a Trump meme on my phone.
It was a wake-up call ”, 21/7). An increasing number of us look up at birds. Debbie Lustig, Elsternwick Kamala Harris Undoubtedly Kamala Harris will be combating misogyny, racism and suspicion of childless women here’s hoping her fruit bowl is always full of ready to eat fruit.
Jenny Smithers, Ashburton What a breath of fresh air Kamala Harris is. Suddenly the old, predictable, loose with the truth Donald Trump, looks older, more predictable and looser with the truth. Ron Mather, Melbourne Watching TV news you’d think climbing or descending aircraft boarding stairs was the only “fitness” test for presidential candidates.
At least until now. Bernd Rieve, Brighton When it comes to intelligence, education and grace, Kamala Harris has it all over Trump. But when it comes to vulgarity, misogyny and utter conspiratorial nonsense, which, it seems, many Americans prefer, no one is better than Trump.
Henry Herzog, St Kilda East Please God that Kamala Harris can overcome the powerful forces of racism and misogyny to defeat Donald Trump in November. But hang on, Trump has drafted God to his side of politics already. Peter McCarthy, Mentone Finally As you’d expect, there was no graciousness or magnanimity in the Trump camp’s response to Biden’s withdrawal, only more enmity.
Or perhaps we should call it “maganimity”. Paul Sands, Sunbury T he Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here .
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