THE BLACK PILL

Recently I’ve been grappling with this fact: Parliament does not act in the best interests of its people.

To me, it seems that Parliament has an agenda (which is independent of any agenda held by the populous) and it attempts to force that agenda through the democratic system any way it can. It utilises an array of tools to do this: propaganda, the legal system, legislation, etc.

Take ‘the Voice’ as an example (you remember, that thing that would have created a Constitutionally enshrined race-based body). This was taken to a referendum last year, and was defeated (decisively). The people overwhelmingly voted against it. In a democracy, this should be the end of the story, since the people had spoken.

But it was not the end. Instead, States, Territories, and the Federal Government continue to push ‘truth telling’ (whatever that is) and ‘treaty’ (why any government would sign a treaty with its own citizens is beyond me). These steps are clearly opposed to the will of the people, as expressed through referendum.

Another example is the Australian government’s censorship legislation. This was originally released for public comment in late 2023. At the time it was widely criticised by the public. The government refused to release the vast majority of public submissions (which is egregious in itself). The legislation was then re-introduced in 2024. Again, it was widely criticised. Notwithstanding, the government attempted to force it through Parliament with very little debate. By some miracle, this failed. But within a week another bill was introduced which would achieve a similar outcome. It seems that the legislation nobody wants just keeps morphing and changing shape until (presumably) Parliament finds a form that it can enact despite the public push back. This is egregious and anti-democratic.

When you start to recognise this pattern, you can’t unsee it. The political apparatus has an agenda that it wants to enact regardless of the will of the people. In Australia, this is facilitated by our Constitution which ensures that there is a power imbalance between the People and the State (this is done by not providing the People with rights to free speech or to bear arms). Over a long enough time horizon, this power imbalance means that the will of the State supersedes the will of the people.

For me, this realisation is a black pill. The will of the people is not something that Parliament considers is relevant. Parliament is adhering to someone else’s agenda. If the People push back and say ‘no, we don’t want the Misinformation Bill to pass because we don’t want to be censored’, Parliament says ‘ok, we will pass the Duty of Care Bill which does the same thing but in a different way (peasants)’. Our Constitution enables this.

This is not a democracy. Not in any real sense. And what does that make Australian citizens? We’re not free people living in a democratic society. We are mere serfs in some fiefdom. We exist to work and be taxed and consume goods from the MegaCorporations in bed with Parliament. I don’t see a way through this at this stage.

Announcement - New book

I grapple with the above black pill and other issues in my next book, which is available for pre-order here. Those who pre-order will receive a signed hardcover version of the book at a discount.