Politics for the over-fifties - calling all silverbacks to action

So, what has become of all that grey power in Australia? The 'aging population' promoted as such a threat by various grey-haired politicians, seems to be awfully quiet. Why aren't they raging in the streets over here? Opinions and theories welcome. We need to solve the mystery and galvanise and organise the greys.

Click to the pic hear these chicks sing their song.

Grey-haired establishment does not speak for grey-haired majority

Yes, indeed, the aging and grey minority have a high profile in the rapacious activities of property development, banking and parliament, where they are seen, filmed, interviewed and promoted talking economic rationalism and high density living. And they are there to represent money; they are enemies of wisdom, social solidarity and citizen self-government. But what of the great majority of greys who are old enough and wise enough to know that this country is being robbed by its politicians, bankers and property developers? What of those who remember wars to defend this country? What of those who huddle miserable in sub-standard accommodation, unable to pay rising electricity bills and rents? What of those in special accom houses? What of those silently gagging in front of tv cookshows and wondering is that all there is? What of those anxiously watching their children and their grandchildren and hoping to be able to salvage something from the mortgage to assist those children and grandchildren in the increasingly desperate race to survive that is the present condition of so many Australians?

Where are they? What are they doing? Where is their song? Where are their marches and their cries of rage?

Over Fifties publications seem to have been glossied and corporatised, vehicles for pushing superannuation deals and investment packages to the wealthy elderly. Grey Power organisations seem to be orphaned, drifting without support. Here's a sample of what's on offer for over fifties: "Entertainment, travel, retirement villages, dating for the over-fifties..." You would think that people over 50 were children to be entertained. What is this mentality? Where are the politics for Over Fifties?

Look at the history of Grey Power in Wikipedia. What's going on?

This article is about the Australian lobby group. For the New Zealand lobby group, see Grey Power (New Zealand).

Grey Power, an Australian political party lobby group, first registered in 1983. At the federal elections of 1984 and 1987 it ran candidates, but on both occasions these candidates (who included former Liberal cabinet minister Bill Wentworth) did poorly. The group was designed to represent the elderly vote, advocating issues dealing with aged care and a mature perspective on national policy; hence the name "grey power".

Grey Power ran in the Western Australian election of 1989, garnering 5.2% of the total lower house vote. The last election which Grey Power contested was the South Australian election of 1997, but then it only managed to receive 1.6% of the South Australian Legislative Council vote.

The best result Grey Power ever achieved was at the 1994 Taylor by-election in South Australia, at state level. Without a Liberal candidate in the running on this occasion, Grey Power managed to get 13% of the primary vote, and finished second after preferences had been distributed, acquiring 27% of the vote. Labor retained the seat.

Did loss of seniority system in workforce fundamentally destabilise our society?

A generation ago or less there was a strong tradition and enforcement of promotion by seniority in the public service and in many other forms of work. Promotion by so-called 'merit' has merely turned out to foster croneyism, bureaucracy and a culture of obedience. A range of personality disorders with little capacity for empathy and a tendency to focus on bean-counting and enforcing petty rules has come to dominate managment in most systems. Bullying is the major symptom. Natural human organisations do not promote youth over wisdom or encourage youth to compete. Natural human organisations are led by the council of their elders.

We now see a huge rise in unemployment, homelessness, and isolation among middle-aged and older men and women who would previously have held stable and respected positions - in business, local activities, and their homes. Society did not adapt this new order of things all at once. It required sustained social engineering, carried out by and for the benefit of economic rationalists and market-force theorists. The result has been a society with a dearth of mature citizens in positions of power in the workforce, which is the major social system that dominates most people's lives, either through participation or exclusion. When people with years of experience had security, it was possible to speak out in the workforce, in the public service, and demand that things be done properly. No more. People are cowed and frightened. I don't think that Howard would have got away with his workplace disempowerment laws if senior people had been able to retain careers in the public service. I cannot include senior people who are the public face of official politics - those who rise to the top of the Labour and Liberal parties - as true representatives. They have been chosen for their decadent values - money, privilege and status - and they speak only for the moneyed and powerful.

The vast majority of 'seniors' are now just seen as a cohort of cash-cows, to frighten with financial insecurity and to market commodities to.

We should bring back seniority to our society and to our workforce.

Can anybody hear me out there?

Photo: Mature silverback citizen mentors little one.

Maybe one of the things that went wrong with grey power was too narrow a focus. I mean grey power should be about people power, not just about what happens to you when you need aged assistance. Greybeards, silverbacks and raging grannies should be looking after their clan and tribe and their clan and tribe should look up to them and support them as real representatives.

Politics are free. You can meet people like yourself. You can speak your mind. You can become engaged. Put down those antidepressants (slowly of course, to avoid significant withdrawals) and combat with political engagement that awful feeling that you are disappearing. Yes. Take a lesson from the existentionalists. You have to be in it to feel like you are alive.

Show your confused and dispossessed, endebted and oppressed children and grandchildren that you don't have to be 'Someone' to participate in politics; you just have to be a citizen. You don't have to be rich to have an opinion; you just have to start speaking out.

Let's get organised again. But this time, don't look for 'corporate sponsorship' or government grants or recognition from the mainstream press. Those forces will just take us over, make money, then spit us out, whilst continuing to sail falsely under the banners we first erected. We have to remake our society for us - and that means doing it together, not for money.