Australian Left Review
Article Title
Review : Winner Take All by Donald Horne
Abstract
Donald Horne has followed Death o f the Lucky Country, his 1976 essay on the end of the Whitlam Era, with another political “quickie” Winner Take All, his avowed aim being to write a short book on the 1980 Federal election and its meaning. In some respects, however, Horne’s new book is more about “lack of meaning” than “meaning”., There are four important strands running through the book: the obfuscatory nature of the 1980 election campaign; an analysis of where the Labor Party is at of now; the government-forming process in Australia; and the power of the received wisdom or “common sense” in shaping the political values and judgement of the electorate. Each of these points is well worth discussing.
This paper has been withdrawn.