You sound like my dad. He's joined the Australian Conservatives and is becoming a political activist....at age almost 80.
I agree that many things have gone backwards, but I try to look forward and learn from the past. It's a different world now. I'm a Libertarian myself and I have a lot in common with his Conservative values, but we're not the quite the same. We share a disdain for socialist statism though.
Your father sounds like a patriotic, intelligent and knowledgeable man, B.
I have a soft spot for Bernardi and the Australian Conservatives. However what we are seeing is too many conservatives running in too many directions. Hanson, Abbott, Bernardi (maybe even reformed Latham would join them, and a Costello return would be nice) would be a conservative force to be reckoned with. But until they can unite under one banner, they will simply lurk in the fringes.
I hear you on ''different', the world is different. In the 50s it was 3 months wages for a TV. Now for many it is about 3 days. I wouldn't want to go back to 3 months - but if TV was getting in the way of our happy family - I would gladly get rid of it.
SK
The Conservatives were pretty much screwed when Abbot got knifed and have been getting purged from the Liberal party since. I see Hanson as more of a Nationalist and Latham has joined the Libertarians, but yes I do take your point. The classical Right wing of politics is very divided in Australia presently and the major parties are shifting Left.
I actually lived without a TV for a couple of years. Some of the happiest years of my life :)