It is always nice to find yourself quoted by Andrew Bolt but to match my own high regard for Tony Abbott’s campaign launch he quotes someone else who slates Abbott for the very lack of philsophy that is readily evident to anyone who actually understands philosophy. I realise you have to understand the unifying theme that exists as the foundation for what Abbott has said but it really isn’t so hard, not really. Abbott wants each of us to be self-reliant, to get on with our lives and not depend on the state. He nevertheless wants the state to use its resources to help individuals at particular moments in their lives, such as when they are sick, when they are unable to find jobs or when they have children. He also wants our productive efforts undertaken by business with governments only doing what will not be done by the private sector, either at all or to a socially optimal extent. This is, as Abbott says himself, a quite straightforward reflection of the liberal-conservative take on life. It is Robert Menzies and it is the way that all great leaders in our western tradition have exhibited the philosophy that underpins what they do. I can only say that if you can’t see it for yourself, it is because you either have little understanding of this philosophy yourself or you have a different, more socialist philosophy that does not even recognise not just the existence of this philosophical understanding but cannot see that it is superior to anything else you could possibly find anywhere else at all.