We're not the only polarized country
by digby
... fighting over the same things:
Australia's opposition has crushed the governing Labor party in a general election that has returned the Liberal-National coalition to power for the first time in six years...
Under Mr Rudd, Labor initially saw its figures improve. But Mr Abbott, who enjoyed the strident support of Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, then widened the gap again.
"From today I declare Australia is under new management and Australia is now open for business", Mr Abbott told a cheering crowd as he delivered a victory speech.
He said that he would put the budget back into surplus, and stop boats bringing migrants from Asia.
As you can see, this victory is something like a Ted Cruz victory would be here. (That's not an exact comparison, obviously. But this guy is pretty far right.)
The kind of economic dislocation we are seeing (and in America's case, endless military engagement as well) makes people unhappy. And when they are unhappy they vote against the status quo. And sometimes it's not pretty.
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