Beneath the Southern Cross

I have been considering the politics of Australia recently, or more to the point, the culture of the people. It started around ANZAC Day and has stuck with me, primarily because I have been unable to pinpoint where it all started to unravel for me. Growing up I always thought we were a nation built on the "fair go" principle. Before "A Current Affair" turned the word "battler" from a mark of respect for someone who was poor, but hard-working, to a epithet for toothless, fat bogans in leggings with 6 kids from 4 fathers, bleating that the government should pay them more to shoe their children, but somehow managing to find cash for the carton of cigarettes and slab of beer each week. When did we get so lazy? Was it the fault of faux Labor in the '80's? Of WA Inc? Was that when I lost faith? A true Believer with nothing left to believe in? I would hate this flag to become nothing more than a symbol of greed flown over building sites around the city.