The School Bully and the Declaration of Independence: Why Australia Needs Unity Now

Some thoughts have been rattling around in my head lately.

How many of us remember the school bully? Not the popular kid. Not the one everyone genuinely admired. The bully ruled the playground for a different reason: people were afraid of him. He gathered favourites with treats and threats, rewarded loyalty, punished dissent, and relied on everyone else being too divided to stand together against him.

Most of us knew what was happening. We grumbled about it among our friends. We quietly cheered when someone stood up to him. But when the moment came to act, we often found ourselves looking at our shoes and hoping somebody else would take the risk.

The older I get, the more I wonder whether politics sometimes works in much the same way.

Across the Western world, many voters feel increasingly disconnected from those who govern them. They watch decisions being made by political insiders, bureaucracies, lobby groups, and institutions that seem far removed from everyday concerns. They feel ignored, dismissed, or labelled whenever they raise questions about issues that affect their lives.

Whether the issue is housing affordability, immigration, cost-of-living pressures, energy policy, declining services, or the future of regional communities, many Australians believe their concerns are heard only after they become impossible to ignore.

The result is growing frustration - not simply with one party or another, but with an entire political class.

That frustration led me to think about one of history's most remarkable acts of political courage.

On July 4, 1776, representatives of thirteen American colonies approved the Declaration of Independence. It remains one of the most influential political documents ever written.

What strikes me is not merely the words themselves but the people behind them.

Thomas Jefferson, who drafted much of the document, was only 33 years old. John Adams was 40. Benjamin Franklin was 70. Roger Sherman was 55. The revolutionary generation included men from different colonies, professions, religions, and backgrounds. Some were young. Some were old. Some were wealthy. Others had modest beginnings.

What united them was not age or status but a shared belief that government should serve the people rather than rule over them.

The Declaration proclaimed that all men are created equal and possess certain unalienable rights. It argued that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed and that when governments cease to fulfil their purpose, citizens have the right to change them.

These were extraordinary ideas for their time.

The American colonists were not united because they agreed on everything. They did not. They argued fiercely among themselves. What made them effective was their ability to identify common principles and act together despite their differences.

That lesson remains relevant today.

Australia is not eighteenth-century America, nor should we pretend otherwise. Yet many feel let down and abandoned and recognise a familiar problem.

Large numbers of voters feel that governments increasingly govern on behalf of institutions, experts, and international interests while ordinary citizens struggle to have their voices heard. Regional Australia often feels overlooked by decision-makers concentrated in capital cities. Manufacturing has declined. Housing costs have soared. Families worry about the future their children will inherit.

They are real concerns held by real people, and dismissing them only deepens the divide.

The ballot box remains the great corrective mechanism of democracy. Unlike the American colonists, we have historically settled our disputes peacefully through elections. But elections only work when citizens are willing to cooperate around shared goals. And when elections are fair and honest. 

This is where the schoolyard bully returns to the story.

Imagine a playground election.

Thirty percent of the students support the bully because they benefit from his favour. The remaining seventy percent want change but cannot agree on who should lead. Some back Marylou. Others support Bushy. A few prefer PP. Redhead has her own supporters. Everyone insists their candidate is the perfect choice.

The bully watches with a smile.

While his opponents argue among themselves, he wins again.

The lesson is obvious. Division often helps the side already holding power.

This may help explain the growing support for minor parties and independents across Australia. Whether it is One Nation, independents, regional movements, or other challengers, many voters are searching for alternatives because they believe the major parties are no longer listening closely enough.

The establishment often reacts with alarm whenever new political movements gain momentum. When existing institutions stop responding effectively to public concerns, voters look elsewhere.

That does not mean every new movement is correct. It does mean that dismissing large numbers of voters as ignorant, extreme, or dangerous is usually a mistake.

People want to be heard.

Australia has faced moments like this before.

The Eureka Stockade of 1854 was brief, chaotic, and imperfect. Yet it became a powerful symbol of ordinary people demanding representation and fair treatment. The reforms that followed helped shape Australia's democratic traditions.

Today, we need something far more difficult than rebellion. We need discipline. We need cooperation. We need the ability to find common ground with people who may not agree with us on every issue.

The Founding Fathers succeeded because they understood that principle. They did not achieve unity by eliminating disagreement. They achieved it by focusing on shared objectives that mattered more than their differences.

Australia faces a similar challenge.

If citizens want change, they must learn to work together. They must persuade rather than insult, organise rather than complain, and vote rather than merely vent their frustrations online.

The school bully only remains powerful while everyone else stays divided.

The moment enough people recognise their shared interests and act together, the balance changes.

The lesson of 1776 is not that every generation needs a revolution. It is that free people must eventually decide whether they are citizens or spectators.

History shows that unity can be a powerful force.

The question for Australia is whether we still possess enough of it.