Charles Harpur and Dan Deniehy saw republicanism as a vehicle toward humanity advancing to the point of moral perfection. That is a very noble goal, I am not sure that I share humanities capability of achieving that end, certainly not in my lifetime, but in an infinite future I can see humanity constantly advancing and progressing toward something that approximates what Harpur or Deniehy believed.
Their view on liberty and tyranny I share whole-heartedly. A very pragmatic and short-term improvement is the advance of the political technologies and organisation in such a manner to make tyranny and arbitrary government difficult, if not impossible. Most of these tools are available to us today, and many of them have been developed locally.
Australia's major gift to liberty has been the secret ballot but electorally we have been innovative anyway. Hare-Clark voting, Robson Rotation to name a few. I have said in the past Australian Republicans are Democrats too. In this area republicans are strong technologists who see the structures of government as having value as technologies rather than expressions of nationalism, culture and prestige.
Those emergent properties of a technical system are important but not to the point that it swamps the use of the system as an auditable, empirical process that can be improved or replaced with a better technology.
The empirical nature and strong history of Australian Republicanism gives it a conservative bent, while the focus on liberty and eradication of tyranny gives it a strong liberal approach. It has appeals to all points of the political spectrum.
There may come a time when the individuals that make up humanity find internal perfection, but the moral, ethical, social, cultural and economic improvement of the individual as a republican goal is certainly a noble one. Especially when it is predicated under increasing liberty.
The immediate goal is the eradication of tyranny in its absolute and insidious forms. This is achievable now with present political technologies . This point is the base from which maximum liberty is sought.
