Andrew Carr, ‘A certain amount of public work’ Menzies as a Civic Republican

In the ‘Forgotten People’ broadcast Menzies presaged JFK by suggesting that ‘The great question is, "How can I qualify my son to help society?" Not, as we have so frequently thought, "How can I qualify society to help my son?"’. Following this, a close examination of Menzies’s political speeches demonstrates that he talked about the individual’s duties and obligations almost as much as he talked about their freedom and their liberty. In this vein, Menzies fitted into a long tradition of civic republicanism which stretched back to Ancient Rome and included such figures as Oliver Cromwell. These republicans were concerned about tyranny and domination, but they equally saw the individual as inseparable from and having deep responsibilities to the community.