One-time opposition leader Sussan Ley has broken her silence on her dumping as leader of the Coalition and the road trip through Middle America the proceeded it.<\/p>\n
The long-time Farrer MP stepped down as Liberal leader in February after less than a year into the role \u2013 and following two messy splits with the The Nationals. <\/p>\n
In a lengthy op-ed in the Australian Financial Review Saturday, Ms Ley described the spill against her as the \u201cdefining catastrophe\u201d of her life. <\/p>\n
Following the spill, Ms Ley said she turned off her phone and \u201cdisappeared under the doona\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI spent time contemplating the Buddha (\u2019You only lose what you cling to\u2019) and The Clash\u2019s Joe Strummer and his insistence on telling the truth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecognising the symptoms of burnout does little to blunt their impact. I felt a bit like a windscreen hit by a rock. Everything in place but you just can\u2019t see through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, she quickly turned her attention to a long talked-about road trip through Middle America, buying a one-way ticket to Los Angeles and then on to North Dakota. <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom there, I boarded a Greyhound at the state\u2019s northern edge and got off another at the bottom of Texas,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne backpack, one pair of riot boots, one punk playlist.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former Farrer MP described staying in \u201cmodest hotels\u201d, and joining Greyhound buses carrying \u201cpeople in transition and disarray\u201d. <\/p>\n
At length, Ms Ley described her travel through South Dakota, including \u201cubiquitous convenience stores\u201d, before \u2013 after travelling further south \u2013 \u201cSpanish became the language of the road\u201d. The journey, she likened to the \u201cWild West\u201d, replete with people \u201cmoving cash, narcotics, and undocumented migrants\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat surprised me was not disagreement \u2013 America has always argued with itself,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the underlying weariness. Everyone works hard. That part is true. But working hard is no longer enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
In one instance, Ms Ley described searching for Donald Trump\u2019s border wall, and spoke to a Border Control officer who refused pictures. <\/p>\n
\u201cBy then I felt I had seen enough to glimpse what remains when you strip America of its narrative,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt harmony with the downtrodden while riding the bus network.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Ms Ley said here last observation was that \u201cthe United States doesn\u2019t feel like one country. It feels like several, that barely speak to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI caught influenza A on my journey so was physically unwell when I got back. But the flattened feeling of six weeks earlier had gone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing to terms with the end of my political career, while travelling alongside people carrying much harder truths, restored my perspective on the world and my place within it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One-time opposition leader Sussan Ley has broken her silence on her dumping as leader of the Coalition and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[88030,88028,72209,88002,36519,88027,88039,88017,88023,52265,88049,69407,88014,88006,124,22,21,88019,29211,37292,22774,2137,39649,36801,87996,63095,88050,88010,49864,51704,44921,88043,88044,88007,88032,88033,22775,37599,80066,5053,88034,3430,88015,88025,8822,87998,47155,45582,63658,88016,88003,7851,88021,87999,88009,56126,88040,88046,88022,7350,36991,31458,88001,39193,44050,88048,88036,88018,1941,39506,3448,59446,88008,88020,88038,41495,87997,88000,43738,88037,10264,88011,88004,38263,88045,88035,41503,62773,88041,88029,43131,88047,39311,88042,37964,86987,88026,38813,88031,39512,37120,88012,36894,88005,79620,88024,88013,88051],"class_list":["post-67832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-border-wall","tag-s-joe-strummer","tag-s-northern-edge","tag-modest-hotels","tag-a-bit","tag-a-border-control-officer","tag-a-greyhound","tag-a-lengthy-op-ed","tag-a-long-talked-about-road-trip","tag-a-one-way-ticket","tag-a-road-trip","tag-a-rock","tag-a-us-road-trip","tag-a-windscreen","tag-america","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-buddha","tag-burnout","tag-cash","tag-disagreement","tag-donald-trump","tag-each-other","tag-february","tag-greyhound-buses","tag-harmony","tag-her-attention","tag-her-dumping","tag-her-life","tag-her-phone","tag-her-silence","tag-her-travel","tag-his-insistence","tag-influenza-a","tag-its-narrative","tag-last-observation","tag-leader","tag-length","tag-less-than-a-year","tag-liberal-leader","tag-liberal-spill","tag-life","tag-life-post-leadership-spill","tag-life-post-spill","tag-los-angeles","tag-middle-america","tag-ms-ley","tag-my-journey","tag-my-perspective","tag-my-place","tag-my-political-career","tag-narcotics","tag-north-dakota","tag-one-backpack","tag-one-country","tag-one-instance","tag-one-pair","tag-one-punk-playlist","tag-one-time-opposition-leader-sussan-ley","tag-people","tag-pictures","tag-place","tag-riot-boots","tag-silence","tag-six-weeks","tag-south-dakota","tag-spanish","tag-sussan","tag-sussan-ley","tag-terms","tag-texas","tag-that-part","tag-the-defining-catastrophe","tag-the-wild-west","tag-the-australian-financial-review-saturday","tag-the-bottom","tag-the-buddha","tag-the-bus-network","tag-the-clash","tag-the-clash-sussan-ley","tag-the-coalition","tag-the-doona","tag-the-downtrodden","tag-the-end","tag-the-flattened-feeling","tag-the-former-farrer-mp","tag-the-journey","tag-the-language","tag-the-long-time-farrer-mp","tag-the-proceeded","tag-the-road","tag-the-road-trip","tag-the-role","tag-the-spill","tag-the-state","tag-the-symptoms","tag-the-the-nationals","tag-the-truth","tag-the-underlying-weariness","tag-the-united-states","tag-the-world","tag-their-impact","tag-time","tag-transition-and-disarray","tag-truths","tag-two-messy-splits","tag-ubiquitous-convenience-stores","tag-undocumented-migrants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}