Politics & Power Quote by John Howard

A brusque little sentence that’s doing two jobs at once: reassuring Australia’s closest ally while warning it not to get comfortable. John Howard’s “We won’t just automatically click our heels and follow the Americans” borrows the imagery of military obedience to deny it. “Click our heels” evokes the reflex of a subordinate snapping to attention; “automatically” adds the sting of mindless compliance. The line is crafted to sound like independence without actually threatening the alliance.

The intent is domestic as much as diplomatic. Howard is speaking into a recurring Australian anxiety: that the ANZUS relationship can slide from strategic partnership into cultural and political dependency. By naming the fear in cartoonish terms, he contains it. He signals to Australian voters that sovereignty is intact, that Canberra still has agency, deliberation, and a national interest distinct from Washington’s.

The subtext, though, is less rebellious than managerial. This isn’t an anti-American broadside; it’s a negotiation tactic and a pre-emptive defense. Howard was often portrayed as unusually close to the United States, especially in the post-9/11 era when alliance politics became emotionally charged and militarily costly. The line functions as inoculation: it anticipates the criticism (“lapdog,” “deputy sheriff”) and neutralizes it with a performative insistence on choice.

Rhetorically, it works because it’s colloquial and visual. Instead of invoking abstract “sovereignty,” it gives you a body obeying a command. The phrase lets Howard occupy the sweet spot of middle-power politics: loyal, but not servile; aligned, but not annexed.