Labor's light on the hill is looking more like a candle in the wind.The phrase coined by Ben Chifley in 1949 has resonated down the decades to sum up Labor's burning commitment to the common man.Chifley, the pipe-smoking train driver from Bathurst who became prime minister after John Curtin died at the end of World War II, evoked an inspiring image of selfless dedication to the greater good.His "light on the hill" was Labor's philosophical lantern, the grand vision showing the way in dark times.How dangerously low that light is flickering now that the modern party seems to have forgotten his message.Like many great political speeches, Chifley's address to an ALP state conference was short.Its essence was this: "I try to think of the Labor movement, not as putting an extra sixpence into somebody's pocket, or making somebody prime minister or premier, but as a movement bringing something better to the people, better standards of living, greater happiness to the mass of the people."Labor has been preoccupied with who is holding the reins, rather than where the horse is galloping.Rather than striving for progressive reforms, the party's motivating force seems to have been: get into office and stay there, whatever it takes.Self-interest has dominated, perpetuated by a factional machine system that is discredited and antiquated.Kevin Rudd, having been defeated 71-31 in a partyroom attempt to reclaim the top job Julia Gillard swiped from him in 2010, may have had Chifley in mind - and Gillard - when he urged Labor MPs to serve "our nation, not ourselves".Gillard, for her part, acknowledged that voters have had a "gutful" of Labor's shenanigans.Rudd professed his loyalty but so, too, did Paul Keating when he claimed to have had only "one shot in the locker" in 1991.Keating had a second shot, after all, and it proved fatal to his leader Bob Hawke.Keating lost the first ballot 44-66, but six months later he won 56-51.Rudd has a lot more ground than that to make up, but why did he stage this apparently futile challenge if he did not have the longer view in mind?And what happens if, as the polls suggest, Gillard remains in unwinnable territory as the 2013 election looms? If Labor MPs believe the polls, they presumably also believe that Gillard is capable of turning them around, because those polls show Rudd is the only one who is ever going to beat Tony Abbott.Either that or they hate Rudd so much they would rather be in opposition than serve under him.What a bind - Rudd carries the population but can't carry the party, while Gillard carries the party but can't carry the nation.Labor must do the impossible - resolve this almighty schism - if it is to have any chance of reclaiming its relevance.Labor's last national review by party elders John Faulkner, Bob Carr and Steve Bracks recommended a bigger say for the party membership in picking the leader.But the proposal was vetoed by the "faceless men", the same ones who owe their party machine power to the current system.Chifley spoke in 1949 of how the job of evangelist was never easy.The modern mob look like nothing more than professional politicians, with no evangelist in sight. To be an evangelist you must first be a true believer.Are there any left?Self-interest has dominated, perpetuated by a factional machine system.