"Moving forward" Gillard Style.

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As we approach the next federal election here in Oz, I am filled with trepidation and anxiety. Never have I been so divided between parties, never had I looked upon our nations leaders with such derision and true discomfort. After the unceremonious and frankly cruel ousting of our previous Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, it matters little what I thought of him as a leader. The day he was removed, I related to him as a human being. I am also no stranger to feeling humiliated as I am sure that was what he felt that day.

The constant bickering and "in your face" promotions, the relentless advertising and discussion of the physical prowess of the opposition leader, Tony Abbot, has me in the foetal position in a darkened room, hugging my teddy bear in anxiety. What are politicians these days? What do they actually mean and what do they ACTUALLY represent? They don't speak for me, or my asylum seeker neighbour, they only speak for themselves. After all, the instinct of self-preservation trumps whatever good they can do for this country. Even the Greens have me running for cover.

I DON"T CARE anymore. I have lost all confidence in a government that will take care of us. If I hear any more about "sustainable Australia" and "climate change" and "Immigration" and "Population caps" and "boat people" and "infrastructure" and yada yada, I will scream and declare myself certifiably insane, because none of what they say makes sense. I also wonder if during the debate between the 2 major party leaders this Sunday, there will actually be a discussion about POLICY. How will they make us sustainable? How will they deal with climate change? How will they deal with detention centres? And do I want to live in a country that is the most arid country on earth with 36 million people living on it? No thanks. You will find me in my bunker with my hydroponic set up.

I am tempted not to vote and get a fine. It would be worth paying the money, if it means I do not have to vote and live with the idea that whomever I voted for is crap.

I am tired.

Mics

Hello Mics,

Do you get a fine if you don't vote in Australia?

In France, we have to pay many many taxes about almost anything and everything but they haven't invented this one yet.

Bonjour Zena

Yes, we get fined here if we do not vote. It is archaic I guess if we weren't made to vote, we probably wouldn't based on the general Australian attitude of "She'll be right, mate".

And also because we can smell a w*ker as a politician from a mile away

Vive la Francaise! for not fining you guys if you don't vote. THAT is a true democracy.

Forgive my bad French.

Mics

Perhaps this should be in the PPR forum, but I personally think that Kevin Rudd was dragging the Labour Party down. Gillard's leadership usurption, to use the ugly but apt word, is probably the best thing for the Labour Party. Does this make me like her? She seems more competent than Kevin Rudd, so far (I wasn't going to vote for Labour while Rudd was in office, because he was really starting to falter, although the mining tax should have gone through unamended, given that those mining companies could at least have docked their fatcat CEO's salaries to pay for it instead of firing workers and going overseas), but really, I am already completely disillusioned with politics and politicians. I am really only voting for Labour because I don't want Tony bloody Abbott to get into power, given his attitude and intentions. The Coalition would be better off replacing him, IMO.

Cant you just vote blank?

That'd be informal voting, I'd think. Although informal voting isn't in itself illegal in Australia, inciting others to do so is, so I wouldn't recommend it. According to the AEC website, if you incite others to informally vote, they might sic the AFP on you.

Yes, I could vote blank, but then I would struggle with my own inner anarchist and feel guilty that I had not been honest. My way of declaring my feelings to not vote at all! Probably will cause more problems than not, but we shall see. It all depends on how I feel on the day Thanks, Ichinin....

Quatermass, thanks for your posts, dear one. And I hear what you are saying. Also feel free to move this thread if you wish to whichever forum you mentioned.

Cheers,

Mics

Then I'll move it to the PPR forum. Just be careful there, though. There be...not dragons, but worse. Dogmatics.

Most Americans don't vote. It's pitiful, really.

Worse than Cerberus.

I run a hundred miles from dogma. Dragons on the other hand are intriguing.

What is the PPR forum, if I might ask?

Thanks everyone.

Mics

Although after reading about Cerberus, the dragon seems less intriguing and the dogmatics have fallen off the perch.

Mics

In the US, each side of the political aisle is firmly convinced that the other side is the incarnation of Satan. All political discourse is based upon this idea. Our journalists are heavily devoted to the liberals (called Democrats, but more like European Democratic Socialists) so there is a whole alternate media devoted to vilifying the liberals.

Our "conservatives" are a strange and unique animal. They're not European, nor are they really, say, fascist. There's a lot of nativism and xenophobia involved, but as I said except at the extremes they're not really like say the BNP in the UK. Their main support is among farmers and rural whites, not among moneyed elites, which is another thing that sets them apart. The liberals mainly have the support of urban non-whites, many of who depend on welfare and affirmative action to make ends meet. The elites play both sides of the aisle, so that no matter who is elected nothing really changes.

Obama has been trying to move us more towards democratic socialism and the screaming has been intense by those claiming it's "communism". The conservatives ruled for 25 years and basically gutted programs that help the poor while giving massive tax breaks to the rich. Both parties are irresponsible, and they feed the manias of those who would settle the question with a war.

Some conservatives want to destroy the cities and those who live in them. A popular series of pulp novels here deals with a man named Ben Raines who in a post-apocalyptic future re-establishes the "real America" by slaughtering urban dwellers, who have evolved into vampiric "Night People". A few days ago a man was arrested after a shootout who wanted to "start the revolution"...by attacking the ACLU and an obscure environmental nonprofit.

Global warming isn't really an issue here, many deny it exists and the arrogant dismissal of such people as "deniers" by the main media feeds them. Australia can support about 8 million people with modern agricultural methods. 36 million sounds like way too many. America has more farmland, but little water that's not provided by man made lakes. We farm the desert here, growing hay and melons in the Lahontan and Mason valleys of Nevada. So it can be done. But they have a mountain range and its snows to draw water from.

It seems that all nations across the world are too heavily in debt to the international bankers to tackle the real problem, the financial rot that threatens to cause civilization to collapse like a bad souffle. In the US the bankers run the government and the politicians do their bidding. So nothing gets done, and people prepare for civil war, ready to annihilate everybody who is not exactly like them. The country is breaking apart along racial and ethnic lines. The bankers of course want to sell everybody weapons.

If you want election coverage that makes sense (or at least gets some of the way there) of what is going on, start here http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/poll-j19.shtml

You dont need to agree with the policies outlined by this party but at least you will get a VERY different perspective on the issues and what is driving them.