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Voting; ...gee, who do I pick?
Topic Started: Nov 24 2006, 11:58 PM (183 Views)
Eral
Kopi Luwak
Today is state election day.
I can vote for -

Labour: the guy who came in about 8 years ago promising to undo the cuts to services, the selling of of public assets, the privatising of services, the "jobs for the boys", the gutting of education and health, the lack of public transport - and hasn't, because if he spent any money on these things that wouldn't be fiscally responsible, and has kept on running exactly the same government as the guy he replaced, except he has put a bit more money into health and education.

Liberal: the successor of the guy before our current premier who did all that stuff in th first place, and has said he would make cuts to health and education again.

Family First: they believe in family values, but haven't exactly said what those values entail yet. They have expressed their view that the Green party are pro-murder, pro-drugs, immoral and are dangerous hippies whose policies corrupt youth and undermine the family.

The Greens: the pro-murder, pro-drugs, immoral and dangerous hippies whose policies corrupt youth and undermine the family. Oh and have irresponsible attitudes to the environment like not cutting trees which makes loggers unemployed and is very bad for the economy.

An independent: who wants to build a tunnel under the main road of my suburb so the traffic will stop clogging up the main road. My dad reckons the plans were actually made about 20 years ago, and it is in fact, completely feasible: (he was a professional road and hole maker, so he knows) but I forsee a few teething problems with the idea. Also, she is currently our local government member, and is now leaning towards supporting the hospital behind us becoming the hospital next to us.

All of this is fairly depressing in itself. But to make matters worse: the Greens are seen as a threat to Labour (as they hold views that are obviously different to the Liberal party, just like Labour used to) and so, there has been some very unattractive deals going on. We have a preferential voting system: you vote 1 for your preferred party, 2 for the next, etc etc. Now, those second preference votes are very important.If your party doesn't have any second preference votes, you don't win. (That's how we killed off Pauline Hanson: no-one assigned any preferences to her party.)
Labour is assigning preferences in some marginal seats to the Liberals, to keep the Greens out: and the Greens are doing the same. Bob Brown, my ex- political hero :'( has described this as "political maturity".

Now, I was going to vote Greens, as a sign of my disapproval at Labour completely selling out. But now the Greens are selling out. Today preference swaps, tomorrow agreeing that prisons for refugees are a t'riff idea.

I am utterly in despair. If there was a Lord Raving Loony I'd vote for him. I believe in voting: I believe in participating in my democracy, but I think I am going to write NONE OF THE ABOVE on my ballot.

:'( :ferret :raven: :grim:
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Krazy
Member Avatar
I haz powah!
Politicians are liars, so whatever they say is a just spin to make them look good. But I know how you feel, Labour (UK) is now Tories in Commie's clothing, Tories are sheep in Torie's Clothing, Lib Dems are still seen as a joke, and the Greens even more so.


/tangent. Over 60% of people did NOT vote Labour in the last election but Teflon Tony is still our PM. Never mind he only had about 5% more of the popular vote, but ends up with a majority in the house of commons.
But mathematically, there is no such thing as a perfect voting system when there are more than 2 parties. This fact is depressing in its own right when they talk about election reform in the UK. But then the opposing party only ever talks about it, because once they get in the system seems just 'fine' again.
"Well, ‘course dis one’s betta! It’s lotz ‘eavier, and gots dem spikey bitz on de ends. "
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Eral
Kopi Luwak
One of my favourite Douglas Addams parables is about the planet where the inhabitants are of a different race to their rulers, who are lizards. They have elections every so often, and only lizards run in the election. However, all the inhabitants still dutifully vote. When asked why, the reply was, "So the wrong lizards don't get in."

I feel this is an extremely good analogy.

Labour won. In my seat, people voted Labour, then Liberal, then Greens, then the independent, and Family First last. (That cheered me up a bit.)

I want you to know that my feelings of betrayal by the Labour party were so strong, that I voted for the Greens candidate despite the fact she was dressed appallingly badly in all her advertising pamphlets.
(Black lace, with silver and gold embroidery, skivvy-style, which made her bust look disproportionate, and had flaps of velvet stuck to it for no apparent reason. I admired her refusal to wear a suit, but her earrings were also completely wrong. And I strongly suspect her skirt did not match. I don't even want to think about her shoes.)
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Blackwing
Hot Chocolate
Clearly you need to run in the next election. Just get a plan that makes sense and you'll beat all the other candidates.
Angel: "What? I'm not allowed to hit people?"
Wesley: "Not people capable of genocide."
Angel: "Those are exactly the kinds of people I should be able to hit!"
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Eral
Kopi Luwak
Hmm. What will my plan be? :lol:
My biggest problem will be costing my huge budget splash on schools, hospitals and public transport. Numbers bigger than 50, I need a calculator for. ;D
I will be very unpopular with the coal industry and developers, and will have to decide if I want to alienate Gippslanders with wind farms.
The breakfast photo shoots will be a no-go: as well as the "inside her home" pics -my cat hates having strangers in the house.
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Blackwing
Hot Chocolate
Pictures aren't a problem: that's what picture editors are for. :wink:
Angel: "What? I'm not allowed to hit people?"
Wesley: "Not people capable of genocide."
Angel: "Those are exactly the kinds of people I should be able to hit!"
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Eral
Kopi Luwak
I think that's "Wag the Dog", not political life.
Our Labour party has just come up with a new leadership team. The new deputy Opposition leader is woman.
1. She is single and childless.
2. She has a clean kitchen.
3. She has been photographed in the middle of a bad hair moment.
4. Her boyfriend, who is a hairdresser, blow-waved her hair for the announcement that she was the new deputy Opposition leader.

My cat is never going to handle the pressure.
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