Victorian by-elections

[old man emu]

International public opinion surveys of the trustworthiness of various occupations consistently place politicians at the bottom, with about 15% of people thinking politicians are trustworthy. You have basically agreed on that point in your recent posts. I would attribute this lack of trust to everyone's access to what's happening in the world through internet access.

 

I'm not going to comment on the clearly bad effects of false information. I feel that the acceptance of that bad information is due to a failure to be critical of what pops up. Those who are critical soon sort the wheat from the chaff. So I will say that without our access to information via the internet, politicians would still be getting away with things as they have done since time immemorial. 

 

How will this lack of trust manifest itself? The ideals upon which our political system evolved have been corroded by those who sought our support to place them in positions of leadership. Is it possible to eradicate that corrosion? Perhaps it could be done by only voting for non-aligned candidates who are told that ignoring the voice of their electorate can result in the candidate being made to resign the position.

 

One flaw in my otherwise flawless plan is that being involved in the actual running of a government is something that has to be learned, much the same way that any person qualified to carry out an occupation has to learn. That is why we find that candidates have gained that learning by being involved fully in the machinations of Party politics. I introduce as Exhibit 1of a failure to gain that learning, one Donald Trump, a person upon whom Greatness has been thrust, but does not have the ability to make good of it.

[facthunter]

Greatness has NOT been thrust on D. Trump. He has Hijacked a Nation by fraudulent behaviour and the assistance of that country's filthy rich elite. It's actually a COUP, and the results are yet to play out, not Just for the USA But the entire World who had NO SAY in it. and for whom Trump could not give a tuppeny stuff .  Nev

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

Greatness has NOT been thrust on D. Trump

I was taking advantage of the rights and priviledges of my poetic licence.

[rgmwa]

One person's poetic licence is another person's misinformation these days.

[Litespeed]

Your both right to a degree.

He has been thrust into a position of huge power.

He is not up to the ideals of the job and has no interest in government for the people or law.

 

But he has learnt about government process since last time, mainly stack it with appointments to suit your dictatorial whims. Remove the controls over presidential power, ignore those you don't control and appoint cronies and even teenage ideologues to slash government departments.

 

Next step is privatise all government services. It will be a great deal- just ask him.

 

 

[spacesailor]

I think the lack of " honesty " from politicians.  Is a big downer for me .

Too many cheap promises.  Without reprimand for breaking them ..

spacesailor

[octave]

I think the problem of politicians and honesty comes down to us.  The thing is that we don't reward politicians who tell the truth.  A recently elected politician said "I will end inflation on day one", he was elected, he did not end inflation.  If a politician explained that inflation was a global problem regardless of the flavour of the government and that although some measures may go some way towards creating the conditions that MAY help to reduce inflation. most people will vote for the lying politician.  Many people prefer a reassuring lie rather than the truth. We need to grow up a bit I think.

[octave]

Dishonest Candidates Win Elections, According To New Research

[Jerry_Atrick]

In the words of the late and great George Carlin, do you think pollies fell from the sky? Who put them there?

 

I have always found it ironically funny that if pollies proposes something stupid, they are castigated for it, and when they realise the folly of their ways and do a U turn, they are castigated for that, too..

 

In a democracy, we put them there.. You don't have to vote the way you always have.

Edited Monday at 09:37 AM by Jerry_Atrick

[octave]

 

 

 

 

I know a former politician quite well.   My family were immigrants from Britain and the area they moved to was full of British immigrants.  Our next-door neighbours immigrated about a year after my family.  Our neighbour's kids were my friends. My neighbours were known to me as (won't use real names) Uncle A and Auntie B.  Our neighbour's daughter was usually in my class at school and I for many years was sweet on her.  I was very good friends with our neighbour's son although he was a year younger than me. Their kids were extremely intelligent. 

 

Some years later Uncle A stood successfully for council.  By this time my family had moved house.   At 17 I wanted to join the RAAF as a musician.  I passed the rigorous audition but still had to be accepted by RAAF recruiting. It was taking some time. By this time Uncle A became mayor of the local council and had then stood for election to the gov of SA. Uncle A wrote me a glowing reference which seemed to speed up RAAF recruiting. After my basic training, I was posted to NSW and lost touch with my ex-neighbours.

 

Being in another state I lost touch with SA politics.  Uncle A went on to become a senior minister in the Bannon government. My parents kept in touch with Uncle A and Auntie B and they would get together regularly. My father ended up in aged care and Uncle A and Auntie B would visit him regularly.  My father died I was unable to be at the funeral (COVID)   but Uncle A made a beautiful speech which we watched on a livestream.  

 

These days my mother is in care and nearly every week Uncle A and Auntie B drive from the other side of the city to take my mother out to lunch. When we visit SA we go to lunch with them. Although my mother is a little past being able to engage in stimulating conversation, Uncle A assured me that he and Auntie B could still talk about the old days and that as long as he could drive he would always be there for her.  

 

I am FB friends with Uncle A and Auntie B. They are still politically opinionated. They don't have a racist, sexist or anything else ist bone in their bodies. If I try to find a fault it is that they are dyed-in-the-wool labor folks. Although they are extremely concerned about the environment they would never vote green because of their labor history.  I disagree with them on this but their heart is in the right place.

 

I did do a little research and found that Uncle A did take a principled stand on an issue that put him at odds with the party, I read an account of him being summonsed to Bannon's office and reprimanded and I think demoted

 

 

 

Bit of a long ramble but I guess the point is that unless you think that Uncle A is a bad person then it must follow that all politicians are not *****s.  I do look down on binary thinking.

 

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

We all react to the public side of what we see, and unfortunately, we publicly see a lot of had stuff with politicians. What we don't see is how tirelessly *some* to work for their constituents or particular issues. I used to live next to Joan Child, the first femal speak of the House of Representatives. And I would occasionally pop into her electoral offices to say hello, and despite her seniority in the parliament, both her and her team worked tirelessly for local people and issues.

 

Part of the problem is the system. It is designed to be a big road block to progress and upsetting the apple cart. In addition, the system seems to reward incompetence and bluster - just look at parlaiment's question time.. What is the ratio of har air to anything useful being done - I really wonder what that would look like.

 

The reality, it appears, that to get to the top, generally, you have to, at least publicly, be prepared to compromise many qualities seem as postive traits in humanity.

 

 

 

[old man emu]

Question Time is the parliamentary equivalent of those "reality" shows on TV. It's all theatrics. 

[facthunter]

You have to look beyond that but they do get pretty serious and  NASTY at times. It doesn't show them in a good light, overall but the conflict is on show. Some things do get explained. It can take a bit of watching. Media rarely covers anything good..  Nev