Who to vote for

[robinsm]

You can look at it that way, or you can look into what it takes to

a) Form a political party

 

b) Get the numbers you need to get on the ballot

 

c) Form a coherent set of policies that make sense

 

d) If you actually do get some seats, keep the party together

 

e) Handle media without looking like an idiot

 

f) Actually be able to negotiate with the other parties without compromising your own principles TOO much

 

g) Do all this for 20 hours a day while still having a family life.

 

As an object lesson, look at Clive Palmer and Pauline Hanson. Clive bought his way in, had a bunch of members who ended up deserting him, now he's out again.

 

Hanson's in on pure dog-whistle politics, had a bunch of members deserting her or being found ineligible, now she's down to... 2 is it? Plus deserting her own principles by supporting the big business tax cuts.

 

The problem with both of these people is they failed c), d), e) and f) above. The lack of logical policies meant that whoever they manage to attract to run on their ticket will either be as scatterbrained as they themselves are, or purely opportunistic, which means they'll either be proven totally useless or will jump ship at the earliest opportunity.

 

Both Labor and LNP are a group of people with widely different stances on a range of subjects. The right wing of Labor is more similar to LNP in lots of ways, while the progressive members of the LNP are more similar to Labor. The left wing of Labor is more similar to the Greens and the right wing of the LNP are more like Corey Bernardi's "conservatives" than anyone else.

 

The best we can hope for is to get somewhere in the middle. My personal preference is slightly left of centre, socially progressive and with a large focus on the environment. Other people will prefer right of centre and more conservative. But as long as we're in the middle somewhere and avoid the extremes to the edges, the country will be all right.

so there realy is a santa claus?

 

 

[Methusala]

The BIG factor that is given little recognition in discussion of Australian domestic politics is the overwhelming effect of the media. Representing themselves mendaciously as "impartial observers", they distort the issues wildly in many ways. Selective reporting, character assassination and biassed allocation of time or "column inches" to their own preferred side are some of the methods in use. In another thread, I have asked the question,"Why is Bill Shorten so unpopular with voters?" I have seen long interviews where he has shown good communication skills and well developed policies and remember thinking, as he maintained a vigil at the Beaconsfield mine head, that he would make a good PM. Media appearances seldom give this impression. We are lumbered here with a shockingly corrupt and very limited news source selection.

 

 

[Methusala]

Essentially, 2 party democracies fail in creating a successful nation because they are in competition to satisfy the media scrum. When one side announces a progressive idea, such as doing away with the gift of unearned cash to share holders, it is immediately presented as a way of "cheating retirees" of entitlements. This is an obvious misrepresentation of the facts but it gives a jaded electorate the idea that politicians are trying to pull a swifty. The people have been encouraged to be cynical and so any attempt made subsequently to present the truth is then discounted as a convenient lie. The result is that the well off have their rorts protected by their media friends.