Election 2019
When I was a little younger I'd describe my political stance as moderate; seeing democratic socialism as a reasonable balance between state management and taking care of the needy versus participating in a global market economy. Given the changes in world events I'm a lot less embarrassed at describing myself as a leftie, and I find I'm frequently in good company there as opposed to the (trust me, I'm being polite here) shower of bastards on the right.
So it's not much of a surprise that I'm disappointed by how the election turned
out. Australia, not knowing what its best interests are but continually
bamboozled by the spectre of having their franking credits taken away, or
facing blackouts in summer, has once again voted for the knuckle-dragging,
Christ-baiting, "respectably racist" conservative party (the Liberals. Hah!)
and their hanger-on country bumpkin party (the Nationals) who are reknowned
for introducing really bad rural policy as much as they are for cheating on
their spouses.
And yet, enough people seem to tolerate this.
I'm not a political analyst and don't have enough background to know what's really gone on. I read the news and yell about it online with friends. It seems a lot of the issues spring from disengagement with our utterly rancid systems of power and the press coverage of it, turning off anyone who doesn't have guts of steel but who really need to appreciate the details in order to make an informed decision. The proliferation of microparties, without power to gain seats in their own right but who can act to direct preferences, has complicated matters; they allow people to exercise greater control over what policies they want, but a lot of the micros are indistinguishable and seem to result in people preferencing the devil they know. And of course there seems to have been a great amount of skulduggery occuring, and then there's the issue of the opposition leader being as charismatic as a wet tea-towel, and so on.
Whatever the case, this state of affairs gives me the shits. Going into politics doesn't seem to be an option, it seems that you need to be either quixotic or psychopathic enough to go in without caring if your life is about to be ruined. We already have enough commentators, and direct action is highly discouraged by law enforcement. Sitting and stewing in contempt for my fellow citizenry is attractive enough, but it accomplishes nothing. Neither does leaving, because it seems that no matter where you go these days, hell comes with you.
The least I can do is turn my disgust into something constructive. Better knuckle down folks, the next three years is going to seem even longer than the last.
Last updated