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Australia goes down the toilet! 22-Aug-2010 At 8:24:37 PM cruze

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On 22/08/2010 Wendy wrote:
>On 22/08/2010 Rocker wrote:
>>>The problem with democracy is that the vote of an oxygen thief like
>you
>>counts as much as that of informed people.
>>
>>Here is a Extract from a Blog I was reading that may be of interest to
>>some:
>>
>>[allthatstuff]
>>Source: http://jamiemcintyre.com/blog/
>>
>>Just Food for Thought. :D
>
>Without having said blogger to "muse" with, I think calling compulsory
>voting communistic is getting a wee bit carried away. Lots of things are
>complusory and also prohibited in our society. I think compulsory voting
>is one way of ensuring that everybody's voice is heard, including the uninformed,
>uneducated, disillusioned, thoughtless and possibly braindead. Saying
>that voluntary voting leads to the more informed and educated voting and
>cutting out the scum is both not necessarily true and very condescending.
> What tends to happen is the poor and disenfranchised are the ones who
>don't vote and the suggested scenario sounds just like a way of replicating
>and growing the advantage of a few. A real way to deal with the problem
>is poitical education in our schools and political advertising and discussion
>that provides information and encourages analysis rather than name calling
>and seeking emotive response.
>
>On the other stuff, you don't fight poison with poison. Surely the ugliness
>and ineffectiveness of this is a lesson well demonstrated throughout this
>campaign?
>
Despite its relative simplicity, anyone who can set up a blog is far more educated and/or computer literate than most people. That blog post trying to be philosophical about forcing people to vote reeks of the worst parts of middle-class new age ideology. It is really easy to speak about how one shouldn't be forced to vote when we grow up in relative comfort. Not voting in that situation is more lazyness than rebelliousness. Politics remains one of the most effective vehicles for universally raising the standard of living for the greatest number of people.

I just spent a week having some really interesting night time conversations with a pretty disillusioned non-voter who lives in his car in a caravan park. He doesn't vote because he doesn't believe in the system. I reminded him that recently people risked their lives (and some lost theirs) voting in Afghanistan. I had a hard time trying to argue that he shouldn't be critical of a system he chooses not to be part of. In the end I remained comfortable in my belief that voting should be compulsory, although I accepted a good deal of what he was saying.

I just listened to the three independents on 7:30 special edition with Kerry O'Brien. Good stuff. Bob Cattar is the least grounded, although I say that sitting in my living room at the other end of the country to where he lives. Between the three of them I really hope that they can have an impact on the pettyness of modern Australian politics.