This year I'm not quite as enthusiastic. When the results come out tonight, no outcome will excite me. The major parties are a mess and their elected leaders are both ridiculous human beings, to put it extremely kindly.
If you're about to head to the polls today, have a quick read of this article before you do. It's giving me hope that the mess of our political system might actually work out in our favour eventually. An excerpt:
But if Abbott wins?
We already know he can’t open his mouth without saying the exact wrong thing. We already know that he’s terrible on policy, can’t think on his feet and dodges responsibility. At the moment he can largely get away with blaming the government; once he’s Prime Minister, that’s not an option anymore. He will look like what he is: a man of narrow views and narrower knowledge woefully out of his depth.
And look at the Abbott front bench: it's a viper’s nest. They’re not supporting Abbott because they think he’s an inspiring leader, since he’s demonstrated comprehensively that he’s not: they've backed him because the greatest strength they have had against Labor over the last 18 months has been in presenting a united front.
Once they’re in power this bunch of smart, ambitious and shrewd politicians are going to be a lot less forgiving of a leader who's an obvious and embarrassing liability. Hockey isn’t going to fade back into the benches. Neither is Turnbull. Neither is Bishop. Neither is Morrison. Those squabbles have been sublimated for the time being because they had a common enemy: Labor. Once in power, they’ll have a different common enemy: each other.
Even though the political system is a mess and I don't feel like any great difference will be made by filling out all of those little boxes (I will anyway, unlike my apathetic boss who prefers to scribble out his opinions on the party leaders all over the ballot sheet), I'm still looking forward to a walk in the sunshine to the polling booth at the local primary school. At least the election is being held in spring.
I voted early. And often.
ReplyDeleteOften?
DeleteAs often as I can get away with ...
ReplyDeleteI am so confused. Are you going to be receiving a hefty fine/slap on the wrist soon?
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