The media has turned this federal election into an Aussie version of a Spanish bull fight. Writers and commentators are busy all day and all night screaming out “Fight! Fight!”. The words “Do unto others…” come into my mind.
Most of us will vote to elect our local candidate in our local electorate. If we elect Dodos locally we will have a Dodo government regardless of who leads. Whereas in monarchy and dictatorship the leader rules, in democracy the majority rules – in electorates, parliament, the party room and cabinet.
We need smart and dedicated local MPs. That should be the focus of every Australian. Think nationally vote locally.
Leaders
Few of us vote for either political party leader, Morrison or Albanese, perhaps 200,000 out of 17 million voters do. Yet these two unfortunates are subject to relentless prodding with hot irons that make them jump first one way and then the next. This just discourages most potential politicians.
Just logically in the hurley burley of being stuck, poked and provoked, these two party leaders forget things they really know. They stumble over trick questions almost like what did the treasurer have for breakfast on Thursday three weeks ago. As if the party leaders should know everything about government when in fact they have a cabinet of ministers or shadow ministers and a paid bureaucracy that really runs the government!! They just set policy and oversee what is done.
We are given the impression on TV and in the newspapers that neither of the party leaders could successfully run a sausage sizzle. We are given that impression by people who you would never pick for government in a fit. Nor would they consider standing to serve us in parliament for any money. It is so much easier to criticise others than do something for Australia.
The party leaders and senior party candidates are so confused and so bedazzled by the constant barbs driven into their minds and bodies that they spend more time sticking pins into each other than announcing what they will do for us if elected. Promises pour forth from their mouths like lava from a volcano and we know that in most cases they will freeze to rock when the campaign is over. Most of the “promises” could not be delivered without doubling our taxes and cutting other expenditure.
How to vote
We should be voting for our local candidates on the basis of their past performance and spending time finding out which one of those standing most closely resembles the person who will represent us. Voters Network members have been able to record every month during the last term of parliament, how well their local MP has represented them. They have reviewed the performance of politicians and rated them accordingly. Those individual MP ratings automatically flow through to their parties. The more people who join and rate their politicians the more meaning it will have nationally. But that is not the point. The point is to allow voters to record what they think of their politicians on a regular basis and then use that to determine how to cast their vote.
It is worth having a look and considering joining Voters Network so that after this election you can start recording your views on your local MP monthly. That will give you your own “How-to-vote guide” for the next election and avoid you being influenced by the media circus that seeks to entertain us by making our key politicians look stupid. What the media really achieves is to drive us towards bad government. Perhaps that creates more disasters that sell more TV time and newspapers. Otherwise it seems the most destructive force in democracy, far worse than the worst political party we could imagine.
Democracy
The secret to making democracy work better is for voters to get more involved without taking any party sides. Then they can influence whichever party is elected. Voters have truly amazing power over their government if they use the services provided by FairGO, Votergrams and Voters Network .
Jesus said that what God wanted was “Kindness”. Democracy is a superb system of government but it requires voter involvement to deliver kind, fair, honest and productive government that helps us all to live life to the full. It’s success is up to you and me, our families, friends, neighbours and colleagues. Politicians will do what we want if we go about it the right way. Thousands of Australians have been getting what they wanted from governments ever since Votergrams were invented in 1986. Only those who don’t know about them or try them are still suffering from bad government. They can change that in an instant if they wish.
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