Yes it has been a long time since I last posted, certainly in light of there's a Federal election coming up soon. But I've been busy...we were in between computers for a time...and also the whole thing is so depressing it makes me want to flush my own head down the toilet.
Maybe I'm getting cynical in my old age. I've seen quite a few elections now (especially since I took an active interest in the things long before I was old enough to vote), and even though I didn't agree with them on everything, I at least always wanted Labor to win before. But I'm so disgusted by their current shift to the right I can't bring myself to make a 2PP choice at all (God knows, if Turnbull was leading the Liberals right now, is it just possible I may have given my preferences to them? Surely not, but I wonder). Everyone has their own bugbears - here's mine:
Equal Marriage Rights - two unmarried, atheist female ministers (one the PM and the other herself a lesbian) oppose this. Why? Because they find it all a bit icky, or are they just afraid of an electoral backlash? I rather fear the latter. If they are personally opposed to gay marriage, the simple solution for them is to not enter a gay marriage themselves, but don't deny others the right. I'd have thought this would be a no-brainer by now.
Cash For Clunkers - marriage right exasperates me but this one makes me furious. If we're going on about "my taxes", well my taxes have gone towards the war in Iraq, funding baby bonuses for high income earners, and all sorts of other things I haven't been keen on. But that I am contributing to people buying new cars - the environmental benefits of the plan are dubious at best - whilst I've never learnt to drive because cars are killing the planet - well, I'm rapidly filling with rage.
Boat People - we have a new, "leftist" Prime Minister and what is practically the first thing she does? Panders to rednecks on asylum seekers and then tells us we're not allowed to call them rednecks any more. Instead of urging compassion, instead of dispelling the myths, Gillard opens the floor to talk back radio callers spewing venom. Not to mention, and perhaps worst of all, deliberately confusing the issues of asylum seekers and population growth in the public mind - as if the tiny handful of boat people who arrive each year are somehow a threat to the Australian way of life. Oh to see someone in power and stand up and say "boat arrivals are a small problem. We can handle it".
(Here's a statement which could be taken out of context) but I'm not sure the Australian way of life is one that should be protected, not in a country still bearing the scars of the Howard years - primarily selfishness. There's a new Liberal party ad that begins "This election is all about you". Great! Who cares if hospitals are funded if my family isn't sick. Who cares if services are available to help the poor, it's their own damn fault. Focus on my family, my unsustainably huge mortgage, me me me!
Not that anything I or any of the vast number of much better left-wing bloggers say will matter. Labor doesn't care about us. They don't care if we all vote Greens - they assume they'll get our preferences anyway, so why bother keeping us when we're not really lost. What they care about is losing voters to the Liberals; and politicians no longer have the courage to try to change public opinion, they just respond to it like yapping dogs. Our only hope is a Greens balance of power in the Senate, and just maybe one or two Greens seats in the lower house. But generally I'm quite despondent about the whole thing, so unlike the last two elections, I won't be posting a great deal more about this one.
