In the aftermath of Wormgate,
I’ve never felt better about voting Green. I’ve had to defend my
position with a number of friends (and relatives) as though I’m casting
my vote adrift rather than choosing anything to stop Howard.
Kevin Rudd
could be Laurie Lawrence for all most people care. Labor policies could
be (and, let’s be honest, come close to being) a revised or more
equitably articulated version of Liberal ones.
Don’t get me
wrong, I agree that Labor will always be better than Liberal but I
don’t feel that a vote for Labor should be an automatic response. They
do little to support the issues I’m interested in. Their version of
opposition politics comes very close to acquiescent politics to me. The
Gunns debacle in Tasmania, the Indigenous ‘solution’ and the Sudanese
closed door policy bear witness to this. Ironically, after arguing
about the finer points of agreeing with each other both parties accuse
the other of politicking! Isn’t that the ‘game’? I find it hard to keep
a straight face. It’s either grimacing in agony or laughing in
incredulity.
The negative dialectic that this two party system
forces does little to forge meaningful debate or change but gives us
the equivalent of a market choice, the lesser of two evils. I keep
thinking of our lovely Spanish yaya Pacita who never asks if you want
any or none but asks instead “more paella or more potatoes?; cream or
ice cream with your cake?; a bag of lemons or oranges to take home?”
Although the choice looks like its there, you have to pick one of only
two options and generally they both end up weighing heavily on you.
Our
main political parties have drifted so far right that Malcolm Fraser,
the sworn enemy of my mother in the 1970s, has started to look alright;
coherent, empathetic and almost…likeable. My mother would roll over in
her grave if she weren’t alive in Bundaberg probably rolling over on
her brick and tiled floor. I know in the end, with my electorate being
that of Kevin Rudd, that my vote for the Greens will go unnoticed but
it is the principle in giving Labor my preference and not my primary
vote that counts to me. I want even a flicker of recognition that I’m
not happy Kevin!
Each Saturday morning as the effervescent baby
boomers try to hand me Kevin07 stickers on the corner of Boundary and
Vulture, it feels good to say “No thanks, I vote Green”. Even if it
barely registers. Feeling like the popular kids at school again,
they’ve already bubbled onto the next potential voter. God knows why,
good ol’ Kev’s a sure thing in West End. I don’t get it! I just don’t
get it! Sure, he’s a nice enough guy but don’t people want more from a government than mildly reinterpreted
sameness? How can everyone feel so good about a whole bunch of policies
that sound so similar to the ones Liberal got in with over a decade ago?
When
and why did unions become the nemesis of freedom? For Labor! Why is it
alright to admonish citizens (indigenous, Islamic and ‘African’) for
isolationism when our politicians draw and redraw the thick black line
between us and them and these communities are always the them? The way Australian values are used to constitute some
national cohesion in the face of globalization forces a cultural
isolationism that is inherently detrimental to our individual and
communal wellbeing. Advanced liberal democracy sounds increasingly a
little too 1930s Germany for me.
I watch and read our national
media hoping for the light of conversion to make it all seem like its
going to be okay. But the best I can hope for is that some kind of
Stockholm syndrome will strike me down (or up, it depends on where you
are standing) so that I become cheerily oblivious to the horror that
lies in front of us. Here’s hoping.
Users' Comments
Display 2 of 2 comments
Green 1 Dems 2 Labour 3
By: Bauple (Registered ) on 25-10-2007 05:39
I share Killey's frustration with people who complain bitterly about no choice then don't vote for a minor party because they think there vote is wasted! You are complaining about a system you are perpetuating. If people understood that by preferencing they can still ensure they help change governments AND give the minor parties a boost we would all be better off. You never know, if all people voted with their heads and their hearts we might not have minors and majors anymore? Hopefully I'm young enough to see that change.
The Labor Party currently looks like the Liberal Party of 40 years ago. The Liberals comprised of "wets" and "drys"; the "drys" being the conservative faction. The Liberals have now dispensed with "wets"; that is, those who could see beyond economic rationalism. By voting Green, Democrat, or Independant for the House of Representatives you send a message to the big Parties that they need to get their act together. Your second prefence will go to the candidate from the big Party you prefer to see elected.
Opinion Archive 
