It’s election day for my state’s government. I hope the local candidate that I voted for gets in because he’s a hard-working, community conscious dude who does a great job. I’m fairly confident he’ll do okay as the local community appreciate and respect him. I’m not so sure his party will get into government. But, either way, it will be a quiet day.
We don’t need police or the army guarding our polling booths. Every citizen over 18 years of age can (and must) vote regardless of gender, financial wealth or lack of it, religious persuasion or ethnicity. We don’t need special protection for any woman who wants to go out in public to vote.
Whichever party wins, there won’t be any rioting in the streets by the losers. There won’t be any burning of vehicles, smashing of shop windows, or building of barricades. No one will lose their life over the election. The worse that will happen will be some monumental sulking and a few extra drinks consumed by those who missed out. Then, after a few days of “Where did we go wrong? How could we have campaigned better? Why did the people vote those clods in?”, it’ll be back to life as normal. The loser has 3 – 4 years of campaigning as the opposition, with the hope that things will be different in the next election.
I’ve heard a number of people complain that this particular campaign has been rather ho-hum; even a little boring. I say, “Hallelujah for that!” I watch news footage of rioting, shooting, tear-gassing, water-gunning, rifle-shooting at people protesting in the streets over their government (both for and against) and I thank God I live in a boring democracy. Just think of the recent troubles in Egypt, Thailand, poor devastated Syria and now the Ukraine, and ask yourself: How did I get so blessed to live here?
No wonder asylum seekers are paying people smugglers to put them on leaky, over-crowded little fishing boats and risk sailing across pirate-infested and then navy-infested waters to get here.
Here’s to a peaceful, uneventful, slightly boring election and may they always be so.
Maybe the relative calmness of our politics arises because no one here actually strongly believes in any ideas for structuring society. So there’s nothing really to fight over. In NSW the ruling principle seems to be self enrichment of your family or tribe. Politicians can’t spend time organising demos when they are so busy granting each other coal, gas and water rights.
A sad, cynical view of politics in Australia that, unfortunately, is probably true for a large proportion of the population. There are big thinkers and idealists but their voices are often lost in the chanting of the crowd. Every so often someone rises above the scrum and gives us something to think about. I think that’s why I really enjoy Shaun Micallef’s show, Mad as Hell. His clever satire makes fun of populism and dares us to look below the surface, all the while making us laugh. What a genius.