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Why anti-racism, pro-Biosphere, pro-Humanity Australians must vote Number 1 Green and Put Labor Last

16 April 2010, 12:58, by new illuminati

A cogent argument, excepting the detail that a vote for the current Oz opposition would be a vote for an even more short sighted bunch, who have consistently demonstrated a complete disregard for human rights or the environment and a cavalier presumptuousness that knows no bounds.
Under the current Westminster milieu the Greens are certainly an optimal choice for those with an eye to the future - particularly as the most they can achieve at present is the balance of power in the upper house and a smattering in the lower at best.
To paint a simple portrait, the Coalition (note that two parties have been required to beat Labor during most elections since Federation) are historically the bosses’ and landholders’ parties, the natural home of big business monopolies although they falsely claim the mantle of free enterprise. Labor is traditionally the workers’ party. Neither has claim to any intrinsic regard for the environment, and both ride roughshod over the land in pursuit of their own ends. Only the Greens and a few other small parties are interested in anything so abstruse as ethics or the precautionary principle.
In any case, preference voting is optional for the upper house in Australian Federal elections and most voters simply ’vote above the line’ and mark a single box (I carefully number every goddam square - more than a hundred on the metre-wide ballot - but many who try make an error and their vote is rendered ’informal’, null and void).
Despite constant lapses, Labor has consistently proven the better of the two major parties with respect to environmental and human rights agendas; the lesser of two weevils
The challenge for the future is to move beyond the rank stupidity of a quasi-democratic system comprised of parties, instead of candidates who can truly represent their constituents. Doing away with formal parties along with ’representatives’ who are parachuted into unfamiliar safe seats and line-toeing time servers who have no choice but to follow the dictates of head office is a paramount challenge. We need representatives who actually represent the wishes and welfare of their constituencies.
More importantly we need to introduce and use citizens’ initiated referendums en route to a truer democracy, where the public votes for issues rather than the smiling faces of front men and women.

See http://newilluminati.blog-city.com/index.cfm?search=vote