Politics

Okay, the title of this post will give everything away. I'm going to talk about the upcoming local elections, and I'd like to talk about how I'm going to vote.

Now, this is in direct reference to the Canberra elections on the 20th of October, but also applies to the larger scale elections, whenever the hell those are. I'll try and keep this reasonably understandable for people from overseas.

There are three parties who have any kind of say in Australian politics: The Labor Party (centre-left), the Liberal Party (centre-right, in a coalition with the National Party) and the Greens (centre-left, but further left than Labor). The Greens are much smaller than the other two, but they are offering an increasingly appealing option.

I vote Greens. There. If you strongly disagree with that, fine. Feel free to tell me why, I don't mind. Hell, I'm the only person I know who votes Green and I can put up with a lot of criticism. The Greens do have shortcomings, sure, but politics in Australia revolves around the concept of voting for the people you hate the least, and I like many policies of the Greens. Now, let's talk a little about two of the criticisms I've heard about the Greens:

1. "They're a single-issue party."
They really aren't. Sure, as the name suggests, the Greens came into existence with the sole purpose of being an environmental movement, and a lot of that thought has been retained in modern policy. But just look at this page. Sure, there are a lot of environmentally focused policies, but the Greens also have some pretty simple ideas that should be passed. Gay marriage is a biggie, as well as the abolition of indefinite detention for asylum seekers. Sure, the Canberra election is not going to bring these things around, but it's a hell of a big step forward.

2. "They aren't doing anything different to the Labor Party."
Bullshit. This is just plain bullshit. OK, sure the Greens and Labor parties are the closest two parties in the political spectrum in Australia, but I swear, if Labor or Liberal parties get any more centrist, they're just going to sit around all day waiting for something to react to, or arguing that the other party is wrong merely because the other party thought of it first. Labor and the Greens have worked together, but the two are incredibly different, and the Greens have never been worried about pissing them off, so I have no hesitation in saying a vote for Labor is not a vote for the Greens under a different name.

Now, let me talk about why I like the Greens, without focusing on criticism:

1. They're something different.
The Liberals and Labor have been having a two-party pissing contest since 1946, and I'm getting bloody sick of it. I'm not saying that The Greens should have the balance of power, but more voices need to be heard than the two that keep shouting "Yes, we agree on this policy, but you guys suggested it, so it must be wrong." I think the need for a third ( a second voice, really) is what prompted the One Nation Party. Not familiar with it? Look it up. It's one of the top three most disgusting things that Australians have done, as long as I can cover a lot of incidents under the "racial discrimination"  category. The Greens have fair policies, common sense for the most part, that is just simply not there. What more can I say?

2. The people.
The people in the Greens represent me. Sure, that sounds like something out of a brochure, but it's true. Unlike other parties, Greens politicians are generally young, passionate, caring, interesting and diverse. I really doubt there are many wealthy old white straight male former lawyers in The Greens, and I like the change of pace. It's only a small thing, but it says a lot.

3. Their approach.
Do you know what really makes me want to vote for someone? Childish name calling! That's right, Labor and Liberals, TV ads and pamphlets telling me how wrong everyone else is really makes me want to vote for you. Neither of the L parties are exactly excluded from this. but the Liberals are a hell of a lot worse. The reason I'm doing this post is because I honestly received a pamphlet from the Liberals which was 6 pages of telling me "Those other parties are all wrong, but we'll do it right. They're doing this, this and this wrong. Vote Seselja." without actually putting forward the smallest piece of Liberal policy for changing it. Actually, I lie. One of the pages was just a big picture of Sesilja and a happy family smiling. Much better. The Greens, as far as I can tell, have a complete aversion to attack ads, which is the reason I will vote for them until the day I die, as long as that policy continues. Because the people running my city or my country should NOT  think calling people names will get the elected. Actually, that would explain quite a lot about our foreign policy under the Liberals: Call everyone names, then lie back and think of America. Cheers, Howard.

Anyway, Canberra, vote Rattenbury, Le Couteur, Kerlin and Siddle on October 20th. Cheers for reading.