THE DELUSION OF DEMOCRACY - PART 4
“How concerned are
you about the prospect of a Carbon Tax being reintroduced?” And there it is.
It’s not a survey. It has nothing to do with representation. It’s an ad for the
LNP, a political campaign flyer designed to scare people into voting for them. It
became more obvious with each new question. “What do you think is most
important? Reliable energy supply, Renewable energy, Affordable energy, don’t
know?” Clearly pushing coal and gas mining.
Words like ‘Reliable’ and ‘Affordable’, with a capital, indicate that ‘Renewable’ is not. “Should renewable energy be subsidised by the taxpayer?” And there’s the evidence. Subsidised? We’re being sodomised by the government over fossil fuels. It’s now more cost effective to produce green energy, but LNP ties to fossil fuel companies is propping up that eco-vandalising industry. And the wank-fest continued. He may not have written it, but I’m surprised he approved it.
Words like ‘Reliable’ and ‘Affordable’, with a capital, indicate that ‘Renewable’ is not. “Should renewable energy be subsidised by the taxpayer?” And there’s the evidence. Subsidised? We’re being sodomised by the government over fossil fuels. It’s now more cost effective to produce green energy, but LNP ties to fossil fuel companies is propping up that eco-vandalising industry. And the wank-fest continued. He may not have written it, but I’m surprised he approved it.
It comprised of manipulative,
loaded questions designed to rail-road people into supporting LNP ideologies
rather than politicians actually finding out what the voters want so they can
represent those people. Then, despite laws to the contrary about collecting information
on people and their voting preferences, it asked the respondents to fill-in all
their personal details including their name, where they lived and worked, level
of education, how many kids they had… and who they normally voted for.
Only one section was
of any value at all. “If you could raise one issue in Federal Parliament, what
would it be?” So I just sent Dutton an email. The dude is all about protecting
us from terrorism, so I pointed out the decades of unrelenting terror victims
of child abuse and domestic violence suffer at the hands of their abusers… and
then the terror inflicted by the police, public servants and politicians
inflict on the very same victims who listen to the bullshit rhetoric
encouraging them to come forward and report it, only to be bullied and forced
to remain silent by those who are meant to help and protect them.
But despite his
flawed ideologies, Dutton is, when it comes down to it, a good man trying to
make the world a better place. He may be misguided, but he too is shaped by
life, just like the rest of us. Dutton actually wrote back. Whether he read
what I’d written or not, he expressed sympathy, also gratitude for taking the
time to share, indicated he’d pass on what I’d written to the relevant
Minister, and asked me to contact him again if he could be of further help. I
plan on taking up that offer to see what happens.
Dutton is a rare
breed. He is shaped by honour, integrity, loyalty, and duty. He extends that to
every element of his job, albeit in regards to what he believes is right. Most
politicians rarely respond at all. Even those that come out and claim that
they, too, have been victims, and encourage others to ask for help. Xenaphon
was an almost exception. Eight years ago, he expressed concern about what I
revealed and offered to follow-up on it. His office never responded again.
Some of those idiots
refer you to other agencies despite the fact that the email detailed how those
agencies have failed to help. Like they never read the correspondence. They
even get aggressive if you point out the flaw in their response. Trump genius
levels of intellect, right there. This is the think-tank that is Australian
bureaucracy. But despite his many misguided attitudes, and that piece of shite
‘survey’, Dutton at least puts in every effort and goes the extra step to do
his job.
Meanwhile, Barnaby
and his mates are busy being incompetent, corrupt, morally bankrupt hypocrites,
and real issues are being ignored. You think you live in a democracy? You think
you have equality and justice? Look around. Pay attention. Try to contact a
political representative and discover for yourself just how much real
representation you have. Stop and think about elections, and how much say you
get when you cast your vote into the wind.
First, it isn’t
democracy. You are obligated by law to vote for one of a small selection of
people you usually don’t know, who don’t know you and could care less, and are
being dishonest about the things they claim they are and intend to do… or you
can cop a fine or go to prison. Are you voting to get someone into office, or
get someone out? We generally vote to un-elect a government but are equally
appalled by the equally inept, incompetent, corrupt and morally bankrupt
arsehats that take their place. Or you can draw a dick on the voting form, and
waste it, just so long as you get your name ticked off.
Take the Barnaby
situation, for example. All the Human Rights violations against the unemployed
and refugees, all the hateful Marriage Equality debate, and all the dodgy
rorting by the LNP during their term is forgotten against this backdrop.
Two-thirds of the public are appalled by what Barnaby has done and want him
gone. Rusted-on LNP supporters conveniently ignore the fact that he has
violated their core ideologies and continue to support him, making efforts to
silence any and all criticism.
Would they be so
supportive if it was a left-wing politician who had behaved in that way? Let’s
have a look. Almost immediately, LNP politicians threatened to expose the sins
of politicians on the left in an effort to silence criticism. RWNJs started
pointing out that Shorten had impregnated a woman out of wedlock when he was at
university but had then gone on to become leader of the ALP. Some of us had
never even heard of that, and still have trouble finding decent details.
But even if it were
true, stop and think about it. If Shorten was at university when it happened,
he was not an elected political representative. He didn’t get his mistress
high-paying jobs in government, live in the palace of an ALP donner seeking
approval on some business deal, cheat on and abandon his wife and their
children, violate the very ideologies of the religion or not-Conservative
values to which he claimed devotion to the point of insisting be inflicted on
others.
The smartest among
the LNP ranks (and it’s a very limited field) made noises suggesting Barnaby do
right by his Party and step down. The Nationals leader in Western Australia was
one of them, and Barnaby gave her a good seeing-off. According to him, what the
Nationals did over there had nothing to do with the east-coast demographic, who
supported him, so she could bugger-off. In his quest to sacrifice everything
for his own desires, Barnaby forgot that the public sees no such distinction. But
Barnaby… well, if the Captain was going down, so was the whole fucking ship!
But now, after being
forced to take leave, whispers speak of him being tapped on the shoulder,
pointed at the door, and asked “is that a $20 note on the floor in front of
you?” with the intent to give him a good kick in the arse on his way out. But
Barnaby probably wouldn’t go down for anything less than a hundred. His
mistress and too many other LNP sycophants and self-serving RWNJs, on the other
hand… And all the while Australia has become a laughing stock in the US as
comedians there ridicule us over Barnaby’s insane behaviour and how politicians
are enabling him… and the US is ruled by Trump!
There’s no point
trying to reason with Barnaby because he is an unreasonable person. Too many
other politicians are the same. What we need to do is ask ourselves what they
really represent, what we really believe in, and vote appropriately. If you are
a rusted-on Party supporter you only enable the bad behaviour of a politician
that behaves badly. If you would vote for One Nation or Liberal Democrats
instead of the LNP because there’s no way you’d vote for the ‘leftards’,
‘Commies’ and ‘Socialists’ of the Greens or ALP, then that reveals more about
your own lack of education and intellect than you realise.
Do any of those
right-wing Parties really represent the things they claim, or even the things
you believe in? Watch the news, read official, regulated, fact based
publications. I’ve even included links to many in what I write. Don’t take my
opinion as fact. It may be based on facts, but I’m pretty damned intolerant of
anyone (regardless of Party affiliations or even politics at all) that acts
like a douchebag. Go check the ABC Vote Compass. Answer the questions and find
out where your actually land.
Just over 1.25
million people have used it, and a lot are surprised by how their vote has been
going to a Party that doesn’t actually represent the things they believe in. No
surprises here. I ended up on the left. Anybody who knows the childhood I
survived, the struggle I’ve had as an adult seeking work and trying to put
myself through uni, my efforts to volunteer and help people if I have no work,
and the cruel fight against the depression a lifetime of injustice has
inflicted, would expect nothing less.
But even being armed
with a greater understanding of political, socio-economic, religious, and
community issues isn’t enough here. Knowing what ideologies you support (even
if you are a self-centred arsehole hell-bent on inflicting yourself on, and
permanently harming, others to get what you want) doesn’t mean you can’t
support a common cause. We all have something in common. And Barnaby, or more
accurately, what Barnaby has done, is one of those very common things.
Sure, it’s great to
normalise that kind of moral bankruptcy, incompetence and corruption, to force
it on others for your own benefit, but stop and think about it. If people like
Barnaby set the standard, and we as a society can expect no better from the
police and public services, what happens to you when the wheel turns and the
boot is on your throat? Just because we don’t hear about certain injustices, or
just because some half-wit screams “fake news”, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen
and isn’t real.
Take the “Me Too” movement. Brendan Fraser is the most recent male
actor to come out and add to it, not just to support female actors, but to
share his own experiences as a victim. Most men are met with negative responses
for doing so, like it’s an issue that only affects female actors, and while some
of the most vicious responses come from women themselves, a lot more come from
men. But it does affect men too. And it also impacts on people who are not
actors. We can only hope actors will come out and support non-actor victims of
sexual assault, Domestic Violence, Child Abuse and Elder Abuse too.
And maybe, just maybe, while we pick and choose sides in the
Barnaby issue, we can all stop, take a breath, and look at the bigger picture.
What message does someone like Barnaby send when they act the way they have?
What message do we send if we support it? What impact does this have on those
who are from situations similar to that? How will this influence the responses
of people in the police, public services, and community that are meant to help
the victims? How does it affect kids?
This isn’t just an isolated incident. In fact, it’s just one more
straw in the whole hayshed that is Barnaby’s bad behaviour and cry for help.
But in a grander scheme, it’s just further evidence of an entrenched culture of
corruption that infects every aspect of our society, a rot that starts at the
top. According to the New Testament, Barnaby is a branch that must be pruned
for the benefit of the whole community, yet for too long we have been pruning
off the good branches and complaining about rotten fruit.
If Mia Davies, a politician, can see the harm something like
Barnaby does, why can’t the rest of society? Admittedly, her observations are
limited to how this will impact on her Party and, more importantly, her, but
even so her natural instincts (as a politician) for self-preservation can still
provide some overall good as we all benefit from being caught in the positive
aspect of the splash zone. Yes, a lunatic or predator will seek to cling
tightly to the lifestyle that gives them what they want, but are we willing to
pay the cost when it is ourselves that are being sacrificed to satisfy their
depravity?
It is long past time for a change. Not just in political
representation, but in every aspect of our society. There needs to be changes
to the laws to provide actual justice. There needs to be an investigation of
the police and public services to identify and remove staff that have exhibited
behaviours that have harmed victims they were supposed to help. There needs to
be community-wide education to change negative and unhealthy attitudes, and
real repercussions for predators.
One thing has become very clear under decades of
Trickle-Down Economics that reduces everything in Western Society to a
commodity and enables the predators in politics, big business and the community
as a whole – it has only made things worse. If we change nothing, nothing
changes. You cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that created it. If
you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Barnaby, and
those like him, are the very epitome of what is wrong at the top, but they are
just a few in a field of far too many.
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