My Election Thoughts

The election is happening in four days, so I've been looking into who I should vote for. I've been trying to filter through all the BS and and look at the facts... So this how I'm currently thinking of voting in the House of Representatives:

1	MILLEN, Tom	The Greens
2	CAMPBELL, Jodie	Australian Labor Party
3	WIENER, Sven	Independent
4	WATTS, Adrian Ronald	Citizens Electoral Council
5	BENNETT, Shem	LDP
6	FERGUSON, Michael	Liberal
7	de HAAN, Ixa	Family First

So why?

Family First
Ok... So why have I put family first last? Well, they are a Christian based party, and I don't like the idea of church and state being together. Look at history. Every time the church has been in control of state, everything has gone super pair-shaped. Also, Christian parties in politics seem to push their moral worldview onto everybody else. As if making a law against something is going to change peoples hearts? Politics should be about what is best for society, not necessary Christians. I don't agree with gay marriage, but I think it's wrong that gay people are discriminated by our countries laws. I'm sure these family first people are are all nice, but I'm not voting for them.

Liberals
I think it's time that the Liberals lost power. Yes, they have done some good things, but they have also stuffed up in a lot of ways. They don't seem to have respect for human rights -- detention centers, anti-terrorism laws. They don't seem to care about the environment. Surely we should be trying to lead the world in getting rid of carbon? They're giving us tax cuts, but why don't they use that money to fix the crippled health care system? Any Johny seems to worship Bush. Yeah sure the yanks helped us out in the war, but that doesn't mean we should blindly follow them in their stupid invasions of other countries. So I'm voting to get rid of the Libs.

The Greens
So I was a bit weary with voting for the greens. I grew up amongst a strong "The greens are evil hippies" culture. However, I've been reading some of their policies, and they are actually really good. Most of the things that annoy me about the current situation, the greens have a policy that I like. For example, they will bring back the Iraq troops, will reduce green house emissions, will bring back public dentists, will not accept donations from large companies, etc. They will also get rid of detention centers and let refugees live in the country while their application is processed. Really, these guys have a lot of stuff going for them, even more than just the environment. So that's why I'm planning to vote for them first.

Yes, they do want to push forward for gay marriage. But really... So what? They are mostly trying to remove the discrimination against these people anyway. I'm not a fan of the whole gay thing, but I don't think that Christians should be pushing their views onto society like that. You can't force people who don't believe in God to live as if they did.

Labour
Realistically speaking, the greens aren't going to win a seat. So if it's a close election, then my 2nd preference is what is going to count. Labour will undo some of the mess that the libs have got us in. And I quiet like Rudd. However, their policies are a bit too much of a compromise for my liking. So I'm giving them a 2. I'd give more reasons for this but I'm about to fall asleep.

Other
WIENER, Sven seems like he's alright. He says to vote for him if you want to look after the environment but are too scared of the greens. The other two candidates are really hard to find out about on the net, so I've put them in the middle. Really, if they want any body to vote for them, then they should at least have a simple webpage with what they stand for.

Here's a couple of links if you're interested:

• A great overview of the main Greens policies here
• Understanding what voting 1,2,3, etc means
• Lower House
• Upper House

So I don't want to tell you how you should vote, but rather just to give you a couple of things to think about. Don't just vote for the name that you've seen the most of the side of the street, but vote for who you think is going to be the best for this country and the world.

And look, I didn't even mention the pulp mill once! :-P

Humphrey