The Great Voting Debate

Elections are coming up back in Australia, so I thought I might get a bit "political"...

  As most of my friends and family know, I am not an overly politically minded person. I like to stay up to date with what is going in both at home and overseas, but I am certainly no expert on politics. I did however recently sign up to receive full access to the Herald Sun online, which is a tabloid newspaper for those who don't know. I have taken to reading the news in the afternoon when classes are finished to keep up with what is going on, both in Australia and abroad. 

  I decided to sign up after I heard the news a few weeks ago that Julia Gillard had been replaced as Prime Minister by Kevin Rudd. I found out via Facebook, which is its own little political opinion hot-pot. In my head I was like, wtf sort of person am I to hear about this sort of news via FB? I need to be better informed ("better", so I subscribe to a tabloid? hahaha).

  Now, I can only talk about my own personal feelings and opinions, so don't anyone hate me or anything... But years ago, when Mr. Rudd was first elected, I will be honest and say that I was one of his voters. I agreed mainly with his Environmental Policy at the time, and as such he got my vote. Plus, the "Kevin 07" campaign was brilliant - he tapped into the young Australian voters and connected with them on a different level. After the election my interest died off, as it generally does, because although technically everything that happens in parliament affects me, it wasn't really. So I didn't pay attention to the "signs". The next thing I hear Julia Gillard has pulled the rug out from under the poor bastard and now we have the first woman Prime Minister and everyone is going gaga. I was pissed off, I didn't vote for her! I voted for the party though, so I spose them's the breaks. 

  I did NOT vote for her in the next election. I hate women who need to tell people they are women. OBVIOUSLY she is a girl, and I felt like she used that as a political strategy. She cannot relate to many Australian women, she works a very different job to most people and has no kids. She was lucky enough to attend a university and all of that. So how can she say she understands what the average Australian women wants? Piss off. So yeah, I was glad the Mr. Rudd came back and is now the Prime. 

BUT

  In saying all of this, it seems that neither party is answering the hard questions this time around, and neither party leader seems to be an appropriate choice for our Country. This is all based on other peoples opinions I read in the paper. I haven't even read the party policies... And I don't plan on it. I don't even live in Australia at the moment, and I have better things to do with my time than read policy matters (in the afternoons I need to blog, and play cookie-run on my smartphone). So where does this leave me? Who do I vote for? I don't even WANT to vote. 

  I read a blog this afternoon by Wendy Touhy who writes for the Herald Sun, about people "trashing" their votes by donkey voting and things like that. She says that it is an abuse of our rights and a spoilt brat thing to do... I agree on a certain level I suppose. Many women had to work damn hard for us to get the right to vote, and in some countries people aren't allowed to vote full stop. I am currently living in a country where they never take their ability and opportunity to vote for granted, and I can see how some people may feel that by casting a "donkey" vote we are throwing the opportunity in the faces of all those that have fought for this right. 

BUT

  Keep in mind it is ILLEGAL not to register to vote in Australia. If you do not vote in an election, then you get a fine. Which makes me wonder, how is this democratic if you HAVE to vote?? This to me just means that disgruntled voters will ultimately cast an invalid vote and may as well have not taken time out of their Saturday. So what are my thoughts on this? I think that our voting system is totally flawed and wastes a lot of time. If the only people who voted where the people who wanted to vote, then I really feel we would have a better elected government. Right now, Independent and fringe votes go to certain parties anyway, so we are still not even having our votes go to where we want them to go. 

  I do not fully understand the voting process in America, but it seems that they vote because the WANT to, not because they have to. I think Australia should adopt this system. This year, I don't want to vote... I am not there for the election and I have no idea how to vote by proxy (it is probably really easy, I am just lazy) and as a result of this when I get home I will have to pay a fine. If I was home, I would choose to vote, and I would be taking more of an interest. 

  I have no idea who I would vote for. Tony Abbott seems like a complete idiot, but the public doesn't seem impressed with Rudd either. So who knows what will happen on election day. I will check Facebook to find out. 

xoxoxo