Sunday, December 03, 2006

Ruddy 'ell.

"Democracy" is a peculiar concept. As a general rule, those who have the power to "rule" a Nation are not selected by the populace, but by the Power Brokers in some distant "Never Neverland" far removed from the lives, and concepts of "ordinary" people. However, an important part of a viable, functioning democracy, is that "ordinary people" can, and should have a "say".

This weekend sees a major battle for the Leadership of the "Opposition" Party in Australian Politics.

These are reprints of "comments" that have made elsewhere so far.

"Gidday WB. Luv yer Logo. Have to admit that Rudd will give Howard's "attack dogs" much more material to work on than the threadbare "brown cardigan" of Beazley, but that will be a benefit for the punters .. hopefully the Soap bubbles of Labor policy might coalesce into something solid. "


" I don’t really follow politics in any “indepth” way, and generally get my info and impressions from the mainstream media, so this is only a 1.1 cent contribution.

Up until now, have never voted Labor (nor Liberal, if it comes to that, but that’s a different story.) Am, however, becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the direction Howard and his team of sycophants are taking Australia. While I generally agree that the “wisest” option for Labor would be to let the brown cardigan-and-slippers team of Beasley and Macklin amble up to the next election, be defeated, THEN do a massive re-shuffle of personel .. Rudd does have a point.

By 2010 the “new” IR system will be entrenched, and difficult to dismantle. I don’t know enough about IR and “econonomic effects” to comment much, but get the feeling that the full effects will take some time to become widely apparent. The “rich get rich and the poor get shafted” American style philosophy was not (never has been) part of my philosophy, and would like to see it diffused.

OK, so Rudd comes across as a bituva dork. He is, however, intelligent and articulate. (and when was the last time a PM could converse in Mandarin?)

Labor can’t do any worse than they are now.

cunning, pragmatic and ruthless? Sounds like the current PM. With Gillard along to give Rudd some breadth of imagination and balance, I say go for it. "


Personally, have never voted for the Labor Party in a fit BUT, depending on whether Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard win the battle, THEN rise to the occasion of Leadership (which i think they can) .. would seriously consider changing a vote.

Update: Monday Dec 4. It's now official, Kevin Rudd is now the leader of the Australian Labor Party. 49 votes to 39.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

For Rudd to succeed, he must offer the party, its supporters, and the electorate hope in this pessimistic era we’ve built for ourselves. If he succeeds, he has a great future. If he fails, the left are fucked for maybe another ten years.

Vincent said...

In my capacity as someone who's just arrived from Mars and looks at this world in goggle-eyed astonishment, I cannot understand why "democracy" works the way that it does, if "works" is not too strong a world.

It seems to me that democracy should means that we elect representatives so that we can tell them what to do. they are our servants and we pay them.

Instead of that, they have the cheek to tell us what to do and impose their nasty vision on us.

You would understand my point even better if you had to put up with that ham actor Tony Blair strutting on every stage that doesn't throw tomatoes at him.

Anonymous said...

"Democracy" is a peculiar concept."

No shit!! Humans really are not advanced enough to rule themselves.

I don't know the politics in your country, hell, I don't understand the politics in my country.

Other than the fact that our form of democracy and the political system here is a lot of bullshit.

It's an old Roman thing hidden under a lot of complex smoke screens allowing the idiots in this country think that they are helping to run the show.

Hugs.

Davoh said...

BB, while not wishing to sound superior .. heh heh, the system of Australian "politics" was really only formulated in the years 1901-1926 so our "Founding (political) Fathers" had a chance to take whatever the Westminster system had to offer, and also study the flaws and problems inherent in the American system.

Personally, I think they did a magnificent job, considering. :-D

This site gives a VERY comprehensive look at the details .. if yer into that sort of thing. Cheers.