As always, a sane and fully informed post by Gary Johns. What a thoughtful contrast to Stuart Rees's communist pap.

Parliamentary democracy has many flaws, but it's a long way ahead of whatever is running second.

Democracy triumphed with Brexit, Trump and - hopefully - the coming rout of Merkel and the other fools who have probably already damaged Europe beyond repair. And don't forget Australia's own small part in this scheme: keeping Shorten's Labor in opposition while destroying any shred of credibility which mighty have remained for Turnbull. An ideal result.

I believe it was the redoubtable Winston Churchill, who said, Democracy is the very worst form of government, but better than all the rest? We in the west are sacrificing egalitarian democracy, little by little year by year, to allegedly defeat terrorism? Not that we here in Oz had much to begin with, with preferential voting allowing the entrenched to manipulate the alleged or allegorical outcome? That being so, we are slightly more free than our former Soviet counterparts, who along with us, remain without a bill of irrevocable rights?

The Soviet Union proved there are worse choices than democracy? Ditto China, which used free market capitalism coupled to despotic tyrannical rule, to quite massively transform a basket case economy into the global powerhouse that has replaced it, that we are so dependent on today!

If we have any REAL issues with totalitarian rule? Then don't take their dollar!

But instead, create a economy welded to a positively pragmatic production paradigm that effective allows us to more than compete with the emerging economies and take market share!

Enough of the endless forelock tugging and useless tut tutting already!

If you can't cut the mustard? Get out of the way and give the other bloke a go! We'd hardly be worse off!
Alan B.

Were the 46% of this age group off their faces? Or, were they unaware of the options, or unadvised of them? Or, have we, preceeding generations, made such a mess of democracy that we have put almost half of this age group against a way of life that we have always cherished?

So what!
Or of what relevance has what happened in 1915 to what is happening or could happen in 2015!
We now live in a totally different post-truth quantum world of super-technology in which everyone and everything is now instantaneously inter-connected.
A world in which humankind is now in a state of very dangerous collective psychosis.
A world saturated with weapons of mass destruction, including of course nuclear weapons. And it is not just powerful nation states which have access to these super weapons and quite readily use them - there are numerous terrorist groups full of murderously "reasonable" intentions who couldn't give a fig about the "collateral damage" that they cause.
A world in which full scale global warfare could start and escalate in a matter of hours.
Even the fact that in 1915 there was less than 2 billion human beings on the planet - there are now over 7 billion.

Furthermore, civilization (limited though it was) as it existed in 1915 was effectively destroyed by the two world wars - the second world war finished off the destructive process which began with the first.

80 years. Or thereabouts. Roughly a lifetime. Time enough for mostly all those who were old enough to be aware of what was going on around them during the last great upheaval to be gone.
Gone and gone along with them their wisdom and their experience backed knowlege of what blew everything up last time.
The young just don't know any different. How could they?
Today our laws no longer protect our property rights and liberty. The law now firmly subjects those two foundations to state control. And the young have no idea how bad that is. To them it's normal.
Not much of a thought is it that all the old lessons are going to have to be learnt again the hard way.

Yes *Jamo* sadly I share something of your view.

But what do you expect if the majority of ugly Australians vote for people who not so long ago were stealing babies and to this day practice State sponsored child abuse.

.. so let them all go and hop about in their frenetic stupor and celebrate the invasion day of the filthy trash genocidal, child abusing, crown.

And oh dear, the delusions of benevolence ..

Re Communism, I wonder exactly how much each person would be paid each year if the "turkey" was carved "equally."

I remember talking to my Russian HomeStay Granny not long after they upgraded their economic system. She was sincerely shocked to see the fools of the world jumping up and down as if they had won some kind of victory. Clueless ..

But I like Russia. I like the Russians very much and wish to return again one day. Suffice to say that I am bitterly opposed to any measures which in any way inhibit the Russian people being part of the "Global Family."

Squabbles amongst the leaders are not new phenomena but holding entire countries to account for the alleged actions of a few is, and is reprehensible, to say the least.

It's like all the hoo har in the US at the moment re their elections and alleged hacking (to reveal a shameless liar in the form of H.Clinton).

Point one is that the US President affects the lives of far more people than just US citizens so their elections are fair game for that reason if for no other.

Point two is that their electoral system is a shameful joke whichever way you look at it.

Point three is that it is not the role of the government departments to attempt to unduly influence and push the President elect into a position which they themselves wish to take.

The position the Pres takes is a matter for him, and not some little pervs who spend their time spying excessively on their own citizens.

Great work Julian Assange.

A completely immoral Julian Assange is in my view, the very worst spy of all, with no state or personal secret safe from a person demonstrably free of a personal moral code or respect for privacy, personal choice, required verification of alleged facts or permission to publish; or consequent collateral damage!

As for President elect? Putin clearly had some (put in) input into a result that defies popular choice! Meaning no real mandate for anything!

And given Mr Trump has never ever had to report to a board or take personal responsibility for any negative outcomes!

Good luck with the alleged attempt to control or influence, or indeed any successful attempt to fathom the mind of the soon to be? Most powerful man, in the very best democracy money can buy!

I spent enough time in foster homes and orphanages to know that most of the kids (other folk's personal property) that showed up there, were either abandoned, notoriously neglected or abused within an inch of their lives!

The still astronomical suicide rate by young folk in some settlements, gives extreme weight to my view and none whatsoever to the completely spurious, deliberately divisive, countervailing, risible rubbish?

There is not a black way nor a white way, just a right way!
Alan B.

Indeed, once America won a sports tournament against Russia, the Russian press announced:

"Russia came second, America came second-to-last".

So, Mr. Johns, if coming second-to-last makes you this proud...

@dreamon i think you're the one who is clueless.

Gary, talking about Russia in 1917 is not going to shed any light on Australia in 2016.

Any survey needs to be taken with a grain of salt, what where the respondents perceived grievance with representative democracy?

I think the general felling is representative democracy is on the nose not so much democracy itself.

There is two ways to fix it, either the main political parties need to pull their act together, which is very unlikely.
Or
We need to technology and more away from our present process, and allow the public to set the political agenda and be able to vote directly on issues.

The pollies will not like either of these, so we are likely to move into deeper political instability before the fix is inevitable

"we are slightly more free than our former Soviet counterparts, who along with us, remain without a bill of irrevocable rights?"

The recent historical record of the bill of rights in the US demonstrates a clear lesson. Having all the rights in the world wont stop the powerful who see such documents as a limitation on their power, taking it away from us. In any country the only thing stopping this tyranny is we the masses getting our arses and taking the actions that are necessary to prevent it.

We Australians are in the exact same boat as Americans.

In recent times I've started to listen to the Know Your Rights Group broad casts and learning that our Australian Constitution and Commonwealth laws, provide all the rights and laws we need to ensure our rights. We the people just need to learn and enforce them.

Dont beleive me? Read the work of Sue Maynes and her husband who lost their house trying to get the local council to answer 2 questions.

Read up on the Unidroit principles that Australia has signed up to in 1973.

Ask yourself? Have we Australians ever voted at referendums to:

approve the increase of power of any body or govt agency outside of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia?

hand over our ‘power’ to international bodies and corporations?

step out of the protection of the Commonwealth Constitution?

be coerced to any legal action in anything but common law?

be manipulated into agreeing to any commercial activity that gives an assumed power to a foreign jurisdiction?

be governed by any body that is not completely “of” and working completely within, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia?

be bound to Private Law agreements we did not even know existed?

If not why are we is this the situation