Unfortunately the Democrats have lost their way.

Personally I blame the likes of Kernot (ALP) and Bartlett (Greens)for this. Under the influence of these 2 people they drifted Left and became the pseudo Labor party.

In your striving to become more Left than Left, and more progressive than progressives, you drowned yourselves in political correctness and your flagging support shows this. I wouldn't be surprised to see both majors put you last at the next election and like ON it will be bye bye Dems.

Come back to the centre, drop the PC and address issues that concern mainstream Australia.

I agree with Lyn. The Democrats do a lot of work in the Senate for a party that is supposed to be what the media calls "dead".

All this with 4 senators and 2 MLCs. The media line does not makes sense.

I would also like to correct a few people.

The Democrats NEVER supported the sale of Telstra. The Democrats were one of the most stringently opposed to the sale of Telstra, and indeed Lyn Allison is the one who dealt with the bills. You can read her speech on the Sale of Telstra bills
http://www.democrats.org.au/speeches/index.htm?speech_id=37&display=1

Also, those complaining about the Democrats not releasing the results of their God and Government online survey should realise that the survey was not sampled in a scientific manner which means it is open to skewing from certain groups. Any release of a flawed survey would be akin to lying. The Democrats should have commissioned a polling company to do a properly sampled survey.

As for those complaining about the GST. The sky did not fall in when the GST became law. In many cases, taxes applied to many goods actually fell because wholesale taxes were abolished, and businesses are now able to claim back any GST on items and stock used in their business.

If the Democrats had not softened the edges of the Howard Government GST, it would have been likely that the laws would have been passed without those key changes (removing GST from food, education, sanitary essentials, water etc...) after a double dissolution election and/or joint sitting of houses to resolve the deadlock.

The Democrats decision to pass the GST has led to one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in Australia's history. The doom and gloom professed by the ALP, the Greens, the media and the Australian public never eventuated. It was just a whole lot of hysteria.

"Why do journalists argue that the Democrats are dead?"

Little signs like:

Not a single Democrat _candidate_ in the Qld State election in 2006.

The Democrats in Qld don't even advertise times and places of local sub-branch meetings on their website.

Upper House vote in the 2006 SA election: Democrats 16 500, Greens almost 40 000, Nick Xenophon (Independent "No Pokies") 190 000. Democrats failed to elect a member to the Upper House.

2004 Federal election - not a SINGLE Democrat elected to the Senate. Democrats' Senate vote plummets to 250 000 nationwide - about 2%.

In at least one state, the Democrats' branch Returning Officer is closely related to a senior member of the Party (Mark Oss-Essemer is QLD RO. If Aussie Kanck is still RO in SA, that makes two - SA website does not list office-bearers).

I'm tired of hearing Democrats whine about how we all need to vote for them so they can look after us in the Senate. There is more to politics than Parliament.

A real political party would be whipping up support in the broader community and forcing the Government to notice important issues. (Hint - 250 000 votes out of 10 000 000 is NOT broad).

David Jackmanson
http://www.letstakeover.blogspot.com

Couldn't we live perfectly well without money?
http://www.lastsuperpower.net/docs/document.2005-01-21.2592308437

After a taste of howard's rubber stamp senate, I think we have never needed the Dems more. You don't really have to like them; hating pollies is a fundamental ozzie value.
You just have to realise Beazley's useless, and Howard's an embarassment. A dangerous, sycophantic embarassment.

The Democrats did not turn the Senate into a genuine House of Review. The DLP and the ALP did that when the DLP held the balance of power in the early 1970s and both Labor parties worked together to establish the Senate committee system.

The Democrats are finished. When the DLP closed down in 1978 in Victoria, it still polled around five per cent of the vote and had ten paid employees - and that was in the days of no public funding of political parties. The Democrats now poll around one per cent and seem to have hardly any party organization - even with public funding.

The DLP: 1955-1978; the Democrats: 1977-2007; the Greens: 1990s-2020s? Then ? [I wanted three question marks, but a bossy computer program says I cannot have them!]

Chris C,

Much as I agree with most of your post (all but the last sentance), I wish you hadn't stolen my name