With a federal election next year, what'll determine your vote. The incumbents, hoping they'll change and stop lying. The opposition knowing they have exactly the same agenda, maybe worse. A minor party, either useless or certain policies not acceptable to the majority and wrongly advantaging some minorities. Or for a local independent, who wasn't one of the elite, a unionist, or a fool.

Only the last one makes sense to me, but it wouldn't provide stability nor a direction the vast majority may be comfortable with. We need another way.

If people who follow OLO, could remove our ideologies, prejudices and personal desires for a short time, we could debate an independent peoples party platform, on the internet. Work out direction, priorities, policies applications, It would be there for all to see and implement.

For it to work, would require selfless humility, to get the best harmony, security, freedom, sustainability and equal opportunity for all our country.

We would all have to question our motives in our suggestions, we may have to accept things that don't fully fit our current values. As long as they're progressive and beneficial, not violent or harmful to others, they should be accepted for the sake of the future.

It may not be simple, but if people approached it to get the best outcome for everyone, environment and biodiversity. It could be done without destroying anyone's business or lifestyles. It would bring changes benefiting us all. Economic growth and the environment are finite, do we want to reach that point without doing something to survive

I doubt there are many except the elite who are happy with the direction and decisions being made by our rulers, so why not see if we can start to make a change.

There's enough diversity and thought here to nut out a sane approach to our future, otherwise we're doomed. But then again it may be a disaster, oops.

Anything has to be better than what this man is setting out for the future...

"The war against this enemy is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century, and the calling of our generation," he said. "If we do not defeat these enemies now, we will leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons." George W Bush September 11th 2006.

Does he really not realise that HE is the very thing he accuses others of being? I wouldn't be scared if I lived in America right now - but I bloody well would be if I lived in the Middle East. Sounds like the children of the Middle East are already facing such a monstrous foe, not at some time in the future - but right now, today. An American dictator armed with the world's largest nuclear weapons.

The sooner we clear the political decks of this kind of thinking the better. To make it last, we would need to start with the money.

Alchemist, I admire the deep philosophical thoughts that you have,
but I think you vastly overestimate the human race and its
so called intelligence. Personally I think that in the end only
nature will sort it out and the planet could well keep spinning
with a few cockroaches and ants etc aboard, humanity will have
wiped out most of the mammmals, including themeselves, all very
sad really.

We keep adding another 80 million humans to the world population
every year and nobody cares. I have spent countless hours on the
net, arguing with catholics and others, that without biodiversity
there won't be a humanity. I have spent countless hours arguing
that we have a moral responsibility to other species, to leave them
bits of the planet too, not just wall to wall humans. Try telling
devout Catholics that. They are still actively promoting ever more
people on the planet, bugger the other species.

In some ways my philosophies differ to yours. I accept that we will
all die, so somebody or something is going to eat us, as we get
recycled. Even humans will be eaten by worms in the end, their
claimed ticket to heaven just makes them feel better about that.

So I try and focus on real suffering and reducing that. The
Catholic Church is convinced that its ok to suffer, indeed nobel,
so how can I argue with that kind of irrationality?

Yabby thanks, I agree with you, most of what I post is to gauge the status of each situation and a laugh, plus learning a great deal. I also don't have faith in the ability of humans to use intelligence and overcome their barbarity towards existence.

I started this thread to see the reaction of those moaning about the political, social, health and environmental situations. Like most threads relating to reality, it'll be bypassed by those devoted to illusion, ego and the thirst for destruction.

Logically, Australia's a company, the people are the share holders, the difference is.

The shareholders elected people to manage the company who've sold of company assets and resources to the opposition for peanuts. Now the opposition charges us more for what we used to own, taking our profits out of the business. Management then demands shareholders pay them more, so they can subsidise the opposition enabling them to monopolise and charge even more. Management then demands shareholders give them more money, so they can live in luxury and join the opposition on big salaries after leaving our company destitute

Result our company is nearly bankrupt with massive overseas debt no income except from sharholders. We're left with no income, assets or resources and at the mercy of opposition companies, fully supported and promoted by our management.

Upon retirement, we either get a pittance of a pension, or have to live on our meagre super to survive, whilst charges and costs increase. Politicians, not only get a huge unfunded pension, unrestricted super, most become board members on huge salaries with the companies they sold our assets to. Unlike us, they have no assets or income tests.

What fool would invest in a company run in this way, every voter that's who.

This blatant corruption, is condoned by the populace, prefering to accept the lies and illusions put up by these depots. I bet there's very few if any, who have the intelligence to do anything. So this thread may go nowhere, just as our future is.

Thanks Kevin

Alchemist, I believe that some people have the intelligence to
change things for the better, but I also think that the large
majority will simply act in their own short term interest, sadly.

Have you ever heard of an economic theory called the "tragedy
of the commons" ? It explains alot and the result is not a good
one. Its worth reading, if you are intellectually curious in
understanding the world. There is lots about it on the net.

My own solution is that I simply paddle my own canoe in life and
don't rely on Govts for anything much. I now am able to do the
things I want to do, rather then the things I have to do, so follow
my passions. The animals here on my place all have great lives,
quite content with the world and free of suffering or hunger.

However I accept that only so many can live here, too many for
the given environment is unsustainable and they would die of starvation instead, not a pleasant death. So I accept that they
have to accept, that like me when I die, they will too be recycled
by some other species. The time will come for all of us, no matter
what our species.

Once upon a time I put in a huge effort to help save a species
called the bonobo, which is on the verge of extinction, its
a long sad story. It was in fact an Australian armchair consevationist who stopped me in the end, another long story where
I could not continue for ethical reasons (she got cancer). She
reckoned that it was better that the species went extinct! It
certainly taught me alot about armchair conservationists.

Yabby, I accept what you say and agree. I just thought an approach, which I probably should've called, 'open source politics' would attract some interest. Just as open source software is slowly taking the control of computer operating systems and programs out of the control of the elite.

Lots of people are unaware the top servers and companies in the world, run their systems on Unix, open source operating systems. With open source you start out with a common goal, to give people freedom of choice and then they develop it themselves, finding solutions as they develop the product.

All my software for business and pleasure is open source, in most cases far superior to commercial products. Any problems I have which are rare, I just put them on an open source forum and in an hour or so I have many solutions to choose from. It's an excellent way to run a community and maybe a country. What an evolutionary step, to give people control of life, by open source debate and decision making.

Why couldn't that work with politics as a starting point. But as we can see, its either me or the subject. It doesn't matter which, lets say it was a veiled survey, showing no hope for anyone.

I follow your philosophy in life having as well tried to rock the boat. Now I just think about it and get on with my life as ethically as I can, you can't do anything more than that can you.