be still my heart!

aime. i have a simple plan: don't vote for politicians. they have no legitimacy without your vote, so take it away.

if you, me, and a few hundred thousand others write only "democracy" on our ballot paper, and support the push for democracy with a plan for citizen initiative and direct election of ministers, one of the parties will make this plan their policy, or we'll start another 'constitutional' party.

it will take a few years, need patience, etc. but it's the only way to do it legally and non-violently.

not very glamorous, huh. but it will work if/when ozzians decide they want democracy.

"Our economy has largely shifted away from a situation where practically every motivated person could aspire to achieving a stimulating socially useful and well paid job to what we have now."

Well in the West, things have certainly changed. Young peoples
aspirations have gone through the roof, so that every 20 year
old thinks they deserve to be CEO and earn 100K+, with talent
or without talent. People have lost touch with reality and
are getting it far too easy, thats the real problem.

(Apologies to all for my appalling spelling and grammatic errors above. At least I have been able to fix then at: http://candobetter.org/node/98)

Aime wrote: "... but I refuse to vote for either of them."

Please think very carefully before you throw your vote away. However disgusted we we feel about Rudd's sell-out of Tasmanian old-growth forests, as just one of many possible examples, the choice between Rudd and Howard is still a very important one. If Howard is re-elected it will be interpreted as am endorsement by the Australian electorate of "Work Choices", the Iraq war, environmental vandalism, the privatisation of Telstra, "Welfare to Servitude" etc, etc.

If Rudd is elected then at least his mandate to pursue policies as reactionary as Howard's, will not be nearly as great, should our worst fears about Rudd be realised. In that case, it is far more likely that people would look towards an alternative that is beter than both Labor and the Liberals than would be the case if the Liberals were re-elected.

To allow Howard to be re-elected yet again after all the crimes he has committed is really asking to be kicked in the teeth.

By all means give your preference to a good independent, or if one does not exist, then to the Greens or to the democrats, but please make sure that your vote flows to Labor ahead of Howard's Liberal Party.

"To allow Howard to be re-elected yet again after all the crimes he has committed is really asking to be kicked in the teeth."

Unfortunately Dagget, very true! However, Labor needs a swing of 17 seats to win office outright I believe and the only bad reaction to Howard I see on the nightly news is minimal to say the least. Idiots seem to be only too willing to run from their little sheeple flock to warmly shake his hand as he passes by, well, except for a group of workers in WA yesterday :-)

Yes, many Australians hate what Howard has done on several fronts and the polls currently represent their disapproval, but come election time, the polls won't matter a damn! People will vote the way they always have because for some strange reason, they're too stupid to realise that the Australian Government is not controlled by the head of their party when in power. It's controlled by the huge war mongering corporations of America. Australia is simply a fly caught in their web. There is no escape.

Through draconian legislation, Australians will be brought down one peg at a time until we're all slaves of these massive empires, so what's the harm in swapping political parties every now and then? It makes it easier for Howard to comply with his US counterparts should we follow him like sheep, but in the end it really doesn't matter, we may as well vote for Rudd, or the Greens, or..... not at all!

I remember a time when the new PM one BOB Hawke was going to rid Australia of Pine Gap. The US empire took him aside, had a word in his ear and the matter was swiftly swept under the rug. The American message is... "Don't step on our interests or you'll be crushed!"

DEMOS, you advocate direct democracy, and I notice from one of your other posts that you are a Yank. Do you not see the damage that has been caused to that country by direct election of leaders (eg the president)? Our system is far from perfect, but I'll take it over yours anyday.

Like many things in our lives, we dont have the time to effectively address every issue confront the country as a whole. So like a number of other things, we hire someone to do the job for us. Unfotunately, the field of candidates are pretty poor, so we tend to hire the ones that we think will do the least amount of damage, rather than the ones we think will do good.

What we need is greater accountability from policitians at every level. There needs to be serious consequences for wrong or harmful actions. Not just loss of office. Jail terms would be a good start. It certainly calmed Pauline Hanson down. It would be more than beneficial for a few others to cool their heels for a few months. we could probably start with anyone that's been in politics for more than 10 years.....

The point is that the figures of "low unemployment" are flawed by real definition and the ways that this distribution equates in reality.

Cooktown and Cape York has 25-28% unemployment.

Two; the population shifts to casual, and alternative employment where it is stressed reflects the ludicrous failure in skills distribution needs in the work force and deepen the complexity of planning for future training.

It is here that the risks are being transfered onto both the present and future inter-generations of Australian society.

As dagget points out; "Many occupations are casualised with no career path. The hours are often shorter and unpredictable."

This will burden Australias long term economic productive outcomes and will add weight to future unbalances due to skills shortages, pariculary in rural and isolated Australia.

http://www.miacat.com/
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