Last I heard, Pompeo was sucking up to us; but I can't say that I would blame the US for abandoning us to China, given what that moron in Victoria is up to.

Our political system can only be described as ratshite if the federal government cannot prevent states from selling off property and infrastructure to our enemies, or doing deals with them.

ttbn,

State and federal governments have both been selling us off to China for the past 30 years. It's as if it has been a competition to see who can sell off the most the fastest.

And it looks like Victoria is going to take out the gold medal.

Or as Xi is probably telling the CCP right at this moment: "Today Hong Kong, tomorrow Australia!"

I have a friend working with a conservative candidate not from One Nation (not that One Nation is bad) for a while and they did what they considered very well at the last election. This was surprising given that their funding was much lower than other candidates. With a bit of initiative you can get things done for low costs. The major parties have better polling tactics than the minor parties. Often the major parties have four people at each polling station even during pre-polling. Many more people are voting during pre-polling these days about 50% if you can get your people out there during pre-polling it makes a lot of difference because there's also less polling stations. Of course you have to sell your policies to the voters to get them to make a commitment.

And you need to pick your electorate carefully that value what you're selling.

You need to have a good team that is able to make a time commitment during elections and especially the pre-polling.

Even The Green's always have a person at the station's permanently- you have to admire their organization if not their policies. They have very motivated members.

The major parties often run a tea and lunch service. There are many other tactics if you've got eyes in your head.

There is some risk for conservative candidates my friend was threatened a few times. Most people however are very polite. Every time a conservative speaker comes to Australia or there is a conservative rally there are riots by Antifa et al. These tactics have been used by the Communists for about one hundred years. Candidates for One Nation often elderly for example have had a visit by Antifa to their house- and been intimidated from standing. Younger people are afraid for their careers- and Communists accuse the other side of wedge politics- but these sorts of tactics were used in the creation of other Communist nations.

Polling is all about the numbers- the number of booths you can cover during pre-polling (2 or 3 stations) and election day (up to 30 stations on election day). It was harder to get people for pre-polling than on polling day. The AEC website has a lot of information about polling days and times.

Letter-boxing of course is a good way of course to let people know about your product. There are rules on political material and sometime they need to be vetted by the AEC before being released- so it's a good idea to prepare in advance.

There are some leadership issues with the Conservative Movement. Often even in the supposedly stable major parties there is a lot of jockeying for position. The major parties can pull in an extremely impressive amount of resources when they believe it's important. Not sure if it makes much difference but it's very intimidating.

The material above is well known to the major parties- there are many other tactics- most of it is common sense for smart people that are able to do their own research.

Many people seem to go into politics without considering the business model in enough detail- that's probably why they fail- but they probably know more than those that don't even try. I've got a lot of respect for the people that man the polling stations.

I believe that the majority of the Australian people are not represented well by the political system- this seems to be born out by surveys- much of this is due to lack of cooperation. As they say in The Godfather movie "power cannot be given- it can only be taken"- the major parties know this- so they take it.

CM.

It's up to people who want to be politicians to do everything they can to get noticed - not us.

Mr. Opinion,

Have a look at "Reaping the whirlwind" in Catallaxy Files today. The video is a real tragi-comedy about what happens when countries get 'help' from China.

ttbn- Again with the greatest respect. I'm sure everyone is in a position to help in polling. But I don't see it as a matter of us and them- it's all us- if we want something done we need to make it happen.

That in some ways is the difference between Traditionalism and Locke Liberalism is the civic responsibility- ironically in Locke Liberalism- that promotes the equally free individuals found in the time of the cave man- government in Locke forms is big expensive and global.

Global government suffers from the issue of a "tyranny of the masses".

I know the candidates get most of the credit- but sometimes you need to stand in the shadow pushing someone else forward- for every one person out front there's twenty standing behind. In some ways it's a good thing that they can't do everything themselves.

Politicians get most of the benefit but it takes a long time and a lot of work before a candidate can become a politician- they deserve it- especially if they are an independent.