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So, six weeks of Australian political procedure comes to an end this Saturday.
Our choices for leader of the country are 'Bad' and 'Not Much Better'.
There have been moments of hilarity, yes: the no-good terrible awful Tradie Ad and all the attendant mockery.
And while most people don't care much about the House of Reps (the leader of the party in power there becomes our Prime Minister - kind of equivalent to the US President), the Senate ballot is a tablecloth. At least the options have become simpler in the last year.
Of course, then there's the question of which party to vote for and what do they all stand for anyway? To say nothing of how to vote.
We do love a good laugh at our politician's expense.
I suspect most Australians don't really know who they're voting for; but we do have to make a decision at the polls on Saturday - even if that decision is just to go into the booth, wait for an appropriate minute or so, then walk out and post our ballots in the voting boxes without having put a mark on the paper. You just have to turn up to vote; you don't have the participate. However, I'm of the opinion that once you're there, you should vote.
And that you should vote, even if you don't like the options. The lesser of two weevils as the joke goes in 'Master And Commander'.
Why Should A Christian Vote For The Greens? (The Greens are the major left-wing, liberal party, who get at most a seat or two in the Senate, and a handful in the House of Reps. They're not the usual choice for most conservative Christians.)
The Christian Vote: Faith, Hope, And Love.
Mixing Faith And Politics.
Help! I'm a Christian, and I vote!
There was a very interesting article I read in the New York Times, by an American, who talked about the loss of faith for the white working class - Donald Trump's key group - and how the politicising of the Christian landscape in the US has resulted in the exclusion of the people the church is supposed to be serving. It intersected (for me) with the article by an abortion provider, who spoke about his struggle, and why he chooses to perform abortions - that the Good Samaritan was marked out for the suffering he chose to alleviate, never mind the way he might appear to others (as the religious leader and the civic leader in the parable chose to be concerned about).
Our choices for leader of the country are 'Bad' and 'Not Much Better'.
There have been moments of hilarity, yes: the no-good terrible awful Tradie Ad and all the attendant mockery.
And while most people don't care much about the House of Reps (the leader of the party in power there becomes our Prime Minister - kind of equivalent to the US President), the Senate ballot is a tablecloth. At least the options have become simpler in the last year.
Of course, then there's the question of which party to vote for and what do they all stand for anyway? To say nothing of how to vote.
We do love a good laugh at our politician's expense.
I suspect most Australians don't really know who they're voting for; but we do have to make a decision at the polls on Saturday - even if that decision is just to go into the booth, wait for an appropriate minute or so, then walk out and post our ballots in the voting boxes without having put a mark on the paper. You just have to turn up to vote; you don't have the participate. However, I'm of the opinion that once you're there, you should vote.
And that you should vote, even if you don't like the options. The lesser of two weevils as the joke goes in 'Master And Commander'.
Why Should A Christian Vote For The Greens? (The Greens are the major left-wing, liberal party, who get at most a seat or two in the Senate, and a handful in the House of Reps. They're not the usual choice for most conservative Christians.)
The Christian Vote: Faith, Hope, And Love.
Mixing Faith And Politics.
Help! I'm a Christian, and I vote!
There was a very interesting article I read in the New York Times, by an American, who talked about the loss of faith for the white working class - Donald Trump's key group - and how the politicising of the Christian landscape in the US has resulted in the exclusion of the people the church is supposed to be serving. It intersected (for me) with the article by an abortion provider, who spoke about his struggle, and why he chooses to perform abortions - that the Good Samaritan was marked out for the suffering he chose to alleviate, never mind the way he might appear to others (as the religious leader and the civic leader in the parable chose to be concerned about).
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http://tielan.dreamwidth.org/920505.html
http://tielan.dreamwidth.org/920236.html
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DW: playing silly buggers, possibly with crossposts.
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Cheering you on - cheering the whole electorate on - for your/our thinking through the issues and candidates. (Yes, the Senate list is a little daunting, but we'll get there!)
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I'm also a little bit 'meh' on the people who are all BUT THIS ONE THING MATTERS ABOVE ALL THE OTHERS (which is rife in Christian circles) and the people who are all BUT I CAN'T SUPPORT ANY OF THEM WHOLEHEARTEDLY which, yes, have you ever agreed with someone else on absolutely everything in the universe? Seriously?
It's possible that we've been tainted by the Americans who seem to have this 'all-or-nothing' attitude to their parties with no apparent in-between: politicisation and polarisation.
Which I think is crazy. You vote for what you think is most important and what you think you can live with. And, speaking for myself, I can live with marriage equality much easier than I can live with the thought of traumatised people stuck behind bars indefinitely for nothing more than wanting a better life.
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