So, who do you think will win the upcoming federal election and why? When will it be?
Seriously, put aside your bias for a moment. Why? Because it is an opinion that is discriminatory and unbalanced with an absence of objectivity. Put aside your emotions because they cloud the issues. What is required here is pure intelligent logic, nothing more, nothing less.
What would influence your vote the most? Is it the state of the economy? Your allegiance to your party? Perhaps you favour the party with the highest ideals with the best social justice policies. Maybe you are an idealist and want more change, more reform.
As a woman (for those female readers), you are conceivably affronted by your treatment over many years, and the consequences still define you. Of vital importance to you might be the environment and the lack of any coherent policy.
Perhaps you are from the “a pox on both your houses” faction who wouldn’t vote for any of them.
There are many issues to consider. Loyalty to the party you have voted for all your life. It has a strong, almost sentimental appeal and doesn’t take much thought, but there is little logic. Your interest might be equality of opportunity and fairness. “That’s the party my dad voted for.”
Are you a voter driven by anger over a specific issue that affects you directly? Perhaps the depth of your pockets dictates what boxes you tick. Then again, you might be the type who seriously weighs up the talents or otherwise of the candidates in your electorate. Or, for ease of conscience, you vote as a block, husband and wife/partner in the belief that one of you knows better than the other. Or hubby knows best about these things.
You are offended by the corruption and immorality that exists in Government. However, you believe that “the devil you know is better the one you don’t.”
Contrary to that, you couldn’t care less, use a blunt pencil to mark the voting form because you have to get the shopping done before canteen duty at the footy club. It’s when you open the curtain at the poll booth that you give any thought to who you might vote for. Consequently, your vote is wasted because it is illegible, but you’re not too fussed. In the past two elections, over two million voters have decided not to vote at all.
Perhaps you prefer to vote for the party that delivers for the have nots, or conversely, you want the party that rewards those who have a go.
At this stage of the election cycle, the polls will only tell us how people are thinking, not who they will vote for. It is impossible to get a fix on the outcome of this election because, as is usual, the differences in opinion vary considerably.
Until the election campaigns start in earnest, most people will go about their daily business doing whatever they do, confirming the purpose for life without considering the reason for it – society ticks along doing what is needed to grow our food – feed our children.
There are those devoted to our entertainment so that we might obtain pleasure from it. Others volunteer so that it is organised. Yet others do good works because they yearn to help others like those seeking asylum but instead have looked rejection in the face. Others battle with the daily grind of survival, seeking the leftovers of the haves. Others will tell of their ordeals so that they might encourage hope.
The prosperous will record in glowing terms of their success as if it is available to all who seek.
This recipe contains all the ingredients that form what we call society. When they all come together, this amalgamation of skills, supporting others with philanthropy, determine what sort of society we are or should be.
I have left aside the two most essential ingredients in this recipe. The first is how we, as a nation, are led and, secondly, how we are governed. You are the unbiased judge on both. What do you think? We have not been gifted with good leadership since when?
In the recipe of good leadership, there are many ingredients. Popularity is but one. It, however, ranks far below getting things done for the common good.
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Bias: It is an opinion that in the absence of objectivity, is prejudiced and unbalanced. Its foundation is untruth and therefore cannot be impartial.
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This election is remarkable for many reasons. None more so than it will happen when the world is deciding, as COVID-19 recedes, just how it will change the function of Government. Probably in ways we never imagined.
Will, the people, choose the incumbent Morrison Government with a proven record of disasters over a long period, or will they seek a new Government to replace them. Or perhaps people of independent minds will decide the outcome.
Never have the people been entrusted with such an important decision.
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The common good, or empathy for it, should be at the centre of any political philosophy. However, it is more likely to be found on the left than the right.
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This Government has a record of internal turbulence made worse by the return of Barnaby Joyce as leader of the Nationals. Will this incoherent loudmouth enhance the Coalition’s chances, or hinder them?
In a post-pandemic world, infighting over ideological issues that don’t help any of us might be a thing of the past, and the common good might become more critical. Many things will change, the jobs market, how the economy works and how we are governed.
In any case, if we are to save our democracy, we might begin by asking that, at the very least, our politicians should be transparent and tell the truth.
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My thought for the day
The left of politics is concerned with people who cannot help themselves. The right is concerned with those who can.
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PS: Any perceived bias by me is countered by the 80 misdemeanours of this Coalition I have identified in my latest series of articles.
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