MACinations

With NSW heading into what could be another political black hole for another 4 years, the spectre of compulsory voting has raised its’ head in some quarters. Few topics have engendered such vociferous debate amongst the cognoscenti (or, more correctly, faux-cognoscenti) in the past few years, with the possible exception of Pauline Hanson’s re-election to Parliament.

The tenets of the compulsory voting system stem from a perceived “public right” to elect their chosen leaders – and I’m not denigrating that right in any way. I believe we all have the right, if not the ability, to elect those who we think will best represent our views and desires in the governing of NSW after informed consideration.

And therein lies the crux of the whole problem – “informed consideration”

Consider the current situation in Australia: you are ORDERED, under penalty of monetary fine, to rock up to a polling place every 4 or so years to cast your vote for a range of candidates who, just possibly, may represent some or all of your political views. Maybe. Far too often they are a bunch of self-interested troglodytes who’s only interest in governing is for what they can get out of it (yes, this is a generalization, but not an overly unfair one). Their sycophants press “how to vote” papers upon you, printed at the taxpayer’s expense, to try to sway you to their point of view, often at the expense of their own self-respect as they attack (unfairly in many cases, justified in others) their political rivals.

I say that a vote cast in this manner is marginally, VERY marginally, worth more than the ever popular Australian idiom, the “donkey vote”. If you NEED a piece of paper, pressed upon you at the last moment, to help you decide who to vote for, then I say your vote is WORTHLESS. It is a vote cast out of enforced necessity – in fact, were you to arrive at the polling place, be checked off the roll, and stuff your blank ballot paper in the appropriate collection receptacle provided you have complied with your “obligation”. You have ATTENDED – the manner or style in which you cast your vote is immaterial.

Then, for an indeterminate period of time (in NSW at least), you are subject to the whims of your “elected representatives”, who generally represent no-one other than themselves. Their “promises”, given to entice you to cast favourably upon them, are largely forgotten and if not then there’s little if anything you can do to address the situation. They know you HAVE to vote, and factor this into their over-zealous and ill-considered “promises”. THEY DO NOT CARE!!

Your vote has, in many cases, done absolutely nothing – zip, nyet, nada, ZERO.

Yet, even if you didn’t vote, and have taken absolutely no interest in or responsibility for putting the incumbent in office, you can still bitch and whinge like a little schoolgirl about what they are doing right or wrong, how they don’t represent your views, etc. And they will give ear to your complaints – at least until you leave the office, and then promptly forget them. You can’t do ANYTHING about them!!

Contrast this with the polling methods used in that bastion of democracy and freedom, the United States of Obama… err, AMERICA.

Voting is non-compulsory. It is enshrined in their constitution. You have to REGISTER as a voter, and show your registration card at the polling place in order to cast your vote. You, the member of the American Public, will largely be motivated to vote based on research into the various candidates’ and parties’ policies, and you will HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE, in one way or another, for failure to perform. Candidates will still attempt to sway your opinion, as they have the right to do, but this time THEIR HEART IS IN IT – they know that you don’t HAVE to vote, you have to WANT to vote!

Should you disagree with what your local elected representative is doing, you can confront them about it and they will (on the whole), listen and actually DO something – not because they care more than Australian politicians, not because of some altruistic bent they have, but because you BOTHERED TO VOTE. You registered, and you voted – two conscious and unenforced decisions on your part.

And when you do take them to task they are under no obligation to listen to you, or even to talk to you, unless you can show your REGISTERED VOTER card.

How many of your friends and family will vote LIBERAL or LABOUR because “that’s how I’ve always voted”, or because “your Father votes that way and I vote the way he does”? In my own family, that was the norm. I suspect many other families are the same.

I say it’s time to break the shackles of this antiquated way of electing our governing representatives, and move toward a considered and defined policy of NON-COMPULSORY VOTING, along the lines I have described above.

Some of you have already countered this argument, saying that it “disenfranchises” certain segments of the community by making it more difficult for them to vote. Even to go so far as propose insane situations, like the Government having one polling place in Canberra and everyone who wants to vote having to attend there. This is childish in the extreme.

How does giving someone the basic human right of being able to CHOOSE disenfranchise or disadvantage anyone?

I would envision that the polling places would stay the same – schools, churches, village halls, etc. The candidates would hold far more “community consultation” and better define their platforms and promises, knowing that those who DO vote for them will HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE.

Those who want a say in the running of their Local Council, State or Federal Government will REGISTER, will become INFORMED of the various platforms and promises, will INTELLIGENTLY select their candidates and cast their votes accordingly. And they will hold those same candidates ACCOUNTABLE for their performance, personally if not on party lines.

They will REGISTER TO VOTE. Those that don’t care, can’t be bothered, think all Politicians are lying, cheating… well, you get the idea – will NOT register, will NOT vote and will have NO RIGHT to whinge and bitch about what they see being done wrong.

All Australians have a RIGHT to vote – IF THEY SO DESIRE TO EXERCISE THAT RIGHT. Enforced voting does nothing but make a mockery of the whole democratic process.