I don't really understand why everybody is automatically assuming that this election will be close. The reality is, if there was a 23-seat swing TO Labor in 2007 after 11 years of a Liberal government, then there could just as easily be a 23-seat swing back AWAY from them in 2010. Yes, a lot of people vote one party their entire lives - but clearly a lot of people don't. Personally, I think it's more about how much they've pissed people off in the last 3 years than anything else, and I can't see how anything Scripted-Julia says in these 3 weeks is going to change that. The reason for the 23-seat swing in 2007 was pretty much because people had had enough of John Howard's crap. We haven't really had enough time to get tired of Julia's crap because she's only been PM for 5 minutes, so all that remains to be seen is if people associate KRudd's crap with her or not. (And if people admire or despise a knife-wielder :p) What a basis for running a country.
If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times - FORCING an entire nation of people to vote for these bozos only gives then validity. And fining people who choose not to vote is NOT democratic, no matter which way you look at it. I don't care about all the "but in America only 50% of people vote" and "but we don't have enough people" arguments that people inevitably offer up when I make my point - the fact remains, only dictators force people to vote for them, and if politicians want votes then they should have to EARN them. Yes, in the US only 50% of people vote, but that is one of the lowest voter turnouts in the world. In New Zealand (which has far less people than Australia) voting isn't compulsory and yet they still have an 88% voter turnout. According to this Wikipedia article, low turnout may be due to disenchantment, indifference, or contentment. My view is, if you're not forced to vote and you choose not to, you can't complain about what you end up with. But having free choice is ALWAYS better than not.
Cheers,
Nicky
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