None Of The Above

We have a Federal Election next weekend here in Australia, and that's given me pause (or should that be paws) to reflect on just how dumb politicians are, and how much dumber we voters are to put up with them.

I won't go into the nitty gritty of this election campaign except that to describe it as boring as batshit would be doing a disservice to guano.

On one side, you have a government trying to convince people we've never been better off, which is probably true, and pointing out that 70% of the other side are ex-union officials.

And on the other side, you have a bunch on ex-union officials trying to convince people that the government has run out of ideas, while at the same time copying all of the government's policies.

One says "we have a plan for the future", and it's going to be much the same as it is now, while the other says "we have a real plan for the future", without actually having much of a plan beyond putting a laptop on every school desk, which may be an admirable policy, but hardly falls into the category of "plan for the future".

What's actually missing from both sides is a genuine plan for the future. What's missing is real vision, and an ability to think beyond the next election, or even much beyond this election.

One side says "we'll sign the Kyoto Protocol", which is a complete waste of time and energy, while the other says "we need something better than Kyoto" without actually saying what that means.

One side says "we'll stay in Iraq until the job's done", without telling us what the "job" is, or how long it might take, while the other side says "we'll get our combat troops out of Iraq by Christmas", without telling us that we don't actually have any combat troops in Iraq any more.

One side says "we'll give you $30b in tax cuts", while the other says "we'll give you $30b in tax cuts". Forgive me for my cynicism, but a) it's our money to start off with, so I'm hardly going to be thankful when someone who takes it suddenly decides to give it back, and b) if they've got $30b more than they need, how come they're only finding out about it now?

And given that the extra four bucks a week they're promising isn't really going to make that much difference, can't they find something more worthwhile to spend it on?

There's nothing coming from either side that tells us what they're going to do about building the sort of Australia our great grand children would want to live in. In short, there's no vision. Politics is all about saying and doing anything to get and/or stay in power. Statesmanship and leadership are all about vision, patience and wisdom. Sadly, politics and statesmanship are mutually exclusive.

The reason for that is simple, and it's the same the world over... the politics of the so called "right" is dry, boring, and pretty much thinks it can leave the future in the hands of "the market", which really means our future is driven by self-interest and greed. Politicians on the right tend to be unimaginative accountants and lawyers who are incapable of seeing the future as a different place.

The politics of the so called "left" is short sighted, misguided and generally driven by a "big brother knows best" mentality, which means they focus on the trees (both literally and metaphorically), and can't see the forest. Politicians on the left tend to either be misguided bleeding hearts incapable of seeing a big picture, or they're persuing some agenda driven by jealousy and a belief that somehow, life is unfair, and it's their sacred mission to make it fair.

Neither side understands that true leadership means getting out of the day-to-day lives of people, and instead thinking not 3 or 4, but 30 or 40 years into the future.

It's a shame. I don't know who will win the election here, and to be honest, given the appalling quality of both sides, I actually don't much care because the choice looks like it's coming down to "worse and worser".

If I had the money, I'd hire Brewster and we'd run a "None of the Above!" campaign. Maybe, if we all did that, instead of treating us with contempt, these bozos would start to get the message.