The Election Blues

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Love a good election - really enjoyed the unpredictability of last night's election count.  Look forward to seeing how it all pans out in the next week.

Being an election junkie I watched all the news on Friday night.  Both the leaders gave their final 'sell' and overall it was a depressing experience.  Lots of stuff along the lines of "look at what I can do for YOU and YOUR family and YOUR lifestyle and YOUR back pocket".

I (perhaps naively) want to hear "This is what I can do for our nation.  This is what we can do together.  This is the type of Australia I want to see.  This is the type of Australia I want the rest of the world to see".  I want to hear words of compassion for the poor, promises to deal with injustice, generosity to countries less fortunate.

And what did we get?  'STOP the BOATS' (we must be pretty stupid if that's supposed to be a core policy) and 'Here's some money for the schools that perform really well'.  What kind of country do I live in when the leadership on offer actually doesn't inspire us to think beyond our bank balances, beyond our self-interest?

I think Australia is an amazing country - I'm blown away by the freedom and comfort we have here.  But I just think we have a lot more we could give.

Comments

Karen said…
I completely agree.
August 23, 2010 at 9:05 AM
Kath said…
Yes, it's so easy to appeal to our fear or our greed, but it's ultimately unsatisfying. I'd love to be inspired to vote for someone who had plans for Australia to be a better, more generous place. But no-one seems brave enough to take the chance of trying to do it. Have we become so fickle that only the status quo can succeed? I hope not.
Kath
August 23, 2010 at 9:38 PM
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