Election Propaganda Is Testing My Shredder

Checked my mailbox tonight and the amount of election propaganda was amazing. And as it has my name and address on it I put it through the shredder. I'm not one for leaving that sort of stuff in the rubbish available to dumpster divers. I think that there were seven postcards and pamphlets in total. How much money do these political parties have to waste of electioneering material? Too much. And that doesn't include what is delivered to the letter box. My shredder is certainly working overtime and getting up around the duty cycle.

If you didn't know, there is going to be a federal election in Australia this week. Australians will decide should we put up with the wasteful, incompetent and mismanaging Labor Party or give the "fair go for all, conservative, business-backing" good guys from the Liberal/National Party Coalition their backing.

I think that it will be very close. There isn't a lot of policy difference between the major parties and many people are disillusioned with both of them. Actually, not having many differences is more a sign of stable government than anything else. The most disillusioned voters are likely to vote for the Greens which would be a disaster should they end up holding the balance of power. Think before you vote, people.

One large problem in this country is the compulsory nature of elections. If you don't vote and don't have a decent reason for not doing so then you will be fined. It's only $20 and possibly $50 so it's not like a huge deterrent.

Apparently it is legal to partake in a donkey vote, i.e. place the first candidate on the ballot paper first, second candidate second, third third, etc. It is illegal to encourage somebody to do so. How lame is that? Almost all politicians are donkeys nowadays anyway. Where have all of the statesmen gone?