OK, So I'm Saying Something

"If you see something, say something" is the catchy phrase headlining the latest anti terrorism advertisements on our screens at the moment.  They've been popping up quite a bit lately which surprised me until I realised we're in the middle of an election campaign.  I'm sure it is useful to remind people that if they do encounter somebody wearing a suicide vest and shouting "Allah Akbar" at the top of their lungs then possibly it should be mentioned to the next police officer they encounter but I have to wonder about the timing.  I'm sure that various evil people are making various evil plans to do various evil things to the rest of us and I hope that our security forces, police, military and Country Women's Association are right on top of all of that  and stopping them from happening.  It is also possible that the sudden upsurge in ads relates to a credible threat identified by our security services but which they haven't seen fit to share with the general public as yet.  But one can't help wondering if the government is gently reminding us of their supposed security credentials in the lead up to the polls.  Well, I've seen the anti terrorism ads and I'm saying something.

If nothing else the anti terrorism ads have reminded me that there is an election happening.  This was quite useful as without the ads I might well have forgotten.  Neither of the leaders of the two political parties supposedly engaged in a tussle of ideas to see which of them will be considered fit to shepherd the Australian nation forward towards its inevitable destiny for the next three years has actually managed to catch my attention.  On the one hand the leader of the Liberal party isn't conservative enough to satisfy the sort of people who like to think of themselves as the bedrock of the conservative movement (everybody else thinks they're old and kind of silly).  On the other hand the leader of the Labor party seems to have been selected expressly to prove that a retarded jellyfish could be the leader of the Labor party as long as the union movement owned it.

The result is a sort of damp squib sputter as two people who differ at most by degrees go through a half hearted facade of pretending that there are great ideological differences and clashes of ideas happening.  Ideological differences are out there and there are certainly differing ideas on how to fix what's wrong with the country but both mainstream parties seem to think its a little beneath their dignity to actually mention them.  Apparently we shouldn't sully the purity of an election campaign with any discussion of topics as tawdry as "issues".

What this means is that the only people who are engaged in ideological debate or floating great ideas for the salvation of the country are the sort of extremist nutbags on right and left who in any well functioning democracy would be laughed out of the room the moment they opened their mouths.  As it is, with both major parties apparently campaigning on a platform of simply being the only two parties in the country with the organisation to produce enough candidates to form a government anyone who actually has an idea gets some airtime.

On the right side of politics we're supposed to deploy the navy to drive off boat people (oh wait we did that but we're supposed to keep doing it and be more enthusiastic about it) and stop foreigners (particularly Asian ones from large mainland countries) from buying things other Australians seem only too happy to sell them.  On the left (sometimes known as the green) side of politics we're supposed to stop coal mining, invest in  renewable energy sources and create green jobs.  Apparently out of thin air using money that we got,,,somehow.

I personally am a moderate economic conservative and a strong social liberal.  This means I can vote for either party and wind up disappointed in the result but also reassure myself that things could have been worse.  Imagine if those other bastards had got in hey?  Unfortunately I suspect they might.  In the meantime I'll keep an eye on the anti terrorism ads.  If they stop unexpectedly I'll know I forgot to vote.