Voting for lunatics and crooks

[miriam_e]

Today I helped Mum and Dad make their postal vote in the QLD election. I was horrified that of the 6 candidates, 3 are anti-science morons and one is a right-wing liar who is probably also anti-science. And the way Labor have been acting lately I'm a little suspicious of the Labor candidate. This is what we get when absolutely no qualifications are needed to become a politician.

We really need entrance exams for any person entering politics. They should have a broad and deep understanding of the sciences, and excellent comprehension of technology and history. Also, people in positions of power and influence should have worse repercussions for lying and misleading the Australian people, and criminal behavior because of the immense damage they can wreak. Clive Palmer should be in prison for at least the next 20 years, most of the LNP should be stripped of their positions and government pensions and their ill-gotten fortunes, and many in Labor should too. The One Nation idiots and all the other anti-science parties and independents should be unceremoniously dumped from politics. Only those who recognise reality should be allowed to have any power at all. Delusional nutjobs should not even get to square one.

One thing I found deeply disturbing about the voting was that we have to vote for people we definitely DON'T want anywhere near power. We have to number every one of the 6 boxes. That means if my first 2 choices fail to get enough votes to be elected, I'm forced to vote for scumbags or idiots! [sigh] At least it's better than USA's nightmarish first-past-the-post system.

Comments

[greylock]

of the 6 candidates, 3 are anti-science morons and one is a right-wing liar who is probably also anti-science

Same as it ever was. I've probably not been voting as long as you, but even outside Qld the ticket is usually ALP, LNP, Greens, and 3-4 other (over the years usually Family First, CEC, PUP and independents). It always tilts tory/anti-science/pro-god, and often some of of the IND are vote-funneling puppets to the tories.

We really need entrance exams for any person entering politics. They should have a broad and deep understanding of the sciences, and excellent comprehension of technology and history.

Yes, and no. We need some kind of exam, sure, (and profiles - finding and ranking candidates is crazy) but a deep understanding of science? Nah.

We have to number every one of the 6 boxes.

I didn't think we did, but maybe the rules changed.

At least it's better than USA's nightmarish first-past-the-post system.

That, and the Electoral College. I like, and loathe, NZ's MMP.

[miriam_e]

Yes, many independents and small parties have, in recent years (maybe always, I don't know) been fakes, just there with appealing names to divert votes to the LNP.

I've been astounded at the rise in anti-science politicians in an age that depends more and more upon science and technology. How can they even hope to make wise decisions if they don't understand what they are deciding? They should also have an excellent understanding of history so that they can see how so many mistakes occur over and over again. I should have included ethics. They should be aware of the ethical ramifications of their actions -- not in an ad-hoc way, but knowing what outcomes are likely before they take action.

The procedure for filling out votes seems to change with every election lately. I'm certainly in favor of change, but numbering every box seems a stupid thing to do. It means that the LNP ratbag who will inevitably win my electorate will have his vote artificially inflated by all the people who hate everything he stands for and who would not wish to put him in charge of anything, under any circumstances.

I didn't know about NZ's Mixed Member Proportional system. Thank you for prompting me to learn about it. It looks like a pretty neat system... so long as you don't have too many anti-science nitwits voted in... which brings me back to politicians needing to have a proper grounding in science, technology, history, and ethics.

[greylock]

I have to read about MMP every time I pay attention to the NZ election cycle. They also have Maori electorates, which run parallel elections and send a small (5?) number of MPs to parliament for terms each election - seems to work for them. Not sure how that would map to Australia.