Everyone is entitled my opinion...

 

Voting…

 

I remember my first ever election, years ago during the previous century, when I sat down with my Dad and went over all the details about each candidate that was standing in our electorate (called “Bruce”… a very Aussie sounding electorate). All the reasons that Dad chose were exactly the reasons why I wasn’t voting for his preferred candidate. We were totally opposed on EVERY reason that we were using to justify our choice.

 

I later learned that in Australian politics, four out of five first-time voters will vote the same way their father does. I was obviously the exception to that rule.

 

Since then, I have been fascinated by politics and the passions that are aroused from both sides of the political spectrum around election time. And over the years, it has made me look at the reasons WHY I vote the way I do and why I question every decision I subsequently make. Whilst I don’t expect everyone to have the same level of self-examination about their own political choices, I am constantly amazed at the irrational and sometimes plain kooky reasons why and how other people make up their minds.

 

I am no political scientist or scholar, so the following observations are entirely based on my own experience and are largely anecdotal.

 

Personally, I love reading the letters to the editor in the paper. It’s not the same as just adding a comment to the end of an article on a website or blog. You have to think about what you’re saying, choose your words carefully and present a reasoned argument. But I read a letter in the Daily Telegraph recently where a gentlemen from Sydney’s western suburbs said he was voting Liberal because the National Broadband Network was a waste of money that would only allow celebrities to Twitter faster.

 

That was his argument against a mammoth national infrastructure project that would give Australia a huge advantage over other countries in the region and encourage our population to develop new and innovative products and industries that at present we can only dream of. You know, the type of industries that might help to keep the country afloat after we’ve sent all our minerals offshore and have nothing to show for it.

 

But that letter writer’s vote counts just as much as mine (and yours) and even though I think his reasoning is flawed and wrong, well, at least it seems like he thought about it first.