Politicians are stupid. Let me repeat that. Politicians are stupid.
Here’s a factual story concerning my elected representative in the Federal Parliament. Before what has become known as the “Same Sex Marriage Vote” it was abundantly clear that a large majority of the electorate was in favour and would vote “yes”. When our esteemed local member voted in parliament he voted “no”. Why was that ? Surely his job is to represent the views of his electorate in the parliament. He didn’t, he presented his own views which indicates to me that he doesn’t know what his job is.
Lately we’re seeing demonstrations all over the country regarding climate change. It’s pretty obvious to all, probably including Blind Freddy, that the demonstrators want their representatives, at all levels of government, to do something. The demonstrators are largely young and can see their future going down the gurgler. The older generation protesters can see the future of their grandchildren and great grandchildren also heading south and, like the younger generation, are bloody angry and want the politicians to do something constructive about climate change. They can see their future and their children’s future as well as their grandchildren’s and great grandchildren’s futures being quite nasty, if not untenable. What do our esteemed elected representatives do ? They sure don’t try and formulate meaningful policy to address the issue. They’d rather look for draconian ways to prevent people from demonstrating, that’s what! Do they even hear the message? Nope. They’d rather just shoot the messenger.
The economy. Day after day I read various economists and commentators saying the the economy is in the toilet. Stagnant wages, high unemployment, rising prices, stunted growth, etc. The politicians, however, keep telling us that the economy is strong. There they all sit in their Canberran Tower telling us all that things are good but the learned opinion from a bevy of real experts including the governor of the Reserve Bank tell us that the economy needs intense work because it’s nearly broken. Why do the politicians not do anything to address the concerns of the real experts let alone the concerns of the electorate at large?
Politicians say that the community should trust them. Why? They’ve demonstrated time and time again that either can’t or won’t act in a constructive fashion with policies that will have an outcome that benefits all of us.
I say that they can’t be trusted because, as I say at the beginning, Politicians are stupid. We need to get rid of this lot, all of them apart from three or four exceptions, and elect a new lot that aren’t so bloody stupid. We need to hold them to account. Send e-mail, call, do whatever to make them accountable. Make good and sure that they know and understand that every vote is gold and that they stand to lose a great deal if they act so bloody stupidly. We elect them, we pay for them. They work for us not the other way around.